India is known for its big fat weddings. The Indians love spending on wedding ceremonies. In the recent years, the concept of wedding has evolved a little, if not completely. The major change being—people are no more interested in a simple ceremony. They want a memorable gathering of their kind. Weddings have always been big business churners for a gamut of verticals that are associated with it; be it catering, decor or trousseau. But what has captured the imagination of the people is the fun and entertainment quotient attached with the weddings.
Of lately, the popular local orchestra with vernacular talent has given way to leading Bollywood singers; and the good old giddha and bhangra at ladies’ sangeet has now turned into fully orchestrated staged performances.
With his unique blend of music and humour, wedding rap artist, product designer and comic strip writer, Siddharth Sood aka MC Sid has become a popular name at weddings these days. He has been performing at big ticket weddings all over India and abroad, including destination weddings at Goa, Bombay, Delhi, Agra, Madrid, Bangkok, etc.
MC Sid wears many creative hats and is well known for his unique planning of weddings. In a telephonic conversation with Guardian 20, MC Sid talks about the changing trends in the Indian wedding style.
Q. What is your program all about?
I am a freestyle rap artist having created a new act called ‘Bollywood Rap’ which is an interactive act with a mix of music, humour and Bollywood masala to entertain the guests. It’s unplanned and everything about it is made up on the spot. I have a different kind of style to play. My music is primarily old school hip hop tunes mixed with bhangra break beats and the all important “tumbi” element made popular by Punjabi MC. My humour is such that I pull the legs of the guests in a manner that it does not hurt the sentiments of anyone.
Yes, there are times at youngsters’ parties that the host wants me to be extra humorous. I do that only if I feel the g are supporting and willing.
Q. How is your performance different from that of other artists?
A. It is unprompted and far more interactive and has a great “family vibe” meant for a wedding atmosphere.
Q. Who are your targeted customers?
A. Anyone who wants to have a different kind of wedding in a more interactive way specially destination weddings with lots of NRIs who are truly amazed with an Indian Rap act.
Q. How do you describe your wedding plans to your customers?
A. Couples who desire something unique during their marriage ceremony are very happy with the way I plan it. Couples want something fresh. I help them develop personal acts (special jokes on their friends and family). These are better than the monotonous old singers and keep the youngsters, who are the real party animals, in a continuous mood to rage. My act has a blend of activities with dance, music and fun on stage.
Q. What are the latest trends in wedding music in the city for the season? What kind of assignments are you doing most this season?
A. The wedding music industry has fundamentally changed over the last few years. Now most of the movies have wedding songs and these along with party songs are hot numbers to burn the dance floor on sangeet and cocktail functions this season. Clients earlier preferred live folk singers but now the younger generation prefers percussionists and live performers on Electronic Bollywood dance music. I am mostly performing at destination weddings all over the country, Goa being a favourite with clients. Hua Hin in Thailand is also very popular.
Q. What trends are you expecting to see in the coming year? And what trends are going out of fashion?
A. The most trending thing this season is to have a “sundowner”. People are getting very comfortable enjoying early hours, raging hard and then calling it an early night. These are ideally suited for welcome parties which lead to early morning functions the following day, keeping the guests fresh, enthusiastic and healthy.
Q. Any memorable/bizarre client experience/anecdote?
A. Yes, I cannot forget this incident. A few years back I was invited to perform at a lovely wedding in Jodhpur. The main functions were held at the luxurious Umaid Bhavan Palace. It was the most eclectic wedding I have ever performed at and fortunately the guests highly appreciated my performance. The host Vivek was very pleased and he gifted me a customised set of cufflinks with my initials “SS” handcrafted on them a month later at another occasion. Truly memorable, God bless them.
Q. What are your future plans?
A. My rap album is complete and we are all set to shoot the video for the first single. Hopefully, this month we should be ready to have a blockbuster release. We are in talks with a few movie studios for getting the tracks released in Bollywood movies and things are looking up.
Other than that I have co-founded a “wedding app” company called “WedTalk”. We have a very successful group with over 25,000 members who are enthusiasts and we cater to all wedding related products and services. Our portal, www.wedtalk.com is live and as a mobile first company our app was launched on 7 November 2015, as a Diwali gift to all the couples about to tie the knot.