Filipino band Samasama Project playing special concert this Friday in West Loop

A Chicago group is making sure the contributions of Filipino composers aren't forgotten.

A special concert happening this Friday aims to do so by blending Filipino music and history into a one-of-a-kind experience.

Filipino music band Samasama Project is rehearsing for the concert called the Great Filipino Songbook.

"More than just being a performing arts group. We are also, I would say, beacons of Filipino culture, Filipino music culture," said lead singer Lou Lella Rose.

The Great Filipino Songbook features songs by great Filipino composers, as well as Filipino history.

"It's an ever-evolving process and body of work which has encompassed one, the live cabaret show. Two, we're now adding multimedia components to it. Multimedia, meaning like short-form content that we are actually showing at the concert itself," Rose said.

She says the band first began playing a form of the show in 2023 after discovering many Americans don't know much about the Philippines.

"What I want people to come away with in this show is just that recognizance that Filipinos throughout these years have been contributing to the fabric of American society," Rose said.

John Kniker and Ran Savilla are guitarists in the band.

"A lot of the songs are from the turn of the century ... so like the early 1900s," Kniker said. "This is like, really the culmination of the work of the band."

"I feel like it's like important and  likeI have a responsibility to like to introduce this kinda of genre, like, music to like our audiences," Savilla said.

In fact, sharing Filipino music is why the band was created back in 2008.

"I had been approached by the Old Town School of Folk Music to find Filipino music for their World Music Wednesday program, and I looked around Chicago. I know so many musicians, but I didn't find any that were playing Filipino music," Rose said.

So she did it herself, and the band has been around ever since—playing at cultural and private events, and now, in a show that weaves together music, heritage, and history. 

"Kind of like addressing the need of Filipinos that are migrants, that are missing home, or Filipino Americans that grew up here that are looking to connect ... being enable to embrace them and give them comfort," Rose said.

The Great Filipino Songbook is happening this Friday at 7 p.m. at the Epiphany Center for the Performing Arts at 201 S. Ashland Ave.

Samasama Project also has songs available on Spotify.