DJ Undoo is a Romanian DJ and producer with a reputation for pushing conventional boundaries. He wrote hip hop history across a career spanning over 15 years, which includes several albums, numerous collaborations and an extensive series of live events. Through both versatility and consistency, Undoo has established himself as a household name for Romanian hip hop lovers. In addition to turntablism and music production, his skills extend to live performances, recording, mixing & mastering, editing, A&R, talent booking, live events, tour & events management, teaching and coaching.
Alexandru Damian Mihaila was born in 1983. As a kid, he first used the turntable to listen to classical stories, then discovered the delights of hip hop in 1996. He used his first Telefunken turntable along with a homemade mixer crafted by his good friend, Marius Rizea. Fascinated by the work of his predecessors, Undoo began producing at 17.
Releases & Collaborations
He founded his first group, Interventii Lirice, in 2000; in 2004, he joined DJ Dox, DJ Paul, DJ Faibo X, DJ Swamp and Freakadadisk in creating the first Romanian DJ collective – Turntable Science. DJ Undoo went on to co-found several other groups, including Dagga, Shy Beatz and Grupul de Rezistenta.
He has released four solo albums to date, one of which consists exclusively of instrumentals. “The Crown of Life”, album number four, was released in late 2015 and enjoyed a favourable reception by critics and audiences alike.
Collaborations have always been a crucial component of Undoo’s approach to music, as is his determination to feature turntables as a standalone instrument. Both at Hades Records and beyond, he’s contributed to the work of Guess Who, Grasu XXL, Spike, Deceneu, Junky, Bitza, Subcarpati, Puya, raku, Silent Strike, Criss Blaziny, Subsemnatu', Nimeni Altu', Nane, K-Gula, Da Hood, Brugner (Delikt), Catalin (Coma), Coma, Omu Gnom, Explicit, Verbal, Underman, Smokey & Krem, C.T.C., DOC, Gojira, H8, Simplu, Vama, Veritasaga and Vita de Vie.
He produced and mixed a song for “Romania Zgarie Discul Vol. 1”, a compilation created by the Turntablism.ro community. Locally, the record was the first of its kind and quickly secured a spot as a milestone in the Romanian history of this craft.
Live Events
He’s a proficient performer with hundreds of concerts, events and festivals in his portfolio. He has toured everything from the most underground hideouts to the most exclusive establishments, and was a resident DJ for several clubs.
Thanks to his particular blend of technical dexterity and musical sensitivity, Undoo has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with various artists, from hip hop and beyond, from Romania and around the world (DJ Premier, Grand Wizzard Theodore, Rob Swift, Wu-Tang Killa Beez, Phi Life Cypher, etc). His involvement with organizing live shows included performances by The Sugarhill Gang, Promoe, DJ Rafik, Afu-Ra, Freestyle of The Arsonists, RA The Rugged Man, Defari, Cesar Comanche, DJ Illegal (Snowgoons), Bahamadia, Hezekiah, and others. In addition, organizing the Summerjam festival was a crucial learning experience that brought a lot of improvement and growth.
Projects
In 2004, DJ Undoo co-founded Hades Records, Romania’s first independent hip hop label. He had joined Urban Records a year prior, both as an artist and as a producer/sound engineer. DAW Studio was created in 2006 as a partnership with Alex Toma, allowing them to provide complete studio services. Finally, Undoo founded his own label in 2012 – Libernote Music, alongside Antonius Buzatu (Soundboy). DJ Undoo received the public’s choice award in the seventh round of the DMC Online Championship (2011) and was the first DJ to represent Romania at the Redbull Threestyle Championship in Toronto, where he was the Lucky Bastid Wild Card winner (First Place, public’s choice). He was also the Romanian winner of the Looptroop remix contest from 2008 (Looptroop feat Timbuktu – Naïve/Dj Undoo Remix).
Undoo began teaching mixing and turntablism in 2013, at Artskul – a community of scholars and learners that set out to approach art in a different, more hands-on way. Their ongoing collaboration includes the first ever extended mixing and turntablism course in Romania; after its first edition in 2013, the fifth took place in November 2015. This fruitful partnership also included “theDJ”, a 2-day workshop hosted with Krem at the Electric Castle Mill Stage (fueled by Burn) in 2014 and with Kent Archie at the Summerwell Burn Stage in 2015. He also taught at the DJ Superstore Training Camp in 2014 and hosted the first ever Romanian turntablism workshop in Goblin, alongside DJ Party Busta and the turntablism.ro community, in 2009.
