Victor Kozak
December 9th, 1940 - May 23rd, 2014
Victor Kozak grew up in Ethelbert, Manitoba, surrounded by good old fashioned Ukrainian dance music. He displayed a natural aptitude for music at an early age and was only six years old when some relatives forced a violin into his hands. He ran away crying “I don't want to play the violin.” No. He loved the accordion!
Finally, when he was 16 years old, his parents agreed to let him learn to play the instrument he loved, paying for a small 12 bass accordion and a “teach yourself” lesson book. He never completed the course; Before he got to Swanee River, he was already playing by ear the dance tunes he had heard so many times at bazaars, community dances and weddings. That same year, he started playing with some of the local musicians from Ethelbert.
While completing his Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Education degrees at the University of Manitoba, Victor and Maurice Yunik, a violin player from Ethelbert, entered a talent contest and won first place.
The Original Polka Kings were definitely his favorite band. He knew all the tunes an imitated their style. One year, when Victor was already teaching in Grandview, Manitoba, he substituted a whole year for their accordionist, Al Kindret. There were many times he was called to help out with other bands. He was happy to play for a whole evening or for a few tunes.
When Victor moved to Winnipeg to teach, he was associated with more bands. It was not unusual to find him playing Friday and Saturday at hotels like the New Occidental, the Empire and the Yale. Young People would Hotel hop up and down Main Street to hear their favorite music and pick a band for their wedding. After his marriage to Agnes Heemskerk in 1969, he continued to play accordion professionally, teaming up with Marvin Froehlich on guitar and Jimmy Appleyard on drums to play many weekends at Legions.
Victor left teaching in 1981 to pursue another passion of his: farming. While their new home was being built on the grain farm, Victor decided to play music for the workers on their lunch break. The home builder, Norman Voss, was so impressed he immediately invited Victor to join the new band he was forming in Beausejour. The B-J-4 had only one grand practice before entering a telethon talent contest the next night, broadcast on the radio. Their band was declared top talent. They began playing for weddings, anniversaries, banquets and dances, and later changed their name to Country Drifters.
Sometime later, Victor played with Billy Kumka, a good friend and wonderful violin player from Keld, Manitoba and his band Soundsational. Billy also introduced Victor to Stan Kaskiw, a vocalist and guitar player (and UMA Hall of Fame inductee). Together, they had held many jam sessions in Victor's basement. Different drummers join them when they entertained at various events as the Polka Drifters.
While running a small grain farm and raising a family of five, Maria, Thomas, Paul, Mark and David, Victor took many opportunities over the long winter sessions to play for the kids while they washed dishes. "Birdie and the Gorilla" was their favorite. He used this time to work on new compositions named after things relating to farming: The Axial Flow Polka, (a Case IH combine) the Katepwa Polka, (a variety of hard red spring wheat), The Premium 300 Waltz, (a new set of discers), The Ruddy Harvest Polka (3 poor harvests in a row) and The Hornets Hop.
Victor's musical legacy lives on in his children and his 12 grandchildren, who sing in choirs, canter at church and play instruments such as the accordion, guitar, banjo, trumpet, clarinet, euphonium and drums.
May Victor’s memory be everlasting.
Vichnaya pamyat’