About Iskwelahang Pilipino and the IP Rondalla

Iskwelahang Pilipino of Boston (IP) came to life in 1976 through the efforts of families interested in developing a community around the values of cultural education and volunteerism. The school is, to date, the longest continually running Filipino school of its kind in the United States, holding classes throughout the school year on Sunday afternoons. Its longevity is due completely to the efforts of devoted parents, teachers, students, and alumni who make up the extended IP family. The Iskwelahang Pilipino Rondalla formed in 1986 through the vision of Cristina Castro who, with a shoestring budget, searched for several years to find a teacher while building up an arsenal of instruments for the children. The first generation of players gathered for a weekend to learn the basics from classical guitarist, Michael Dadap, who developed the IP Rondalla as a versatile ensemble capable of playing folk music and complex concert music alike. Not long after the students became adept with their instruments, they found that they could incorporate aspects of dance and movement into their repertoire, a first for rondallas in general and a signature of the IP Rondalla to this day. Through the years, the IP Rondalla has flourished as a truly Filipino American expression, incorporating into its repertoire aspects of traditional and contemporary music from the Philippines and the United States. The ensemble has toured up and down the East Coast as well as venturing to the Philippines in 1990, Europe in 1994, and the Philippines again in 1998. The members have played before former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos, at NATO in Brussels, and for the United Nations in New York.

The IP Rondalla has had a tradition of finding its teachers from within the rondalla itself, so that one generation of players has become leaders of the next. Past students turned teachers have included Christi-Anne Castro, Eric Liwanag, Antonio Endriga, Elsa Christiansen, Melissa Liwanag, James Concepcion, and Alberto Bhoge. The love of music and lifelong friendships fostered by the experience of playing with the IP Rondalla keeps the alumni within the IP family. Pasko sa Amerika is an expression of several generations of members who have come together from all over the country in a special reunion.