Cafe Samo: Music for Thought

On Friday Feb. 2 and Saturday Feb. 3 choir students took to the Humanities Center stage with soulful renditions of both current and throwback songs, once again bringing us the annual Café Samo. Such as years past, the show was almost entirely student run, with these years student directors being Hannah Cohen (’18), Zoe D’Andrea (’18), Sumta Sandhu (’18) and Pablo Solano (’18). The four seniors were responsible for holding auditions, selecting the acts that get in, creating a schedule, making programs and working with the av guys to put everything together. “While planning and preparing for the show, I was overwhelmed with how much needed to be done. But I loved doing all of it! It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had at Samohi. I had the opportunity to put together an entire show that, hopefully, everyone loved!” Sandhu said. The cabaret style performances gives students the opportunity to take a break from the usual classical choir music and allows them to work with more lighthearted songs from various genres. This years performances featured a variety of different selections, from Etta James “Sunday Kind of Love” to Sam Smith's “Too Good at Goodbyes” to The Beatles “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”. “Café Samo provides an outlet for students to experience more contemporary/pop music performance in what is an otherwise classical program. In this way it is an important part of a well-rounded music curriculum,” Choir Director Jeffe Huls said. Students participating are able to use a lot of creativity when planning their performances, as they are the ones in charge of arranging, cutting, timing, and setting up everything that they think is best for their individual performances. For a majority of the acts, this included implementing other student musicians. “My favorite part about Cafe Samo this year was being able to work with other musicians at our school in collaboration to create something really special altogether. Its really cool to be able to arrange a song, make it your own, and perform it live in front of an audience,” Dilay Akcora (’19) said. While Café Samo serves as a huge fundraiser for the choir program, it also serves as a learning ground for students.  “I think Café Samo is a fundamental part of the choir program. Not only because it’s a fundraiser that helps up be able to put on concerts like that, but because it gives the students an opportunity to do something entirely on their own. They put together their acts and go into an audition. It’s real life experience,” Sandhu said.