There should to be a way to put money into his hat over the internet!
But who is this guy?
Years ago I saw a PBS documentary about a professional orchestra. There is a scene where orchestra members happen by a guy sitting on the sidewalk, I think in a Metro station. The guy was just sitting in a lotus position against the wall, head bowed, only his hands moving. He is sitting there, playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons like there’s no tomorrow. Just whaling away on that magic box. The juxtaposition of these professional musicians watching this street musician modestly making magic as others walk past. The music bigger than everything around it. It was very moving.
I had tried to find out who he was a few times with no success. So the other day I got curious again and searched YouTube for accordion players playing Vivaldi and found the above video.
But this video did not identify the artist! I had to know if this was the same guy I had seen years previously on the PBS documentary.
I was determined. I searched on [orchestra career documentary violinist accordion vivaldi "four seasons"]. That landed me at a blog entry in Neil’s Journal that talks about the documentary “Music From the Inside Out” (2003) and singles out the scene with the accordion player. The blog pointed to a YouTube video of that person playing Bach. It was a different video than the one I had found but the street musician looked very much like the same guy. It identified him as Ruslan Slinko. I carefully compared the videos and am sure this is Ruslan Slinko.
Other YouTube video of Ruslan Slinko:
Thanks to YouTube and the Web, I found out who the accordion player was who had moved me so long ago. And now I know where to go to see him perform live and put money into his hat.
he is a great performer with pentup emotion. just great
Ruslan Slinko moved me too at the last week of June in 2000 in Nice. We were there for a holiday and we spent also my mother’s 70 years birthday. At the evenings we dined in the old town and after that we walked through the Cours Saleya a flower market, to the Quai des Etats Unis at the sea. Ruslan was there every night, under a little underpass tunnel, playing Sergei Rahmaninoffs Vocalise, a composition I heard first time then and got falling in love with it. When I hear the song today I remember my mother’s birthday, the sun sets at the sea and I got tears in my eyes. There was always some alcoholics,clochards near him but when he started to play they were quiet and concentrated to listen at him. I bought a CD from Ruslan and I can listen him here at home. WE came back to Nice two years later but he was not there any more. Does anybody know where is the metro station he plays nowadays? It would be great to hear him again.
Where does Ruslan Slinko play today?
I saw Ruslan ten years ago, at the last week of June in 2000, in Nice, French Riviera. We were there for celebrating my mother’s birthday. We dined almos every night in the Old town. After that we walked through the Flower Market “Cours Saleya” to the sea side. Between Cours Saleya and Quai des Etats-Unis, the sea side boulevard in the front of the Old town, there is a low building you have to pass by a some kind of pedestrian tunnel, or under an arc that goes through this old building..
Ruslan was there almost every night. Playing Vivaldi, Bach and especially “Vocalise” of Sergei Rahmaninoff. I heard that song first time and falled in love with it. If I hear it today I always remember that summer, those warm evenings and the play of Ruslan. There were some alcoholics, “Clochards” in the tunnel who made noise. When Ruslan started to play, one of them asked the others be quiet and they all concentrated to listen the music. Ruslan selled his CDs and I bought a one. So I can enjoy of his music at home. When we returned to Nice two years later he was not there. I wonder how he choosed to play in the street. In the Cd there is a text about him. He was born in 1972 in Zvenigorodka in Ukraine. From 1992 to 1997 he studied in Haupfach Bajan, Bandeon (or in National Music Academie in Kiew, I am not sure, the text is in German). So he is a trained musician.
But where does he play today? If somebody knows please tell!