Lil Wayne
Anastasia Bukina is a Ukrainian jazz and pop singer from Odesa, vocal coach and founder of the Sing It school. She was born on May 25, 1985. Over the years, she has worked in jazz, rock and electronic projects, performed as a soloist with the Odesa Philharmonic, and collaborated with big bands and chamber orchestras. Her core repertoire is built around jazz, soul and pop music.
Bukina’s musical biography includes work with the groups «Дети Фиделя» and Dust Heaven, her own ensembles, collaborations with pianists Alexey Petukhov and Yuri Kuznetsov, the album Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do, victories in vocal competitions and appearances at Ukrainian and European jazz venues.
Childhood and musical education
Anastasia Bukina was born in Odesa. She was introduced to music and the stage at an early age: at five, she began attending a theatre studio, where she took part in productions and performed children’s vocal parts.
At the age of seven, she enrolled in music school to study piano. At the same time, she took vocal lessons and participated in children’s and youth competitions, including «Черноморские игры», «Жемчужина Юга» and other projects.
At fifteen, Bukina entered the pop and jazz department of the K. F. Dankevich Odesa College of Arts and Culture. During this period, professional jazz gradually became the main focus of her training.
In 2000, she performed at the «Таврийские игры» festival as part of the «Лёми-Лём» project. In 2001, she won the Leonid Utyosov Jazz Competition in the vocal category.
In 2001–2002, Bukina studied at the workshop school of the «Червона рута» festival. This became an important continuation of her professional development as a pop vocalist.
In 2004, she graduated with honours from the Dankevich Odesa College of Arts and Culture.
«Дети Фиделя» and Dust Heaven
In 2003, Anastasia Bukina became a vocalist in the Odesa group «Дети Фиделя». The project was one of the first significant stages of her professional work outside the academic environment.
The next chapter was unexpected for a singer who would later become associated primarily with jazz. In 2004, she joined the Odesa band Dust Heaven, replacing Olga Pulatova as lead vocalist.
Dust Heaven worked at the intersection of gothic electronica, darkwave and rock. The project took Bukina well beyond her usual jazz environment. The band performed in Ukraine, Russia, Germany and Poland.
With Bukina, Dust Heaven appeared at major European events on the gothic scene. In 2004, the group performed at Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, and in 2005 at the Dark East Music Meeting in Warsaw. During this period, the band also played in Kyiv, Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Her work with Dust Heaven continued for several years and gave Bukina an experience very different from her academic and jazz background: electronic arrangements, club venues and the gothic festival circuit required a different approach to performance.
Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do
One of the most important stages of her early solo career was her collaboration with Odesa pianist Alexey Petukhov. In 2007, it led to the release of the album Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do, built around the jazz tradition.
The recording was produced by composer Vasily Goldakovsky. Mastering was handled by Tom Meyer at Master & Servant studio in Hamburg. Guest musicians included guitarist Yuri Terletsky.
The album title refers to the classic blues and jazz standard «Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do», known through numerous versions by American jazz and blues performers.
For Bukina, the record became her first major solo project to present her performance style specifically through a jazz repertoire rather than through work in a band from another genre.
Yuri Kuznetsov and the Odesa jazz scene
An important place in the singer’s artistic biography was occupied by her collaboration with pianist, composer and improviser Yuri Kuznetsov, one of the central figures of Odesa jazz.
Bukina performed with him on numerous occasions at festivals, city concerts and special programmes. Their repertoire included jazz standards and works connected with the history of the Odesa jazz school.
One of those pieces was George Gershwin’s «Summertime». Bukina described it as a fundamentally important work in the jazz repertoire and also used it in her teaching practice.
Their joint programmes were also performed with orchestral accompaniment. In particular, Bukina and Kuznetsov appeared with the Odesa Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra conducted by Igor Shavruk.
After Yuri Kuznetsov’s death, Bukina continued taking part in concerts dedicated to his memory. In 2023, she performed at an anniversary tribute alongside Alexey Petukhov, Andrey Pokaz and other representatives of the Odesa jazz scene.
Odesa Philharmonic and orchestral work
From the mid-2000s, Anastasia Bukina was associated with the Odesa Philharmonic as a soloist and participant in concert programmes.
Her stage work was not limited to small jazz ensembles. Over the years, she collaborated with the chamber orchestra conducted by Igor Shavruk, the big band of the Odesa Musical Comedy Theatre, Klaipėda Jazz Orchestra, Black Sea Orchestra and other ensembles.
The orchestral format allowed her to perform jazz standards in larger arrangements with brass and string sections, combining pop vocal technique with jazz improvisation.
Performance style
Anastasia Bukina’s vocal style is rooted primarily in the jazz tradition. Her repertoire includes jazz standards, soul, blues and contemporary popular music.
Her singing is characterized by a dark, full-bodied timbre, flexible phrasing and a preference for interpreting standards rather than copying classic versions literally. Improvisation plays an important role both in her live performances and in her teaching.
Her experience with Dust Heaven remains an unusual but important part of her musical biography. It demonstrates the breadth of her stylistic range: from traditional jazz and soul to gothic electronica and later pop music.
Transition to original pop music
In 2018, Bukina began a new stage of her career, deciding to devote more attention to contemporary pop music and her own original songs.
She began working with sound producer Alexander Shen. One of the songs from this period was «Твоя». Her jazz work did not stop, however: the pop direction developed in parallel with her traditional concert repertoire.
Black Sea Jazz Weekend and further education
In 2019, Anastasia Bukina won Black Sea Jazz Weekend. One of the prizes was an educational course from Berklee College of Music, after which she studied with American jazz singer and educator Gabrielle Goodman.
In 2020, Bukina completed higher education at Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University. Her professional studies, which had begun at the Odesa music college, therefore continued even after many years of stage and teaching experience.
Sing It and teaching
Vocal education became a separate area of Anastasia Bukina’s professional activity. In Odesa, she founded and heads the Sing It school, which focuses on comprehensive training for singers.
The school’s programme includes vocal technique and breathing, music theory, stage performance, popular music and a separate jazz vocal course. Particular attention is given to stylistics, phrasing and improvisation.
Sing It works with both adults and children. Separate programmes are designed for preparation for music competitions and admission to specialized educational institutions.
In her teaching, Bukina draws on her professional stage experience. For her, the goal is not only to teach students accurate intonation, but also to build reliable vocal technique, an understanding of musical material and the ability to work independently with style.
Concerts outside Ukraine
After the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Bukina continued performing and represented the Odesa jazz scene abroad.
In June 2022, she performed at the Klaipėda Castle Jazz Festival in Lithuania. Organizers linked the participation of the Odesa singer to the festival’s longstanding cooperation with Odessa Jazz Fest and its support for Ukraine.
In 2023, Bukina performed in Lithuania with the Kaunas Big Band. The concert continued her work with large jazz orchestras and became part of international cultural projects involving Ukrainian musicians.
Anastasia Bukina today
Jazz, soul and contemporary pop music remain the main directions of Bukina’s work. She performs with the Anastasia Bukina Group, collaborates with jazz musicians and orchestras, and continues her teaching work at Sing It.
Bukina’s biography is closely connected with Odesa. It was there that she received her musical education, began performing professionally, worked with representatives of the local jazz school and created her own educational project.
At the same time, her career has never been limited to a single format. The gothic electronica of Dust Heaven, chamber and big-band programmes, traditional jazz standards, soul and her move toward contemporary original pop music form a combination that is relatively unusual within the Ukrainian vocal scene. Jazz, however, has remained the central direction throughout most of her career.
