Spring Break
CDN offers variety of sounds for Relay for Life
John Bailey
Issue date: 3/30/09 Section: Focus
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Armed with their traditional blazers and polychromatic dress shirts, UConn's oldest all-male a cappella group performed a brief but varied set in the Student Union Theater, incorporating a mix of fresh material with some older classics.
"I really liked [CDN's] variety of genres," said Linda Drozdowicz, a 6th-semester molecular and cell biology major. "They're one of the only [a cappella] groups that hits the variety really well - they can do pop, but more traditional songs too."
CDN opened the night poppy enough, with the Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like an Eagle," but the group's closing set deviated from the straight and narrow, including the traditional Irish song "Chemical Workers."
And, musically, the men of CDN were spot-on.
"[I loved] the times when we really hit a chord, really sang it right. All that work we put in [in rehearsal] just came together," said Mark Bachiochi, an 8th-semester music education major and the group's music director.
The concert also featured performances by the ConnChords, an all-female a cappella group from Connecticut College, and UConn's own Extreme Measures.
The ConnChords sung a genre-hopping set, including Imogen Heap's "Just For Now" and George Michael's "Freedom."
"I liked that [the ConnChords] went off the beaten path a bit the Imogen Heap song [for example]," said Drozdowicz. "And Extreme Measures was great, as always."
All proceeds from the event went towards Relay for Life. Fittingly, the audience turned up in force, eagerly paying the $2 suggested donation.
"I was really happy about the turnout of people that came to support us and support the cause," said Miheer Sane, a 6th-semester physiology and neurobiology and molecular and cell biology double major, and business manager for CDN.
Half of CDN's material was all-new for this concert, according to Mark Bachiochi. Bachiochi determines many of the concert setlists, and also does some of the group's in-house arranging.
"I got some compliments after the show," said Bachiochi. "The guys really seem to like the new stuff, and the audience certainly did."
Though the Relay for Life Invitational garnered a strong turnout, CDN has even bigger plans for future concerts.
"We'd like to turn this into an annual thing we do for Relay for Life," said Sane.
Assembling a multi-group performance may be tough, but CDN proved to be more than up to the challenge.
"It was cool that they were using their own publicity to support a cause,"said Drozdowicz. "Putting this concert together was a big undertaking - it's very impressive."
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