History of Polka Music | The Origin of Polka Music
Excerpts from the Public Television documentary, "Polka!" We love polka music!
The polka is originally a Czech dance and genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic.
Polka remains a popular folk music genre in many European countries, and is performed by folk artists in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and to a lesser extent in Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus, Russia, and Slovakia.
Local varieties of this dance are also found in the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America and the United States.
The beginning of the propagation of dance and accompanying music called polka is generally attributed to a young woman, Anna Slezáková (born Anna Chadimová), who danced to accompany a local folk song called "Strýček Nimra koupil šimla", or "Uncle Nimra Bought a White Horse", in 1834.
She is said to have called the dance Maděra, because of its liveliness. The dance was further propagated by the music teacher Josef Neruda, who witnessed Anna dance in an unusual way, put the tune to paper, and taught other young men to dance it.
By 1835, this dance had spread to the ballrooms of Prague. From there, it spread to Vienna by 1839,[5] and in 1840 was introduced in Paris by Raab, a Prague dance instructor.
It was so well received by both dancers and dance masters in Paris that its popularity was referred to as "polkamania." The dance soon spread to London and was introduced to America in 1844. It remained a popular ballroom dance until the late 19th century, when it would give way to the two-step and new ragtime dances.
Polka dancing enjoyed a resurgence in popularity after World War II, when many Polish refugees moved to the US, adopting this Bohemian style as a cultural dance.
Polka dances are still held on a weekly basis across many parts of the US with significant populations of central European origin. It was also found in parts of South America.
There are various styles of contemporary polka besides the original Czech dance, which is still the chief dance at any formal or countryside ball in the Czech Republic.
One of the types found in the United States is the North American "Polish-style polka," which has roots in Chicago, with large Czech and Polish minorities; two sub-styles are "The Chicago Honky" (using clarinet and one trumpet) and "Chicago Push" featuring the accordion, Chemnitzer & Star concertinas, upright bass or bass guitar, drums, and (almost always) two trumpets.
North American "Slovenian-style polka" is fast and features piano accordion, chromatic accordion, and/or diatonic button box accordion; it is associated with Cleveland.
North American "Dutchmen-style" features an oom-pah sound often with a tuba & banjo, and has roots in the American Midwest. "Conjunto-style" polkas have roots in northern Mexico and Texas, and are also called "Norteño".
Traditional dances from this region reflect the influence of polka-dancing European immigrants. In the 1980s and 1990s, several American bands began to combine polka with various rock styles (sometimes referred to as "punk polka"), "alternative polka", or "San Francisco-style".
It is said that Polka Music Transcends Time!
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I love the comment that you don't sing about your troubles you forget them.Thanks for posting.
My father was probably one of the original line dancers. He would line then us four kids and mom anywhere there was a band and he taught us to dance pollkas and waltzes as we danced around the dance floor. Dad was of french descent and Mom was German and Cherokee Indian. I still love polkas and waltz music but just can't find the old dance nights in my part of Pa.
regional mexican music and german polka are closey related
This is amazing! Wonderfully put together!
Thank you for posting this!!!!
Thanks a million for posting this1!!
Mollie B - the living legend of Polka
thank you! Very well done!
I could not help but notice that the Tejano use of the accordian and the music/polkas they play was not mentioned.
Very good video. I always wanted to learn how to play the accordion and also the bagpipes as well. My late maternal grandfather came from Norway & my ancestry on my late mothers side of my family is Norwegian & on my late fathers side is Irish so there's the bagpipes part. I first listened to Polka music in the summer of 1964 in Pittston, PA when I was visiting my late paternal grandmother. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area is very big on Polka music, and so is the Wilmington, DE & Baltimore, MD areas.
In a history of Polka, please do not forget Frankie Yankovic, "America's Polka King"
Really enjoyed this video on polka music.
I wish Tennessee had such festivals. I miss this a lot.
Just about the happiest video ever!
Amazing. Congratz from Brazil.
