Music and bringing change through it is what musician Vithushan Dayaparan does. The singer from Batticaloa aims to promote Sri Lankan Tamil rap culture to the world and perform with international rappers.
Vithushan is working on new music and finding international streaming to promote local music. He spoke to the Youth Observer about the struggles, music, and taking the local rap culture of Tamil Nadu to the global arena.
Q: What got you into music?
A: Music has always been a part of my life, from a very young age. Watching my mom and uncle sing for the church choir from a very young age grew my interest in music and I started singing along with them. This continued into my school days, where two of my mentors, Sangeetha Poosanam Jeeva Joseph and Latha Jayakumar, helped me discover my musical talent and encouraged me to participate in school events such as Tamil Day and English Day in order to develop my talent. In this island wide singing competition, I was awarded first place three times. Through participating in these competitions, I gained more musical exposure and an interest in continuing music as a full-time career as a full-time career.
Q: How do you identify your music, and what inspires it?
A: I was more interested in aviation and becoming a pilot because I always wanted to do something unique and out of the ordinary.However, after some time, I actually became more interested and passionate about music in comparison to aviation.
I started participating in school events with my friends in which we would perform cinema songs and Tamil boy band songs as a group. It was at this point in my musical journey that I decided to write and sing my own song with one of my good friends, Sagishna Xavier, did the musical composition. My first studio experience was in Batticaloa at a low-exposure church studio. When working on my first song, I was introduced to rap culture.
Q: What are the challenges faced in the industry?
A: One of the main challenges I faced in the music industry was the lack of musical exposure in Sri Lanka, specifically Batticaloa at the time. I was the first rapper from Batticaloa and the Eastern province, who had taken the scene to Malaysia and India. As a beginner in the independent music stream, it was exceedingly difficult to get local radio stations and music channels to play the songs, so it was a struggle to gain credit as well as an audience for my songs.
Working from scratch, I struggled with creating a name for myself, creating an audience, and gaining exposure to develop my 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. My two recent releases, ‘Kassu’ and ‘Naan Our Muttalanga’, have both crossed one lakh views.
In recent times, a lot more platforms have been introduced in Sri Lanka that have definitely helped in growing the reach of my songs, such as Spotify. However, what continues to be a struggle for someone who chooses music as a full-time career is the financial aspect, as it is very difficult to find producers and gain royalties/revenues from songs that get broadcast on TV or the radio.
Q: How do you want to progress in your music career?
A: In 2020, I joined a band called Est4Lyf. I created this band with the intention of creating a platform for all rappers/artists within the eastern part of the province. Through EST4LYF, I invested in creating music with these artists and marketing it on digital platforms to help create a Tamil hip hop culture in Sri Lanka that is non-existent at the moment.
Currently, I am working under the music label of Jay Records to release many of our songs on several digital streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify. Within the next ten years, I hope to have established a hip hop culture in Sri Lanka, hosted several live-in concerts, and had approximately 100 rappers represent the country with millions of views and streams.