SatSound (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I too met Pt. Birju Maharaj-ji at the concert for that workshop. He made a very deep impression on me. I'm perhaps too green to that to care about the socio-economic structure surrounding the form. What was clear however was his full and deep immersion- rhythm, song, dramaturgy, dance - and so free and simple in manner. He is a tower amongst artists.

holikarang (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I agree with you on this, the abhinaya part is losing importance in kathak due to some social reasons and it's such a pity...it's not a matter of being more polished, just more focused on rhythm!

SunshineRani (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

durga arya rules ;-)

tripmonk0 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I once met Maharaj-ji sometime in the 80s when he performed in London. I saw him and his group, inc Saswati Sen, 3 times in the 2 weeks he was touring there. Nick

disastarr89 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I watched your other clip with Gopi ji, i had to stop it after a few secs...anyways I met Birju maharaj-ji today (cuz im doin a workshop with him) - simply put, there is no other like him...there r a lot of great artists but none like him, i bet if u meet him in person u will understand, i jus cant find words to describe..too deep...

tripmonk0 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Please reread my response as to saying I need to 'know' more. I never said rhythm is shallow. Don't read into what isn't there! We're talking about an art form with very defined rules here.Are you trained in Kathak? Tap is very controlled compared to, say, Gopi Krishna's style. I'm uploading a clip of him with Birju-ji on tabla & Durga Lal on pakhawaj. See what you think. I'm also uploading various stuff from Brit TV too. Nick

chhandam (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Thank you for your response. But, Kathak has traditionally been very raw (shambhu maharaj). The "polished" look that you are talking about has only come about with the choreography influence of the west rather than the spontaneous upaj. Would you say that jazz tap (not broadway) is sloppy? Its the same thing - from the soul at any given point in time. "Rhythm based" as you say can be EXTREMELY deep if you choose to go into complex layakari. Looks like you need to see and understand more.

tripmonk0 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I have cips of Sitara Devi & Gopi Krishna but I find their style rather sloppy, especially Gopi-ji's. Too much flinging of arms out with no real control. Certainly dynamism but not crisply done. The problem with Kathak as opposed to, say, Bharatanatyam, is that it tends to be very rhythmn based when it's actually much, much deeper than that with all kinds of abhinaya(emotional drama). Nick

sangeetaPL (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

There is no doubt a beautiful artistry in Maharaji's dancing (and singing). He is also very good at making his art relevant to the audience through vivid descriptions. But what is disconcerting to me is the imbalanced reverence (politically motivated) for this one particular style when there are many others who are not talked about enough, but who offer such exciting, soulful, and rhythmically superior perspectives of Kathak - Sitara Devi, Gopi Krishan, Sunayana Hazari, Gangani, Chitresh Das!

pushpanjali (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Ohh ok, thank you!