Members

Maja Kleszcz - cello, vocal
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.

Magdalena Sobczak - dulcimer, vocal
comes from Swidnik, in the Eastern part of Poland, where she was born in 1978. She finished her musicology studies in Warsaw as well as the percussion class at Lublin music high school. In the course of her studies she was invited to Finland to the Folk Instruments Institute. During her time in Finland, she discovered a lot of similarities between Polish and Scandinavian music.She plays the dulcimer, a very rare Polish instrument, there are just a few dulcimer players in the Polish scene. Magdalena had joined WVB in 2002.

Sylwia Swiatkowska - violin, old polish fiddle, vocal
was born in Warsaw in 1974. After having finished the violin class at high music school and musicology studies, she worked with quite a lot of Polish folk groups before she joined WVB in 2000. She is one of the best violinists of the Polish scene. In 2002, she was awarded the "Golden Violin" during the New Tradition Festival in Warsaw. Her way of playing shows how much she has been inspired by jazz music. She also plays the old Polish fiddle, a unique instrument similar to the Indian sarangi. Now the sound of her violin is a characteristic trace of the WVB sound.

Wojciech Krzak- violin, hurdy gurdy, jews harp
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.

Piotr Glinski - baraban drum
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.

Maciej Szajkowski - frame drum
born in Warsaw in 1975, he is in the band from the beginning . 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.