Combining elements of comedy, music and poetry, The Asia Project gave a performance in the JBK Commons on Feb. 13.

The spoken word duo, consisting of poet Asia Samson and guitarist Jollan Aurelio, covered a wide variety of topics including nostalgia, love and Samson’ s battle with cancer, which Samson called his “awakening” to begin performing poetry.

“When I perform something that I believe in, it’s more meaningful,” said Samson.

Since 2009, the group has toured more than 400 college campuses and has been featured on TEDX as well as Def Poetry Jam. When asked, Samson said that his best accomplishments were personal, citing his victory over cancer, marriage and the birth of his son as his greatest achievements.

Guitarist Jollan Aurelio described his role in the group as atmospheric, saying his pieces were meant to emulate Samson’s poetry.
“It’s kind of like a score to a movie,” said Aurelio.

Reed Copelin, a junior education major and consultant to the CORE office, helped coordinate the event and said that his aim was to bring something “a little different” to the campus.

“It’s positive and encouraging,” said Copelin. “Maybe this will put our foot in the door for future things like this.”
Copelin also called the event “a success” and said that everyone who attended “really got spoken to.”

The dominant theme through the performance was hope. In their last poem, Samson focused on defiance in the face of hardship.