Biography

Roksana Vikaluk was born in Ternopil, Ukraine. She spent her childhood in her native land in a quiet small town not far from the mountain area. But above all, she was living with her loving family which till now continues to provide a great support for her. Since childhood she expressed an interest in all types of music – songs, instrumental, folk, modern music, etc. At an early age she started learning to play a piano, later she was continuing her studies at a secondary school of music.

In 1994 she moved to Poland. Originally it was supposed to be just a short visit, but due to circumstances she remained there permanently and now Poland has become her second home. It was here, in Poland, that she continued her studies of music. At first, due to the help and support of Ewa Bem she entered the Postliceal Jazz Studio in Warsaw to study singing. There she was pursuing her studies under Ewa Bem’s careful supervision. Currently she is studying composition and arrangement in the Department of Jazz and Recreational Music of The Music Academy in Katowice.

While living in Silesia, she got acquainted and initiated a fruitful cooperation with Józef Skrzek, the founder of the legendary SBB group. This cooperation resulted in numerous audio and video records, as well as in the foundation of the "In Corpore" group, including: J. Skrzek - keyboards, P. Wojtasik - trumpet, M. Muzykant – percussion, R. Vikaluk and A. Karmańska-Poniszowska - vocals, W. Muzykant, A. Zeliszek – scenic movement. For Roksana this was an important contact with a kind of a musical play, comprising film illustrations as well as contemporary dancing. Later there were many other common enterprises, among which a solo concert at the People’s Philharmonic, participation in the Jubilee Concert of SBB in the Congress Hall of the Palace of Culture and Science. Until now Józef Skrzek remains an artistic master for Roksana.

In 1999 Roksana moved to Warsaw. Here she became a co-founder and a leader of the "Mizrah" group (R. Vikaluk - vocal, piano, R. Borowski - flutes, P. Aleksandrowicz - guitar, W. Traczyk - contrabass, M. Trela - percussion). The group was distinguished at the "Nowa Tradycja" ("The New Tradition") Contest in Warsaw. This helped to release the records of the "Mizrah" music by Jazz Forum Records in 2002. The record included Roksana’s arrangements of jazz and Eastern European music. Cooperation with the flautist Ryszard Borowski represented another important episode of her life. Together they were performing their own compositions and arrangements of old and folk music.

Although Roksana is spending most of her time in Poland, her roots have always been in Ukraine. From there she is getting her strength and energy. She comes back to Ukraine very often not only to visit her family home, but also to give concerts and to record music. She participated, among other events, in the All-Ukrainian Jazz festival in Ternopil. She recorded jazz standards for the Radio Ukraine as well as the teledisc to L. Hampton’s standard "The Midnight Sun" which was ranking in the top ten among other records. Since recently she has been concentrated on the in-depth study of the Ukrainian archaic folk music. Ukrainian archaic motives are becoming more and more evident in Roksana’s artistic activity. Roksana is participating regularly in the Ukrainian Culture Festival in Sopot: in 2003 with her group (R. Vikaluk - vocal, R. Borowski - flute, J. Orłowski - guitar, W. Pulcyn - contrabass, R. Siwak - percussion) and in 2005 with the solo programme.

An exceptionally creative climate of Poland and cooperation with the artists in Homeland display a significant influence on Roksana’s artistic route. Presently she is appearing in concerts with a solo programme, combining Ukrainian roots and the Polish climate. Accompanying herself on a piano and on electronic instruments, she is presenting old Ukrainian melodies in her own arrangements and her own compositions on the words of Ukrainian poets T. Shevchenko, I. Franko, B. Lepky… . This programme was recorded by WYDAWNICTWO 21as the “Barwy” album which was first released in December 2005.