Konstantin Sokolsky (also spelled: Sokolski, russian: Константин Сокольский, original name Konstantin Kudryavtsev (Константин Кудрявцев)) (7 December 1904 - 12 May 1991) was a Latvian singer. Sokolsky was born in

Saint-Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, but for most of his life lived in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

(his father came from Ludzas County, which is where the family moved to after the revolutionary turmoil of 1917 began in

). There he worked as a woodcutter and loader, until in 1928 at Riga's 'Mars' cinema he first appeared on stage as a singer. Initially, he tried to imitate

Alexander Vertinsky Alexander Nikolayevich Vertinsky (russian: Александр Николаевич Вертинский, — May 21, 1957) was a Russian and Soviet artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Ru ...

(for example, he too sang in a

Pierrot Pierrot ( , , ) is a stock character of pantomime and '' commedia dell'arte'', whose origins are in the late seventeenth-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a diminutive of ''P ...

costume), but later found his own style. He got acquainted with popular composer Oscar Strok, author of

tango music Tango is a style of music in or time that originated among European and African immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay (collectively, the " Rioplatenses"). It is traditionally played on a solo guitar, guitar duo, or an ensemble, kn ...

, and became the first to sing all his new songs. In the same time, he himself wrote lyrics and music for several songs. In the 1930-1940s, first with the Riga Bonzo Theatre and later individually, he went on tours of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, where he became very popular among different audiences, including many Russian

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Huguenots fled France followi ...

s. Sokolsky's stage image was refined, but could still be interpreted as acting the 'Russian bear', with a sense of self-parody. Very tall, joyous, with self-respect — he reminded many Russian émigrés of their Mother Russia, which they had had to leave, sooner or later after the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

revolution. In Russia, his songs also became popular, released on L.P.'s with the Bonophon and Bellaccord labels. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he stayed in Latvia. In 1944 he was arrested by the Germans, but escaped.

External links

Sokolsky's biography in Russian and songs in VQF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sokolsky, Konstantin 1904 births 1991 deaths 20th-century Latvian male singers Soviet singers