You can;t beat this music, this is the best! It makes you happy to hear it!
That lady from New Glarus has one of the most Wisconsin accents Ive ever heard. That is fantastic!
Loved it and yes, I'm from Wisconsin!
Thank you so much for your documentary, my family is Croatian and I grew up listening to polka music. I now live in Louisiana, the button box is popular, Cajun music is quite similar, but not like polka, thanks again for posting😀
Thank ya music lovers!
polka original from czechoslovaquia quickly adopted by the whole europe
Cool • Cheers from The Detroit & Mackinac Railway 🚂
Awesome
Nice!
Great
HISTORIA TANCA POLKI.
its unfortunate this year, it has been cancelled, hope to travel to WI for polkas days in the coming years after the sickness clears up, -safe days, Missoula MT; -fox
Mollie oh Mollie! This musik is not just mine but is the world all over, I have friends everywhere I go. Love it. Poland lost out but the greater world won! You make it so! German, Slovenia, Austria and well everywhere You go You can have a good time! Well Italy too, they do know of it! Keep going, musik is not only Rock and Noise! It must have meanings to tell a story! Richard in Australia loves You.
Gosh dang I love a pretty Midwest girl with the accent to match. Great video, lotta talent, lotta love. Thanks for sharing your passion
dzienkuje
Just another reason to love wisconsin
"Polka was a fad in Europe" good luck explaining that to my Czech family
what is the first song called ?
History of Polka
Wisconsin very good state
Arizona Groove merchants
couple dance of Bohemian origin in duple time; was a basic pattern of hop-step-close-step; a lively Bohemian dance tune in 2/4 time. The polka was originally a Czech peasant dance, developed in Eastern Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic). Bohemian historians believe that the polka was invented by a peasant girl (Anna Slezak, in Labska Tynice in 1834) one Sunday for her amusement. It was composed to a folk song "Strycek Nimra Koupil Simla (Uncle Nimra brought a white horse)." Anna called the step "Madera" because of its quickness and liveliness. The dance was first introduced into the ballrooms of Prague in 1835. The name of the dance (pulka) is Czech for "half-step", referring to the rapid shift from one foot to the other. In 1840, Raab, a dancing teach of Prague, danced the polka at the Odeon Theatre in Paris where it was a tremendous success. Parisian dancing teachers seized on the new dance and refined it for their salons and ballrooms. According to Cellarius, the famous French dancing master of the mid-nineteenth century: "What young man is there, although formerly most opposed to dancing, whom the polka has not snatched from his apathy to acquire, willy-nilly, a talent suddenly become indispensable?" Polkamania resulted. Dance academies were swamped and in desperation recruited ballet girls from the Paris Opera as dancing partners to help teach the polka. This naturally attracted many young men who were interested in things other than dancing, and manners and morals in the dance pavilions deteriorated. Dancing developed a bad name and many parents forbade their daughters dancing with any but close friends of the family. The polka was introduced in England by the middle of the nineteenth century. However, it did not achieve the popularity it had achieved on the Continent. By this time, it had also reached the United States. Thomas Balch, in his book Philadelphia Assemblies, reports that Breiter's band composed a new polka for the occasion of the 1849 Assembly. It was evident the waltz and polka were gradually replacing the contredanse and cotillion. The popularity of the polka led to the introduction of several other dances from central Europe. The simplest was the galop or galoppade which was introduced into England and France in 1829. Dance position was the same as for the waltz or polka, with couples doing a series of fast chassés about the room with occasional turns. Music was in 2/4 time, often merely a fast polka. The galop was particularly popular as the final dance of the evening. The polonaise, named for its country of origin, was a stately processional march in slow ¾ time, often used for the opening of a fancy dress ball. However, it never achieved great popularity as a ballroom dance. The Bohemian redowa consisted of three successive movements: a "pursuit" step, an ordinary waltz step, and a valse à deux temps step. It was danced to a slow waltz. The Polish mazurka, a fairly complicated dance to waltz music, included hops, sliding steps, and kicking the heels together. The schottische was a German folk dance that