Pavel Rudakov - Russian Ec Player

[ritonmousquetaire]

Pavel Rudakov (Павел Рудаков - 1915-1993) was a Russian english concertina player. He was mentioned on this forum in a previous thread on russian players : http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=13811&hl=rudakov

 

If I'm creating this new topic, it's because I noticed that many of his records originally published as 78 rpm discs are available online on the Russian Records website. I can't provide a direct link, but you just have to search for his name here : http://www.russian-records.com/search.php

 

Here are a few examples :

http://www.russian-records.com/details.php?image_id=18163

http://www.russian-records.com/details.php?image_id=14813

http://www.russian-records.com/details.php?image_id=42446

 

All of these records seem to date from the 50s. It's usually comical songs with short concertina breaks, no solo instrumentals here.

 

There are also a few sides from other players on this website, it's a good resource (this one for instance : http://www.russian-records.com/details.php?image_id=25596 )

 

Concerning Rudakov, there's a video in particular about which I'd like to hear your opinion. It's this one : https://youtu.be/tmDkrZ9fhQE?t=41sIt's a video here, but it can also be found here : http://www.russian-records.com/details.php?image_id=19986 in awful quality (from a strange looking disc - an acetate maybe?). The concertina work here is so good that I'm wondering if it's really Rudakov's playing that we hear here. Sure, he played in a similar style in other videos (using arpeggios etc), but the sound he got from his concertina wasn't always that good.

 

To give more context, it seems this song is a parody of this one : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuRfS21n5ag(the singer here, Tamara Strelkova (Тамара Стрелкова), seems to appear in the video of Rudakov's version). Could it be that what we hear is just an accordionist's right hand playing off-screen? Just a supposition.

 

So, does any EC player can answer to this? Is what Rudakov seeming to play actually playable on the EC? Is it compatible with the movement of his hands?

 

I should maybe try to transcribe what we hear in that video, it would make it easier to compare. Somehow I hope that it's really a concertina that we're hearing here, but it almost sounds too good to be true.

[ceemonster]

He appears to be fingering the tune on his EC on camera, at least, more or less. But the track on the sound doesn't seem to be what he is playing on camera, does it. There's also something un-concertina-sounding about what's on the track. But it doesn't sound particularly accordionish, either.

Edited April 4, 2018 by ceemonster

[ritonmousquetaire]

He appears to be fingering the tune on his EC on camera, at least, more or less. But the track on the sound doesn't seem to be what he is playing on camera, does it. There's also something un-concertina-sounding about what's on the track. But it doesn't sound particularly accordionish, either.

 

Yes, though it seems to my ears that what he plays here could theoretically be played on a concertina (though I don't play the EC so my opinion isn't well grounded), the sound here seems different - yet, as you say, it's also different from the accordion sound we can hear in the other videos of the same song I posted. I'll try to transcribe what is played to see if it's achievable on the EC.