2010 Filipino American History Month Celebration

Ron Quesada melds melodic Kulintang gong music with folk rock in a live, electronic explosion. Quesada is a Filipino-American multi-instrumentalist specializing in Filipino music. He began studying music at age 8, and has since become a seasoned performer and music instructor. His interest in Filipino cultural performance was ignited when he joined the Bay Area's premier rondalla, The Haranistas de Manila, under the direction of Celestino "Bayani" Tan. He began studying kulintang at SF State's prestigious College of Ethnic Studies (40 years strong!), under Master Kalanduyan. He has been performing and critiquing Filipino music for over ten years and for this he has traveled to Manila, Acapulco, Toronto, Boston, Southern California, and all over the Bay Area. His work has covered the traditional to the experimental, and has a complicated viewpoint on the landscape of Filipino music in the diaspora. He has a Bachelor's degree in Ethnomusicology of the Philippines and Hawai'i from San Francisco State University and led a kulintang ensemble at University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

Listen to Fr. René B. Javellana, Associate Professor of the Fine Arts Program at the School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University, discuss the intersection between Philippine art and social change.