consisted of a series of chassés and hops done to 2/4 and 4/4 music. There were also combination dances such as the polka-redowa and polka-mazurka. Of all the dances originating in the nineteenth-century, the only one that has survived is the polka. After the initial enthusiasm, the polka gradually declined in popularity and reached a low point with the introduction of ragtime, jazz, and the newer dances of the early twentieth century. After the second world war, however, Polish immigrants to the United States adopted the polka as their "national" dance. It is also extremely popular with many other Americans who have succumbed to the new polka craze popularized by Lawrence Welk and other post-war bands. For years to come, the polka will remain popular, with its variance in style from robust to smooth short, glide steps and ever happy music. One of the most popular versions of the polka is the "heel and toe and away we go" due to its ease to execute. Polka Music Beer Barrel Polka, also known as Roll Out the Barrel (German version Rosamunde) is a popular polka song. It is played at many weddings and social dance evenings. André Rieu & Heino performing 'Rosamunde' live in his hometown Maastricht. Beer Barrel Polka - Walter Ostanek - Canada's Polka King Polka is a popular dance in the country western sector. Polkas and schottische are competitive Country Western dances. « Peabody Previous
Well, you're not really an accordion player until you've had one stolen!
shes hawwt breh
D:
Polka! Polish dance!
hehaw
xd
I never got past the historical part of this video, which I feel has nothing to do with actual history of Polka, and everything to do with trying to publicize the narrator to sell her music. I bet she is of Polish origin, many Polish-Americans like to take credit for the dance and music. Its a known fact, and even presented in much of the paragraph under the title that the dance was Bohemian, which is Czech. Many Polish Americans claimed the dance because of the name, but it was altered because in Czech word Pulka means half, which is the step of the dance. The history of the dance is "Merky" only to Americans like Mollie B., which are usually drunks and just like to get drunk and dance like most bar fleas do. But try to dance a polka in front of a Czech from Europe and you`d better do it right, or youll be called a fool or fake. The origin of Polka is Bohemian, there is no mystery or secret about it. Anna Slezak, a bohemian servant girl danced the steps and her employers learned the steps as well, took it to the ball rooms, where it was danced first, then to taverns. Americans have hand me down polkas, which are fun for them, but makes them no expert. If you want to hear and experience REAL polka, youtube Czech Polka, and even if you dont understand the lyrics, the music is astounding, as well as the dances. I am of Czech origin, my people always said the dance was a formal waltz as the guy said and its authentic way of being danced was like this: kzread.info/dash/bejne/loOCurx7os3LYto.html The dance spread quick but as time altered it it became danced a lot by peasants in taverns etc like this: kzread.info/dash/bejne/c6mitLl7j8fTmbA.html Why would you title a video on history and origin of a dance then try speculating and even making a personal assumption of things that actually are fact based? Do some real investigating before you make assumptions, I found the history with ease just by Google...….
Polka is NOT Polish. Stop it.
The polka is not polish-This music has nothing to do with the country of Poland, it "s people ,or it 's culture. The polka is ukrainian, and czechoslovakian. My wife is from Poland, Bialystok,and she knows more about this music which is not polish by any means,more than the Polka bands who try to connect this music with the polish people . There is no such thing as a polish polka . Although it is happy music, it is not polish in any respect -this music is not played in modern day Poland , and nor do they like it. . I have played in several polka bands for over 35 years, on trumpet,and I always thought that the polka was from Poland . When I married my wife ,who is from Poland, she set me straight on polka music . She simply stated this-This music is not from my country, It is not from our culture,and her friends who are living here in the United States from Poland also told me the same thing THE POLKA IS NOT POLISH,AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR HOME COUNTRY.
Wow that's 1 in a 1,000,000 usually decent looking women aren't even into polka music, just old leathery looking granny's and grampas
Ein vollkommen unsinniges Musikvideo!
Hail Satan