Polka in the United States

The Polish-American style of polka is perhaps the most popular today.[6] Polish Polka bands not only play polkas, but also play obereks, waltzes, and sometimes tangos. In fact, the "Polish polka" as we know it was never danced in Poland. Rather, different forms of polka existed in Polish folk dancing. This popularity is due in part to the fact that performers in this genre have worked to appeal to a larger audience by adding covers of modern music alongside normal polkas in their albums and performances. For example, the polka band Toledo Polka Motion includes a cover of the Beatles' "I'm a Loser" along with traditional pieces such as "Pod Krakowem" on one of their albums.[5] Polka star Jimmy Sturr has even included recordings with stars such as Willie Nelson to get the country music audience interested in polka. The hotspots for Polish-American polka are mostly in cities near the Great Lakes (especially Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee) and some East Coast cities.[7]

Polish-American polka can be subdivided into Chicago-style and Eastern-style. The typical Chicago-style polka band includes one or two trumpets, an accordion, a concertina, drums, a bass, and sometimes a clarinet, saxophone, or fiddle.[6] This style is connected to the '50s rock-and-roll era and is sometimes referred to as "push" style because of the intense "bellow-shaking" of the accordion.[6] A secondary style of Chicago-style polka music is referred to as "honky" style; this consists of a trumpet, clarinet (doubling on saxophone), concertina or accordion, upright bass (or bass guitar), & drums. It is performed in a dixieland style, and sung primarily in the Polish language. Most polka artists add a piano on recordings for embellishment. The modern giants of Chicago-style are Lenny Gomulka and the late Eddie Blazonczyk. Both were highly influenced by the style of Li'l Wally Jagiello, a polka performer of an earlier generation. Another influential early pioneer of Chicago-style polkas was Marion Lush who has been called the "Golden Voice" of polkas due to his distinctive vocal stylings. (Lush died in 1993.) Blazonczyk was the leader of a band called the Versatones, who released over 50 albums.[5] (Blazonczyk died in 2012.) Gomulka was a member of the Versatones until 1980 when he formed his own band, the Chicago Push.[8] Some other popular modern Chicago-style polka bands include Crusade, the Polka Family, the Dynatones, and Toledo Polka Motion.[7] An important venue for live performances of polka music was Club 505 at 13505 S Brainard Ave in the Hegewisch neighborhood on the Southeast side of Chicago. A live broadcast from Club 505 from 1959 can be heard on YouTube.

Eastern-style polka is similar to Chicago style but is played at a faster tempo, usually includes a bigger section of horns and reeds, and is connected to big-band era music rather than rock-and-roll. The most popular Eastern-style performer (and probably the most popular polka artist in America today) is Jimmy Sturr, winner of 15 Grammy Awards in the polka category.[9] Other important Eastern-style performers include Frank Wojnarowski, Bernie Witkowski, Walt Solek, Larry Chesky, Ray Henry, and the Connecticut Twins.[7][10]

The Slovenian style or Cleveland style is generally played at a smoother tempo and features different instrumentation. Whereas the Polish style utilizes trumpets and concertinas, the main melody instruments in the Slovenian band are the accordion and tenor saxophone. A diatonic accordion or "button box" is sometimes used instead of the piano accordion or chromatic accordion and offers a different sound. The Slovenian style also adds a banjo or guitar to bolster the rhythm section (most commonly banjo for polkas and guitar for waltzes). The epicenter of the Slovenian-American style of polka is undoubtedly Cleveland and northeast Ohio, but it is also popular in Pennsylvania and in many other cities in the Great Lakes region. The most influential figure in Slovenian-American polka is Frankie Yankovic, who helped "Americanize" the Slovenian polka and worked for years to popularize it, appearing throughout the country and even performing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He was crowned America's Polka King in Milwaukee in 1948. Other important Slovenian-style pioneers include Johnny Pecon, Lou Trebar, Johnny Vadnal (along with brothers Tony, Frankie, and Richie), Kenny Bass, Louis Bashel and Eddie Habat. The torchbearers of Slovenian-American or "Cleveland-Style" polka today include Jeff Pecon (Johnny's son), Joey Tomsick, Don Wojtila, Eddie Rodick, Eddie Klancnik, LynnMarie Hrovat and Alex Meixner. Like their Polish counterparts, these bands have also expanded their repertoire over the years to include a variety of styles of music including polkas, waltzes, American standards, Latin dances (cha chas, tangos, etc.), line dances, and rock 'n roll.

