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#221253 - 12/18/06 04:47 PM Anybody Here Know Polkas?
GlennT Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/02
Posts: 1790
Loc: Medina, OH, USA
If so, what's the difference between a Slovenian Polka and a Polish Polka... or, is there a difference?

(I just know before I get a legit answer someone's gonna say "What's a Polka?" )

Glenn

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#221254 - 12/18/06 05:59 PM Re: Anybody Here Know Polkas?
Jerryghr Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/14/02
Posts: 1497
Loc: Buffalo, NY
There are various styles of contemporary polka. Of the US types, the North American "Polish-style polka" has roots in Chicago, and can be identified as 'Chicago honky' and 'Chicago push' styles. This 'push' version or style of Polka features accordion, concertina, bass, drums, and (almost always) two trumpets. The 'honky' variation of this style uses clarinet and one trumpet. North American "Slovenian-style polka" is fast and features piano accordion, and is associated with Cleveland. North American "Dutchman-style" features an oom-pah sound, often with a tuba, and has roots in the American Midwest. "Conjunto-style" has roots in Northern Mexico and Texas, and is also called Norteņo. In the 1980s and 1990s several bands began to combine polka with various rock styles, sometimes referred to as "punk polka", "alternative polka" or "San Francisco-style". Irish traditional music has also adopted the polka into its repertory and there it has come into its own distinct flavor. There is even Peruvian Polca.

In the pampas, there is another kind of polka (that is called polca). It is a very very fast beat, with a 3/4 compass. Instruments used: acoustic guitar (usually six strings, but sometimes seven strings), electric or acoustic bass (sometimes fretless), accordion (sometimes piano accordion, sometimes button accordion), and sometimes some percussion is used. The lyrics always praise the gaucho warriors from the past or tell about the life of the gaucho campeiros (provincial gauchos who keep the common way)

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