Musician Devesh Chandra began learning to play the tabla — Indian hand drums — at age three, learning the sounds of Northern Indian classical music from his mother, renowned sitarist Veena Chandra. Today, Devesh and Veena are both working musicians and educators, serving as artist associates at Williams College in Massachusetts, collaborating with musicians of all genres, and performing across the United States and abroad.

Recently, they have brought their talents to smaller, less traditional venues in New York state: Schenectady School District classrooms. The Chandras have been visiting elementary, middle, and high schools in the district for the past year to share their music with students, many of whom have cultural ties to Indian music and art.

Schenectady, New York, which is about 20 miles northwest of Albany, is home to a large Guyanese population — 48 percent of the school district’s population is of Guyanese descent. Guyana, a small country in South America, has ties to India through British colonialism — both countries were under British rule during the 19th century, and hundreds of thousands of Indian indentured servants, primarily from the northern part of the subcontinent, were brought to Guyana during that time.

In addition to the Guyanese community, there is a substantial Indo-Caribbean and South Asian population in Schenectady.

With these cultural connections in mind, Veena Chandra brought the idea for a series of multidisciplinary arts activities highlighting classical Indian traditions in Schenectady to Ellen McHale, executive director of the New York Folklore Society.

“An important aspect of our mission as musicians is engaging and helping give back to the community,” Veena Chandra told the National Endowment for the Arts via email. “When I came across the Our Town initiative by the NEA, I felt like it fit that mission.”

McHale was enthusiastic about the project, and in 2023, the New York Folklore Society, in partnership with the city’s school district and local religious institutions, received a $50,000 Our Town grant to carry out these activities through 2024.

“New York Folklore has not had a lot of connections with the Guyanese community in our city, and so for us, this project has been important for us to make those linkages,” McHale said.

In addition to classroom residencies, New York Folklore has put together a number of other events around the city, including other community-based concerts. This summer, they are working with local mural artist Raeshelle Frasier on a mural for the Guyanese Community Center. Frasier will work with members of the community on ideas and create the mural in collaboration with local students who will be paid for their work.

Programming also includes more contemporary traditions, including chutney soca performances. Chutney soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname that developed in the 1980s, blending styles from India and the Caribbean. Later this summer, New York Folklore will offer a Bollywood movie night with performances from dancers and musicians preceding the film.

“In the long run, we hope that this project will contribute to building a more culturally aware and empathetic community, where individuals from diverse backgrounds can come together to celebrate and learn from one another,” Chandra said.

McHale said that this project is special because of the sustained nature of these activities, providing opportunities for the community to engage with different artforms throughout the year. But she notes that bringing these traditions into the classroom is at the heart of this project.

The Schenectady School District has adopted a model known as “Community Schools.” This model is based in providing services and support that are tailored to a particular community’s needs. Working with a community liaison to assess those needs, offerings can include laundry facilities or food distribution. Incorporating students’ culture into lessons is part of being responsive to the community.

“I know kids have come up [Veena and Devesh] after a performance and said, ‘Oh, I have a harmonium in my house,’ or ‘I hear that in my community,’ or ‘Do you know that song that somebody sings?’ It's really given kids a chance to connect with their heritage in a way that a casual concert would not,” McHale said.

Introducing these traditions via Veena and Devesh’s performances has benefited teachers as well, particularly in orchestra and band programs, McHale said.

“You've got another opportunity for string instrument students to engage with their instrument with another musical form that may not be familiar to them and that stretches them as musicians,” she noted. “And because North Indian classical music is improvised, [you’re able to] bring in that whole idea of improvisation, not just from jazz, but now a traditional musical perspective.”

Veena said that the response from the community has been deeply fulfilling for both her and Devesh, especially from the students, including those who are not of Indo-Guyanese descent.

“Students in Schenectady schools come from diverse cultural backgrounds and underserved communities,” she said. “We have been pleased with how eagerly the students have engaged with us and embraced the music and culture.”

“Ultimately, our vision is to create a lasting impact that goes beyond the classroom, empowering students to become global citizens who value and respect the richness of the cultural tapestry in their community.”