SHENZHEN: The news release didn't say who Mark Ndesandjo was. Nor did the posters and e-mails promoting the concert. But the 200-odd people who showed up over the weekend for the fundraiser at a posh hotel resort in this boomtown knew who he was.

The man in a Chinese-style brown silk shirt who played piano to raise money for orphans was the half brother of Barack Obama.

The guests had a rare encounter with Ndesandjo, and they knew it. After all, he has been dodging the media since his family ties were made public last summer.

Ndesandjo has lived in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, for the past seven years. And not surprisingly, the announcement for his piano concert identified him as a strategic marketing consultant, for he has also helped start a chain of eateries in China called Cabin BBQ.

Ndesandjo has a thin mustache, shaved head and a gold stud in his left earlobe. He has a slight resemblance to the US president-elect and shares the same trim, athletic physique. But he speaks Mandarin, is a vegetarian and practices Chinese calligraphy.

On Friday, the day of the concert, he said he had just finished a novel called Nairobi to Shenzhen, but was yet to find a publisher.

But he declined to confirm even basic details about his past or discuss his relationship with Obama. He uses the surname of his mother, Ruth, the third wife of his father who died in 1982. He was born in Kenya and moved to the US when he was a child was all that he said.

His Chinese friend and restaurant business partner, Sui Zhenjun, too, didn't know about Ndesandjo's relationship with Obama, though they had known each other since his arrival in China in 2002. "It wasn't until July when media reports started surfacing about him being related to Obama that I found out they were related," Sui told Associated Press. "He called and told me" about it.

Ask Ndesandjo what he wants, and the reply would be: a low-key life separate from Obama. No one mentioned his family when he was introduced at the charity concert and cocktail party, sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China.

But would Ndesandjo be present at Obama's swearing-in ceremony? During brief remarks on stage, he said he would visit the US in a couple of days, apparently to attend today's presidential inauguration. If he didn't make the trip, he would embarrass his family, he said.