Hey Everybody - Let's Polka!

I know there are people who read this blog on a regular basis who are going to have severe problems with cognitive dissonance when I state that yes, I really do like polka. In fact, polka and the waltz are the only two "traditional" dances I know how to do. But see, I grew up in the Baltimore area, where there are a lot of central Europeans - Germans, Czechs and Slovaks (who we called Bohemians and Moravians back in the day), and Poles. So believe me when I tell you that polka has always was always huge around Baltimore back then. Oh, not on the radio, at least not on the big stations (although there were a couple of small stations that played only polka); but at church halls, VFW and Knights of Columbus halls, and the like, polka ruled. And let's not forget that Baltimore was one of the bigger markets for The Lawrence Welk Show.

So last night as I was looking for the appropriate video for my Theme Thursday post, I ran across a wealth of polka videos (no, you're not gonna have to suffer through even more polka on Thursday) and thought I'd share some. Our first sample is "The Sauerkraut Polka" by the Original Tiroler Echo. It's a real floor-stomper, so grab your partner, hitch up your skirts, and off we go!

The next is an old favorite, the "Beer Barrel Polka", but it's played by a group called Tekla Klebetnica from the motherland of Poland, so it has a rougher, more "down home" feel!

Now here's a real hoot - the "Bayrische Polka", played by a full brass band. But catch that trombone soloist - ain't she something else?

Next we have some home-grown polka, the "Pennsylvania Polka" (remember this from the movie Groundhog Day?) featuring the great Frankie Yankovic (more on him in a bit):

Okay, Frankie Yankovic, the Elvis of the American Polka scene, born 1915, died 1998. If you heard any polka at all from the '30s through the '80s, you heard Frankie. People practically worshipped the man (I did say he was the Elvis of polka, right?). So anyhow, here's Frankie Yankovic and his Yanks playing the "I Have a Wife at Home Polka"!

This last piece isn't a polka, but if you have a polka band you had damned well better be able to play the "Blue Skirt Waltz"! There are areas of the US where a wedding reception just isn't considered legitimate unless the band plays the "Blue Skirt Waltz". Here we have the classic version by the Lawrence Welk Orchestra (and of course that's Myron Floren playing the accordion!). Enjoy!

Text © 2009 by A. Roy Hilbinger