- Vidushaan on his latest release and more
Vithushan Thayaparan, known in the field as Vidushaan, is a Sri Lankan rapper and singer who stepped into the field with his debut song Cinderella at the age of 16.
In 2020, he formed the band Est4Lyf and became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of it. He was also the first rapper from Batticaloa as well as the Eastern Province who has taken the scene to Malaysia and India.
In conversation with Brunch, he told us that music has always been a part of his life: “From a very young age, watching my mom and uncle sing for the church choir grew my interest in music and I started singing along with them.”
He added that this continued into his school career, when his idols and teachers Sangeetha Poosanam Jeeva Joseph and Latha Jayakumar helped him discover his musical talent and encouraged him to participate in school events such as Tamil Day and English Day in order to hone his skills further. He also participated in an islandwide singing competition and was awarded first place three times.
“By participating in these competitions, I gained more musical exposure and an interest in continuing music as a full-time career,” he shared.
Vidushaan recently released a single titled Porali, which translates to “warrior” in Tamil, that talks about several social issues that our country is facing today. Talking to us about the song, he told us that he didn’t want to focus on the current crisis we are undergoing, but shone the spotlight on other pressing matters like child abuse, illegal affairs, adultery, and drugs. The inspiration for this song stemmed from an Indian artist that Vidushaan is a big fan of, by the name Divine.
“He released a track called 3.59 AM, which speaks about similar issues that are taking place in his town Mumbai,” Vidushaan told us, explaining that since a lot of these topics are overlooked by mainstream media, he thought that as an artist, it was his duty to bring them into the limelight.
Vidushaan penned the lyrics and rap in the song himself and enlisted the help of his friends for the production, filming, and mastering. The music for the song was done by ‘Impress no 1’ from Canada, mixed and mastered by ThineshNa, and the direction of photography and editing were done by Ratheran GR.
He added that he made the video and song with friends as it was simply a passion project for him. “I see this song as a social message, so we decided not to spend too much money on the creation of the music video,” he told us, adding that they found a free location to film at.
Going into the process of filming, we were told that the video was filmed at the ice factory that burned down in Batticaloa in the 80s. “That base has still not been renovated or used by anyone, so we thought the rustic, burned look will give the music video the edge we want it to have, and give our message some weight,” he explained. They also filmed near the canal on the road to the factory, and added lights to it to set the vibe. Vidushaan added that with this video, they really tried to do something different from commercial music.
Despite not singing about the crisis, Vidushaan told us that he has plans to pen songs about the credit lines our country has received, India’s plans for us, what America stands to gain from us, and other similar financial issues. He added that he prefers not to directly insult or anger the Government, as if a Sri Lankan was to do a song like that, it would be a big problem for the artist.
“Several local artists have had their videos taken down, channels blocked, and other issues because they spoke out against the Government’s wrong doings,” Vidushaan observed, adding that he prefers to take a more subtle approach and focus on specific issues caused by the Government and not the governing bodies themselves.
Having worked from scratch, Vidushaan told us that he struggled with creating a name for himself, creating an audience, and gaining exposure to develop his talent. “After 10 years of constant struggles and challenges, I have finally been able to create an audience for myself as well as create a lot more music,” he commented, adding that his recent release Porali has crossed 60,000 views in just a month.
When asked what we could expect from him in the coming months, Vidushaan told us he has a lot of music he’s already worked on. “Even this song was something I had written before we went into this mess,” he said, adding that he wants to hold on to the songs already made and release them when he feels the time is right.
Until then, he will continue creating music he believes to be relevant for the times we are living in, and fulfil his duty as an artist.
