What breast cancer is for women, testicular cancer is for men. While both are life-threatening diseases, campaigns for testicular cancer don’t get as much attention as ones for breast cancer. Otto Tunes decided to help change that.

After becoming a recognized organization in spring 2012, Otto Tunes held its first invitational — a concert featuring other a cappella groups besides themselves — on Saturday evening. The event included performances by fellow Syracuse University all-male a cappella group Orange Appeal and raised money for the Testicular Cancer Foundation. The concert raised more than $1,000 for the cause.

The two groups decided to call the concert Cockappella.

“We wanted to try to raise money for something that was relevant to all of us, and what’s more relevant than testicular cancer?” said Tim Cheng, president of Orange Appeal and a senior public relations, policy studies, accounting and finance quadruple major.

Cheng said both groups became invested in the foundation after learning how pertinent testicular cancer was to the college demographic. He said members of both Orange Appeal and Otto Tunes plan on getting tested for testicular cancer this semester.

“For most cases, if you detect it early enough, 99 percent of guys diagnosed with testicular cancer can be cured,” Cheng said.

Orange Appeal, established in 1997 as the first all-male a cappella group on campus, had never before performed onstage with Otto Tunes, besides at the annual A Cappella Afterhours concert.

Jeff Kurkjian, president of Otto Tunes, first approached Cheng about doing a joint concert during the summer. Kurkjian said he was honored to share the stage with such a talented group, and that both organizations learned from each other’s performances.

“We decided to band together as brothers to raise money for a cause, and that cause was the Testicular Cancer Foundation. It’s the No. 1 cancer for males between the ages of 15-35, which is right in our wheelhouse,” said Kurkjian, a junior broadcast and digital journalism and political science major.

The groups each performed a handful of songs spread out during a show just more than an hour long. Both groups debuted songs they hadn’t previously performed at other concerts, but Cheng said Orange Appeal still has some new songs in store for their own upcoming invitational concert in two weeks.

Orange Appeal’s set included “Mirrors” by Justin Timberlake, “Madness” by Muse and “Holy Grail” by Jay Z, all performed while dancing to intricate choreography.

Otto Tunes began the concert with a lively rendition of Fountains of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom.” During the line, “Her mom came out with just a towel on,” one member appeared from the group simply clad in a pink towel.

During intermission, the crowd bid on two members of each group in a date auction. Otto Tunes president Kurkjian acted as the auctioneer, and started the intermission entertainment by talking up the member previously wearing the pink towel: Otto Tunes member Michael Downes.

Downes, a senior information management and technology major, has been with Otto Tunes since its inception. He said he found out about the date auction last minute and was volunteered by his group members. He laughed when he found out he was the cheapest to be auctioned off at $5, but said he is excited to go on the blind date for charity.

Besides the event raising a sizeable sum to donate to the Testicular Cancer Foundation, Kurkjian said he was also proud of the amount of awareness the event raised.

Said Kurkjian: “We now have a real passion for something like this that is so overlooked and so ignored by so many men in the world. We are just trying to spread the word on campus, and if that’s all we can reach right now, then that’s good enough for us.”

Published on October 14, 2013 at 1:23 am

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