Maja Kleszcz
, daughter of a well-known family, was born in Warsaw in 1985. Her
father Wlodzimierz Kleszcz is a Polish music journalist, also known
as the producer of Twinkle Brothers & Trebunie Tutki albums in the
world music scene. So Maja is a real expert of Reggae and African
music. Her beautiful voice and the powerful way she plays her cello
made her a shooting star of the Polish roots music scene. In spite
of her youth, she had already managed to make a compromise between
"white voice" and the classical style of singing, thus creating her
own style. Presently, Maja attends music high school. She started
playing with the band at the age of 14, and she is the youngest member
of WVB.
Maciej
Szajkowski , born in Warsaw in 1975, is the founder of WVB.
He started his musical activities as a member of some punk rock and
hard core bands, which he had joined for a few years. When he first
started, he was impressed by Asian traditional music, especially qawwali
style. He worked as a journalist, and during that time meeting some
important Polish roots music masters turned out to change his life.
He discovered the world of Polish roots music, learning from Polish
traditional drum players. Presently, he mainly organises folk concerts
in Warsaw.
Piotr
Glinski was born in Warsaw in 1972. The band´s best
educated member, he had finished percussion class at the Frederic
Chopin Academy of Music, Warsaw. He is a teacher at primary and secondary
music school. Piotr played with philharmonic orchestras and chamber
orchestras as a soloist (for instance he used to play his wife´s compositions
on marimba). After he had left the academy, he started his roots music
career. For a few years, he was a member of "Zespó? Polski", a legendary
Polish folk group. With them, he toured countries like Japan, Germany,
France and many more. In the Warsaw Village Band his drum performance
is quite essential, forming the band´s musical heart, among others.
Wojciech
Krzak was born in 1980 in Kozienice, a small town in the Mazovia
area. Meeting the traditional violin master Kazimierz Zdrzalik impressed
him so deeply that he decided learning to play the violin in the old
Polish style. His violin teacher taught him the old Polka and Oberek
dances. Today, he is one of the youngest players of traditional violin
in Poland. At the age of 19, he started Ethnological studies in Warsaw.
In 2001, he became a member of WVB, and his characteristic style of
violin music forms an important part of the WVB sound. He also plays
hurdy gurdy and jew's harp.