Toronto-based Tamil rapper and director
Shan Vincent de Paul, who is in the process of finishing his third studio album
Made in Jaffna, has released its lead single titled One Hundred Thousand Flowers last week.
One Hundred Thousand Flowers is an evocative and poignant track that tackles the issue of Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka that began with anti-Tamil pogroms in 1956 and worsened during the 26-year-long military campaign waged by LTTE against the Sri Lankan government.
“This is easily the most important song of my life… I feel like I spent my life mastering my craft just so I can write something like this,” says the Jaffna-born rapper and director. Born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, Shan and his family fled the country due to the civil war and arrived in Canada as refugees. His music forces listeners to ask themselves tough questions tied to fame, popular culture, identity, and humanity itself.
Produced by fellow Toronto artists Yanchan and La+ch, the song puts SVDP’s lyricism on full display while touching on themes of resilience, accountability, and identity. The production moves from haunting strings, mridangam and trap drums to gradually exploding into a full-blown punk anthem.
You can watch the video here:
