MacArthur Fellow Vijay Gupta On Making Music Accessible For All

Gupta grew up in an immigrant family after his parents came to the U.S. from West Bengal in India. "My mom was married to my dad when she was 17. My dad was 23 and when he came here, he was actually undocumented. He worked in kitchens and worked baggage claim at JFK and somehow music was their refuge," Gupta says. Growing up, music constantly played in his house, he says. "There was devotional Hindu spiritual music or Bengali folk music," Gupta says. "Music was that place of respite, but it was also a place of service."