Before someone starts lecturing me along the 'the polka is Czech' lines, I know all that, and
the word polka is Czech for połówka referring to the music's 2/4 beat....
But the Polish-American polka has become a cultural phenomenon in tis own right, and even though in the US there are Slovenian, Bavarian, Urkainian, Czech and Lithuanian polkas, it is the Polish group that is associated with it the most. A vast array of polka musicians has developed over the generations, and a polka category was introduced to the Grammy awards a few years ago. There are many polka radio programmes across the USA The term polka music also includes obereks, waltzes and an occasional kujawiak thrown in.
My question is this: unless I have somehow missed it, why is there not a Polonian polka niche on Poland's popculture scene? I purposely have used the term niche because I do nto expect American-style polka music to compete with pop or disco polo. But if there are Poles who actually listen to the monotonously repetitive groans and grunts of American slumdwellers (iphop) or go in for the music of American rednecks (country), why has no-one ever thought of introducing PolAm polka music? Is it that Polish inferiority complex ('Cudze chwalicie, własnego nie znacie...' A. Mickiewicz) that laps up every scrap of foreign rubbish thrown its way but avoids anything that smacks of its own roots?
the word polka is Czech for połówka referring to the music's 2/4 beat....
But the Polish-American polka has become a cultural phenomenon in tis own right, and even though in the US there are Slovenian, Bavarian, Urkainian, Czech and Lithuanian polkas, it is the Polish group that is associated with it the most. A vast array of polka musicians has developed over the generations, and a polka category was introduced to the Grammy awards a few years ago. There are many polka radio programmes across the USA The term polka music also includes obereks, waltzes and an occasional kujawiak thrown in.
My question is this: unless I have somehow missed it, why is there not a Polonian polka niche on Poland's popculture scene? I purposely have used the term niche because I do nto expect American-style polka music to compete with pop or disco polo. But if there are Poles who actually listen to the monotonously repetitive groans and grunts of American slumdwellers (iphop) or go in for the music of American rednecks (country), why has no-one ever thought of introducing PolAm polka music? Is it that Polish inferiority complex ('Cudze chwalicie, własnego nie znacie...' A. Mickiewicz) that laps up every scrap of foreign rubbish thrown its way but avoids anything that smacks of its own roots?