A bold Bombay mix

Trying to get hold of Shri, the classical Indian musician best known in this country for his collaborations with DJ and producer Badmarsh, is not easy.

At first, no one knows if he is in England; then it transpires he is in his native Bombay. Trying to reach him on his mobile proves futile. Finally, I track him down on e-mail. He says he typed his reply perched between a mountain goat and a peak. I think he is laughing at my efforts to find him, but I'm not sure.

Shri - an accomplished tabla drum, bass and flute player - may reside in India, but his music lives on in England - even if he has recently swapped London's clubland for the chance to score a musical. Strictly Dandia is the new production from Tamasha, Britain's leading Asian theatre company, which made its name with the 1996 play that later became a film, East Is East.

Dandia is a twist on Baz Lurhmann's movie, Strictly Ballroom. It's set among today's Gujarati communities of North London during the annual Navratri festivals, the nine days of dancing and celebration in autumn that precede Diwali. In pitting traditional Indian culture against the reality of 21st-century Britain through the sensuality and energy of live music, this is familiar territory for Shri, who in his work with Badmarsh and his collaborations with Nitin Sawhney before that, has pushed against convention while preserving his cultural roots.

Shri laughs at the idea that he may have considered copying the music of Navratri (a Hindu celebration inspired by folklore) in composing his score. 'Have you heard that music?' he asks. 'I told Tamasha at the start that there was going to be no "strictly" anything, and luckily they agreed. Of course I grew up with Navratri on the streets. And my native musical heritage is my strength, but by that I not only mean Indian classical but also folk, rock, jazz, pop and salsa. I'm mindful of tradition, it gives me a sense of how much it can be distorted!'

Unsurprisingly then, Shri has brought all manner of flavours and textures to his score, honouring the influence of hip hop and club culture on Gujarati communities as well as more enduring music forms. He says he writes with a sense of drama in mind when composing, so writing music for a story posed no problems. 'The musical is based on the mixed relationship between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy, and since I have had experience of a mixed marriage, I have some sympathy with the narrative,' he says. 'But the spiritual, emotional and social implications of the music are the most important.

This project gave me a chance to explore what Dandia music meant. With a twist, of course.'

Shri credits his experimentalism to working with Badmarsh on programmed beats and samples. 'It helped to sit in front of the computer and think of what Badmarsh might like to hear,' he says. He is working on a solo record and has recently collaborated with Joanna McGregor, The Britten Sinfonia and Andy Sheppard on a project called The Art Of Fugue. And as for those tired Asian Underground cliches? 'It would be nice to have the 'White West London rock underground' or 'A sort of Reddish Cornish dance underground,' he says. 'I don't know why we get all the attention and these guys get left out.'