Ustad Amjad Ali Khan pained by TV musical contests

NEW DELHI: Musical contests on television may be chartbusters but sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is pained by these ubiquitous shows as he feels they are robbing Indians of their unique identity.

The 61-year-old musician is also upset with some Indian TV channels for "blindly aping" foreign media houses and expressed concern that they were "losing their identity".

"There are musical contests going on in one channel or another all the time. In Indian classical music, we have a tradition of sitting and singing. Now everybody is dancing. Viewers should realise that this is not real music," he said.

Khan was of the view that Indians were "losing our identity because of the commercialisation of music" and advised the youth to strike a balance between technique, westernisation and tradition.

His comments came on a day when he, accompanied by his sons Amaan and Ayaan, enthralled a gathering of dignitaries with a sarod performance in Parliament to mark the 60th anniversary of India's independence.

"It's a great honour. It's the first time we three are performing together in the Central Hall of Parliament," said Khan, the first musician to render Mahatma Gandhi's favourite tunes 'Vaishnav Jan To Tene Kahiye' and 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' on the sarod.