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Konstantin Ruchadze
Konstantin was born in Moscow, into the family of a Soviet-journalist/writer and opera-singer. The head of the Ruchadze family-clan in those days was his grandfather’s brother N. A. Ruchadze, Georgian ministr of State Security and personal friend of Joseph Stalin. Having such a background, Konstantin however has evolved in a completely different direction, contrary to his family heritage. From his early days he felt a natural inexplicable aversion against establishment, along with deep urge for adventure. These are true qualities of a free spirit. As a child learning to sing classical music from his mother, and writing poetries while in pre-school, he soon won several singers and lyricists awards. While his mother took him with her to Prague to join her second husband, Konstantin for the first time listened to Beatles, Rolling Stones, Soul and Rhythm & Blues. He decided to become a professional musician. A few years later as a lead-singer and bassplayer, he was fronting a very popular Rhythm & Blues formation Ruchadze Band. His growing popularity however, resulted in serious clashes with communist authorities. To play a western type of music under a communist rule, ment to look for big trouble and getting stigmatized as an ideological enemy. Due to this fact, Konstantin went through periods of prformance ban, and constant threats of Soviet-exile. Therefore he decided to emigrate to the West. By accepting an offer for an Austrian tour, Konstantin left for Vienna, where he was granted political asylum. He studied for sometime the Academy of Music, while playing with such musicians as Peter Wolf (Frank Zappa band, now a top producer in USA), Kurt Hauenstein (Supermax), Brad Howell (Wilson Pickett) and virtuoso Vienna-gypsy guitarist Harri Stojka, he later moved to Amsterdam and became a founder of the legendary Goblet Band, a very popular fusion group. After five years of fruitful cooperation and two unreleased Lp’s he left for Spain, where during a four year period he learned about the art of Flamenco from Spanish gypsies. After his Spaanish adventure, Konstantin came back to Amsterdam, to start a new project Hot Bolshevik, together with top Dutch musicians. Later Hot Bolshevik grew into a real cosmopolitan project, where a lot of different musicians with different musical backgrounds have cooperated together to create a truly authentic sound of the band. While playing with Hot Bolshevik he recorded three cd’s Post Cold War Groove (great review in the American Bassplayer magazine), ReCover (very positive review in the Dutch Music Maker) and recently Amsterdamn Blues.
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