German-American bands resist being termed "polka bands" because they perform not only polkas but also waltzes, schottisches, laendlers, and various other ethnic forms of music.[11] Some of the Modern day German-American bands have even been known to incorporate Country & Western and/or Rock & Roll into their repertoire. They prefer the term "old-time." Their style is also sometimes known as "Dutchmen," a name derived from a band named The Six Fat Dutchmen.[11] This is a contrast to Polish-American and Slovenian-American bands, which generally do not object to the term "polka band".[7] German-American bands are also comparatively more traditional than the Slavic genres, with less modern American influence in their albums. Because of this, their recordings are much rarer and harder to come by than recordings of Slavic-style performers. The German-American sound is often described with the term "oom-pa-pa" and is characterized by an emphasis on brass (especially the tuba), accompanied by drums and reed instruments (including the accordion or concertina, although for the most part the concertina is usually favored over the accordion in German-American bands).[11] German-American style bands perform primarily in the so-called "polka belt" of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.[12] One important German-American performer is Lawrence Welk, who began his career as a band leader in South Dakota with an ethnic German-style ensemble called Welk's Novelty Orchestra. He later added more popular music to his band's repertoire, which enabled him to spread the polka throughout America by way of his famous television show.[12] Other important modern German-American bands include the Hoolerie Dutchmen, the Jolly Swiss Boys, Happy Hans,[13] and the Jerry Schneider Band.[11]

Czech-American style polka is similar to German-American style in many ways. Its performers call their bands "old-time," use the same brass-heavy instrumentation, and are popular in the same "polka belt."[11] Czech-American bands tend to be even more traditional than German-American bands, playing numerous authentic Czech pieces (polkas, waltzes, and schottisches).[12] Another unique aspect of many Czech bands is their family structure. Some Czech bands perpetuate a family structure through several generations. An example is the Masopust Polka Band,[14] which was started by the Masopust family in the late nineteenth century and still plays today.[12] Important Czech performers include the Harold Schultz Orchestra, the Greiner Brothers Orchestra, the Capital City Czech Choraliers of Nebraska, the Czechlanders Orchestra of Nebraska, Ernie Kucera, and Al Grebnik.[11]

Not as obviously related to the polka as the four genres above, Mexican-American polka is called "conjunto".[12] The conjunto sound originated from the Czech and German influence on Mexican-Americans in Texas and northern Mexico. Conjunto bands play some polkas, but their most popular musical form is the ranchera, a form similar to polka. The instrumentation involves a combination of accordion, bajo sexto (a Mexican twelve-string guitar), bass, and drums.[6] Important modern performers in the genre include Los Hermanos Bernal, Santiago Jimenez, Flaco Jimenez, Esteban Jordan, Valerio Longoria, and Tony De La Rosa among many others.

Papago-Pima style is more commonly referred to as "chicken scratch" and is associated with the Native American Tohono O'odham tribe (who were once the Papago).[6] This tribe was influenced by the music of the Germans who settled in southern Arizona, the most popular area for this genre. Papago-Pima performers use a saxophone, accordion, guitar, electric bass, and drums in their performances and commonly perform music that follows the form of the schottische (a dance with the same cultural origins as polka).[15] The most important modern performers in this genre are Southern Scratch, the Joaquin Brothers, Papago Raiders, the Molinas, and T.O. Brave.

While Keil's six genres cover the majority of polka performers, other polka bands combine these genres or exist outside of them altogether. Brave Combo is one important modern group that plays a combination of these three genres with a very modern edge. Started in 1979 by Carl Finch, this band is the ultimate in appealing to a wider, younger audience. In addition to accordion, tuba, woodwinds, drum, and trumpet, the instrumentation of the band includes guitar, electric horn, and harmonica. According to Finch, the genre of the band has "no restrictions." They play everything from Polish-style to rancheras to Greek music.

To appeal to younger audiences, the band uses album covers that make the band look like a rock group and edgy album titles such as Kick Ass Polkas.[16] Their music is popular enough in the polka world that their 1999 album, Polkasonic, won a Grammy in the polka category. Brave Combo is an example of the way some polka bands have tried to break free of the restrictions of genre and adapt to modern culture.

The longest-standing polka organization is the Chicago-based International Polka Association (IPA). Beginning as an "International Polka Convention" in the mid-1960s, the IPA was officially established in 1968 with Leon Kozicki as the "organization builder" and John Hyzny as the "entrepreneur".[4] According to its charter, its goals are "to promote, maintain, and advance public interest in polka entertainment".[4] Today, the IPA still carries out yearly conventions every summer to allow polka fans to gather and to present the annual Polka Music Awards. The IPA established its Polka Music Hall of Fame in 1968 to honor worthy performers. In 1982, a museum was established, now located above Polonia Banquets, a century-old dance hall at 4608 S. Archer Ave. in the Brighton Park neighborhood, and open by appointment.[4]