Nora Kudrjawizki's World of Violin

A look through my music library can be an interesting experience. Alongside some world-famous artists that everyone knows are a growing number of obscure and unfamiliar names, and my ambivalence towards the modern mainstream chart scene means I take great delight in seeking out rare gems from lesser-known artists. You may have thought Ray Wilson was an unknown, but he is practically an A-lister compared with the subject of this piece, the delightful Nora Kudrjawizki. I guess that name means nothing whatsoever to you, and until recently it meant nothing to me either. Allow me to enlighten you.

The lovely Nora. So much more than just a pretty face.

I first saw Nora in the DVD of Ray Wilson's Genesis Classic show and was immediately captivated by her beauty and talent. It took a bit of investigation to find out who she was, as all I knew was that she was called Nora and came from Berlin. Searching for details of the show revealed her full name at that time was Nora Boesel (or Bösel to use the correct German spelling), but she is now married to the Russian-born actor and musician Lenn Kudrjawizki. If the measure of celebrity status is having a Wikipedia page then Nora fails this test as she doesn't even have an entry on German Wikipedia, although her husband does.

Her music isn't easy to find online, although she goes by the username 'Archenora' on YouTube and Soundcloud and a handful of tracks are included on her own World of Violin website. She seems to be able to turn her hand to any type of music and is equally skilled whether playing classical, folk or rock, having played with numerous orchestras and musicians of many different genres. As well as her solo shows, Nora's other major role is as the project director and lead protagonist of Angelstrings (not to be confused with a similarly-named Australian string quartet), an intriguing dancing violin duel between good and evil characters, with Nora playing the white angel and looking suitably sexy and angelic. She has even done some 'flying violin shows' where she plays while suspended in mid-air on a wire!

I think the German word I'm looking for is 'Hübsche'

Not only is she a very talented violinist, I was amazed to discover she can sing extremely well too. Her voice is very reminiscent of Frida from Abba, which is not a bad thing in any way, and puts me in mind of Frida's superb 'To Turn The Stone', which I guess few readers have ever heard of either. Her original compositions tend to be in German, such as 'So Viele Nächte' (So Many Nights), and even though I can't really understand what she is singing about as the lyrics aren't available online and my rusty A-level German from 12 years ago isn't good enough to make out more than the occasional word, they are still very enjoyable thanks to the power of her voice. She does speak English and has recorded a few English-language songs, including beautiful covers of Keane's 'Hamburg Song' and Christina Perri's 'A Thousand Years'.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I find Nora very attractive, both for her looks and her talent, and she has become one of my celebrity crushes, but sadly for me and any other admirers she is happily married. As someone with no musical talent whatsoever, being tone deaf and totally lacking in coordination, I have great admiration for those who do have the talent to make great music, and Nora Kudrjawizki is certainly one of those people and is far more than just a pretty face, so her work has a proud place in my music library.

The white angel

The pictures used in this piece are from www.worldofviolin.com. I hope Nora doesn't mind as I have written so many nice things about her. If you're reading this, Nora - I'm a big fan!