Sidd Coutto Plans His First Improv Musical In Pune

Sidd Coutto Photo: Roycin D'Souza

Mumbai audiences are clued into how Sidd Coutto, the uninhibited performer that he is, can rope them in and make them a part of his show. In 2009, while playing a Bob Marley tribute set in Mumbai, as well as in 2011, when Coutto launched his debut solo album Sunny Side Up, he wove a short comedy rock segment into his show to ensure that the audience participated. Coutto asked the audience to throw words at him and broke into impromptu songs including one on Katy Perry at his album launch.

In Pune, Coutto plans to build an entire musical with some help from his audience. “I’ll build a storyline with what I get from the audience,” says Coutto. The idea of the musical came up because Coutto was bored with the concept of performing a bunch of songs with just an acoustic guitar for accompaniment. “It is a singer songwriter night, but I didn’t want to take the easy way out,” he says.

Like he did with his debut album launch, Coutto will use a looper and vocal processor to form a one-man set up on stage. It’s not as easy as he makes it look on stage though. “I went through hell a month before that solo launch gig. I taught myself all that I could about the loop machine.” Coutto, who is also a multi instrumentalist, explains that looping while performing or live-sound looping can be terribly tricky. “It’s not like playing with a band. When a band member goes wrong, he can correct himself in the next instant, but with the looper, you’re stuck if you don’t trigger it off and tap out at the precise moment,” he says.

The chances of Coutto playing his older material at the show are minimal, unless of course, the audience resorts to some crookedness. So if audiences in Pune, shout out “ganja”, maybe Coutto will play his most famous hit “Smoke Some Ganja” or he might just do a brand new version of the song for his latest experiment that is being dubbed as the  “world’s first improv musical.”

Sidd Coutto performs at Swig, Pune on June 6. Entry: Free