Western music, dance pollutes Indian culture: Pt Birju Maharaj

With foreign dance forms like salsa and hip hop making their way into Indian films and dance reality shows, Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj feels western dance and music is "polluting" Indian culture.
According to him, climbing up a rope and jumping on the ground or getting on top of another person is not dance but "tamasha".
"The mixing of western music with Indian music has polluted our culture. Indian dance and music is a form of meditation. We spend hours to learn a mere mudra, but for these dance forms, all you need is a few classes," he says.

Maharaj, who is the scion of the Lucknow Gharana of Kathak dance, refuses to acknowledge anything devoid of "depth" as dance.
"Climbing on a rope, jumping back, getting on top of another person - they are calling that dance, but that is circus. Do it. Show it. Just don't call it dance. Call it by some other name - circus, drama, tamasha - but how can you call it dance?"
"I do not consider hopping around to be dance. It is something that does not have any depth," he says.

The artiste, who also has an excellent command over Hindustani classical music, says that barring the classical western instruments like a piano or a violin, most musical intruments from the other side of the globe produce nothing but "noise".

Besides giving scintillating stage performances for over half a century, Maharaj has also sung and choreographed for several Bollywood songs, starting from 'Kanha Main Tose Haari' from Satyajit Ray's 'Shatranj ke Khilaadi' to 'Mohe Rang Do' from Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Baajirao Mastaani'.
He is, however, against any kind of fusion between multiple dance forms.
He says," Aam ke ped par imli mat ugaao (Do not grow a tamarind on a mango tree)."
But, he defends his composition in 'Dil Toh Paagal Hai' where Bollywood actor Madhuri Dixit performs a kathak sequence on drum beats.
He says it was the rhythm that captured his imagination.

"Once I was in Spain when a Spanish dancer wanted to perform with me. So we did perform different dance forms together - he performed their traditional flamenco and tap dance and I presented kathak - it is all about the beats," he says.
The danseur is extremely particular about the lyrics of the songs that he choreographs for, and is critical of parents who allow their children to dance on tracks they do not understand the meaning of.
"Children do not understand the lyrics and are dancing on songs like "Choli ke neeche kya hai." It is an adult song when it comes to the words, but they are not aware of that and surprisingly, parents do not mind either," he says.

The 78-year-old doyen of Indian classical dance recently performed at Sabrang 2016 organised by Kalahetu at Islamic Cultural Centre here.
He presented the 'Baithak Bhav' accompanied with his soulful singing and abhinaya, speaking with his eyes, voice, and torso.