Chhandayan was born in 1984 in Calcutta, India; our main activity was to promote young talent, giving opportunities to perform on public platforms together with outstanding veterans. This mission was fulfilled through quarterly sessions of small concerts culminating in an annual festival at a bigger venue with the audience members ranging from 1,000 to 3,000. In 1998 Chhandayan got re-established
in the USA as a not-for-profit organization, first operating in the state of New York as a small organization limited to offering classes and occasional small-scale concerts. Soon after that, we started spreading our wings out to neighboring states which included New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia Pennsylvania and even down to Florida. The gradual popularity of Chhandayan classes materialized not only through the increasing number of students, but also through adding more locations and faculty. Today Chhandayan has a running number of students ranging from 250-300 in our regular classes, and many advanced students now around the world. Our concert series started drawing in more audience which led us to bigger venues. The popularity demanded that we present more often and in more locations and the reason behind the popularity is primarily the quality that we have maintained. By presenting some of the best from this country and overseas in the most ideal settings for such kind of inspirational music to manifest, the quality is assured. The rapid growth of the organization led us to the culmination of presenting an All Night concert in Manhattan, in the traditional manner, every year for the last ten years on the second Saturday of May. This event has in its own course grown to be a global event, drawing people in not only from North America but South America and Europe as well. Thousands of people have been enthralled and elevated by the sublime quality of music that have naturally outpoured from the heart and soul of the greatest maestros from the world of Indian classical music. The musicians, while onstage, have always wondered about the miracle of getting the type of audience that they find with us. The audience clearly has acknowledged these concerts to be a very special experience which they don’t get anywhere else. It is the purity, the unassuming grandeur, and the incomparable level of competence that singles out Chhandayan events from everything else happening today in North America. And most importantly, it didn’t happen only once, it happens all the time. That is because of our hard work and sincerity and also at the same time justifies our presence as the most significant organization of Indian music in North America.
