Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Antonio Macasieb Wharton freshman Andrew Dudum. Dudm performs with his band for the Rock the Mic for Darfur concert last Friday in the Hall of Flags in Houston Hall. [Click to enlarge]

While other students were easing into the college experience, Wharton freshman Andrew Dudum was adding two new singles to iTunes.

And fellow students were listening.

Dudum beat out two other professional choices to headline last Friday's Rock the Mic for Darfur concert, which aimed to raise money for the Darfur Alert Coalition.

"We decided to have a Penn student come and perform, because we thought people might be more interested in that than seeing a random rapper," said Engineering freshman Danielle Jabin, a member of the Management 100 team that planned the concert.

Wharton freshman and Team Harmony member Michael Repsch added that a local artist would have cost between $300 and $700 - Dudum played his soft rock and soft pop music for free.

In addition, Dudum offered to sell his CDs and donate half of the proceeds to the Darfur charity.

The performance, held at the Hall of Flags, also featured Dischord, a campus a capella group.

Dudum, who began playing the cello at age seven and started a string quartet called Presto International at 13, is signed with Dudum Records, a family-owned recording label.

"Most of the songs started from me just messing around and playing some chords in my room," Dudum said.

His lyrics are inspired by "the experiences that a lot of people go through," said Dudum.

The freshman said he considered trying out for a Penn a capella group but opted not to in the end.

"I realized I wouldn't have the freedom to write music and play it with my own touch," Dudum added.

And concert-goers appreciated Dudum's talent Friday night.

"This [was] the greatest concert," Engineering freshman Ostap Tymchuk said of Friday's concert.

Penn students say that when Dudum ran for freshman class president earlier in the year, the campaign he created helped spread word of his musical talent, even though he did not get elected in the end.

Tymchuk added that he only knew about Dudum's music from the campaign.

At home in California, Dudum has performed at house parties, other benefit concerts, a high-school prom and downtown San Francisco venues.

He is currently looking for other performance opportunities while helping out several Management 100 teams, like Team Harmony, by playing at their events.

For those who missed the concert, Dudum's album "Fly With Me" is available for download on iTunes. "Fall from Grace," one of his singles, was aired on a Christian rock station in Canada.

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