Re: Polka & Klez

[Paul M. Gifford <PGIFFORD...>]

"Peter Rushefsky" <RUSHEFSKY_P (at) univerahealthcare(dot)org> wrote:

> Does anyone have any information on the relationship between Polka music
> (which I know very little about) and klezmer?  Or on the history/evolution of
> Polka music so I can point to similarities & differences? 
> 
Even though there is a sort of pan-ethnic quality that's promoted, 
polka music is still divided:  Polish-American polka music is 
generally considered to be in two styles---"Chicago" (represented by 
Eddie Blazonczyk & His Versatones) and "New York" (larger bands, 
represented by Jimmy Sturr). Slovenian style is also called 
"Cleveland" style and is copied after Frankie Yankovic (using 
accordion lead, with tenor banjo accompaniment). Then there's Czech 
style, with slower tempos, using button accordion & tuba, etc., 
popular in Nebraska and elsewhere, "Dutch Hop," (Volga German) in 
Colorado, etc.

Look for Charles Keil, _Polka Happiness_ (Philadelphia: Temple 
University Press, 1992), which discusses Buffalo Polish polka music 
and the reasons why they style themselves after the Chicago sound.  
The purple book, _Ethnic Recordings in America_, Richard K. 
Spotswood, ed., (1979?), has an interview with Alvin Sajewski, who 
had a Polish music business in Chicago.

I'm sure that some of the earliest recordings made in the U.S. of 
Polish music were actually made by Jewish musicians, because they 
were anonymous (with such names as "Polska Wiejska Band" - 'Polish 
Village Band') and recorded in New York. I've got an Abe Schwartz 78 
issued in the Lithuanian series, with the title "Klaipeda Polka," and 
the music is indistinguishable from any gentile Polish or Lithuanian 
band of the period.

I don't think Keil goes into it much, outside of recordings, but 
there were publishers of Polish sheet music in the 1920s (I think in 
Buffalo, too----I recall seeing some at a flea market once; but 
certainly in Chicago and I think in Detroit). My impression is that 
the "folk" nature of the music was changing in that period----they 
stopped playing the dances like sztajerek and others, and limited 
themselves to polkas, waltzes, and obereks. 1920s recordings feature 
a lot of village style, with 2-3 violins and bass and maybe clarinet, 
with Galician-style second violin (a Jewish influence, no doubt). At 
the same time, there was a tendency towards a more pop orientation, 
using piano accordion, copyrighted tunes, etc., and also bigger bands 
that played a variety of music.

It would be interesting to learn of any Jewish/Polish interaction in 
this music in the U.S. Just from my occasional jaunts to polka sites 
in Detroit, I've never seen or heard of any. This is in contrast to 
Hungarian Gypsy music in Detroit---for example, 10-20 years ago the 
main restaurant which featured it advertised regularly in the 
"Detroit Jewish News" (that newspaper and a "music of your life" 
format radio station being mainly where it was advertised, according 
to the owner), and a Jewish violinist and clarinetist played 
regularly in a Hungarian bar (Kovacs' Bar, on W. Jefferson), with 
Gypsy musicians, in the '50s. 

Paul Gifford

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