Rondalla teacher and musician honored by the National Endowment of the Arts

TAGUMPAY DE LEON

Among this year's class of National Heritage fellows is a musician who specializes in rondalla, a traditional Spanish-influenced style of music from the Philippines using various string instruments.

On Tuesday, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced its newest class that includes nine  individuals and groups who represent the richness and breadth of America's folk and traditional arts. Tagumpay De Leon of Burbank, Calif. is among the inductees.

“The diverse art forms of the National Heritage Fellows allow us to experience and appreciate the rich cultural traditions that make up America,” said Ann Eilers, acting chairman for the National Endowment for the Arts. “It is inspiring how these artistic practices continue the legacy of generations past, while blending contemporary elements as they continue into the future.”

This year's class of fellows represents the cultural diversity of the United States and includes artists and creators from Filipino, African American, Mexican American, Native, Irish American and Puerto Rican backgrounds, whose array of mediums span many kinds of music, ribbon and lace work, tap dance and filmmaking.

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.

The NEA is the only arts funder in America—public or private—that provides access to the arts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Each year, we award thousands of grants to provide all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation. Fellows will be awarded $25,000 each.

De Leon is a master teacher and performer of rondalla, a traditional Spanish-influenced form of music from the Philippines. Within the Filipinx diaspora, the rondalla is profoundly meaningful as a key cultural symbol. 

De Leon has promoted this musical tradition to thousands of Filipinx Americans as fellow performers, students, and audience members. 

De Leon was born in 1945 in Nueva Ecija, Republic of the Philippines. His mother, Illuminada Mendoza, was an accomplished pianist. His father, National Artist Felipe Padilla De Leon, was a bandleader and composer. De Leon first studied the instruments he found around the house: the piano, the accordion, and the violin. When his siblings formed the De Leon Rondalla, he chose the upright bass to accompany them, an instrument at which he excelled. The De Leon children played for family and community functions in 1960s Manila.

De Leon emigrated to the United States in 1971, settled in Burbank, California, and began performing rondalla within the Filipinx diasporic community. De Leon first played bandurria (a 14-stringed tenor rondalla mandolin) and guitar with the Pamanlahi Dance Troupe, then worked with the Fil-Am Cultural Family Group under musical director Nitoy Gonzales of the famed Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company. De Leon joined the group as the assistant director in 1985 and performed widely in Southern California.

Within a broad network of West Coast Filipinx-American musicians and dancers, De Leon rose to prominence as a teacher of rondalla instruments, an ensemble leader, and an expert on instrumental repertoire. His own group, the Rondalla Club of Los Angeles (RCLA), continues to perform with new members and experienced instrumentalists alike who play the bandurria, laúd, octavina, guitar, and upright bass. According to one RCLA member, rather than preach the importance of history and tradition, De Leon’s stalwart reverence for their repertoire of traditional folk songs radiates outward to both fellow players and audiences.

De Leon uses both the classroom space and the performance stage to steward the rondalla tradition and transmit this rich heritage to the Filipinx American community. Since 1991, the RCLA has regularly performed at Pilipino Culture Nights in many Southern California colleges and universities. De Leon is a popular instructor at the University of California, Riverside, where he teaches rondalla to eager Filipinx-American undergraduates of all experience levels.

With the Fil-Am Family Cultural Group, De Leon performed at the Chateau-Gombert International Folk Dance Festival in Marseille, France, in 1990 and 1993. In 2002, De Leon was a master artist in Alliance for California Traditional Arts' Apprenticeship Program. When not teaching or performing, De Leon plays bass with the Filipino American Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles.

For the second year, the NEA will commemorate the NEA National Heritage Fellows with a film that visits with the fellows where they live and practice these traditional art forms. On November 17, 2021, the virtual presentation will be webcast free to the public at arts.gov. More information will follow.

The National Heritage Fellowships are the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Including the 2021 class, the Arts Endowment has awarded 458 National Heritage Fellowships, recognizing artists working in more than 200 distinct art forms, including Japanese classical dancer Gertrude Yukie Tsutsumi, Tejano musician and singer Manuel "Cowboy" Donley, Passamaquoddy basketmaker Molly Neptune Parker, leatherworker James F. Jackson, oud player and composer Rahim AlHaj, and quilting community advocate Carolyn Mazloomi. 

More information about the National Heritage Fellows is available on the Arts Endowment’s website.