The Autonomous Region

The Mission of The Autonomous Region

The Autonomous Region is dedicated to making live music accessible, inspiring community engagement, and celebrating cultural heritage through jazz. Rooted in San Francisco’s Chinatown and the Filipino and Asian American communities, we blend classic jazz with the rich traditions of pre-colonial Philippine music, pioneering a genre we call Kul Jazz.

Founded as the house band for the International Hotel Manilatown Center’s Club Mandalay, we continue our commitment to providing family-friendly, affordable live performances that bring people together across generations and backgrounds. Through our music, we strive to support the cultural and economic vitality of our home neighborhood, encouraging audiences to experience and invest in the vibrancy of Chinatown and beyond.

With every performance, we honor our ancestors, amplify our stories, and contribute to San Francisco’s legacy as a world-class city of art, resilience, and cultural fusion.

In 2025 The Autonomous Region looks forward to another year of community building at the I-Hotel and Club Mandalay and stretching their creative wings with even more new jazz arrangements and Kul Jazz compositions.

A Brief History of The Autonomous Region

The Autonomous Region was founded in the spring of 2015 as the house band for the International Hotel Manilatown Center’s Club Mandalay, a community-driven pop-up jazz club in San Francisco’s Chinatown/North Beach district. Established to provide family-friendly and affordable live music, spoken word, and dance performances, the ensemble quickly became a cornerstone of the I-Hotel’s cultural programming.

Within this supportive creative environment, The Autonomous Region began composing original works that fused jazz with pre-colonial Philippine tribal music, leading to the development of a new genre they call Kul Jazz. Inspired by the rhythmic and melodic traditions of kulintang music from Mindanao, Philippines, this fusion honors ancestral sounds while innovating within the jazz tradition.

Over the years, The Autonomous Region has expanded its reach beyond Club Mandalay, performing at major cultural events, live radio broadcasts, and community gatherings throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Their debut album, Sugilanon, released in March 2024, solidified their role as pioneers of Filipino-American jazz.

Today, The Autonomous Region continues its dual mission of community-building and musical innovation. Through monthly performances, cultural partnerships, and a growing repertoire of Kul Jazz compositions, the ensemble remains dedicated to uplifting Filipino, Asian American, and working-class communities while contributing to San Francisco’s rich musical landscape.