The more I try to understand polka, the more I find myself confused. With the exception of last week's post, the tapes I've been posting recently fall under the genre of Slovenian-American polka, specifically Cleveland-styled Slovenian-American polka. Wikipedia describes the genre as:
"...generally played at a smoother tempo and features different instrumentation. Whereas the Polish style utilizes trumpets and concertinas, the main melody instruments in the Slovenian band are the accordion and tenor saxophone. A diatonic accordion or "button box" is sometimes used instead of the piano accordion or chromatic accordion and offers a different sound. The Slovenian style also adds a banjo or guitar to bolster the rhythm section (most commonly banjo for polkas and guitar for waltzes)."
If I can be candid, I'm growing a little tired of what (I assume) is the Slovenian-American style. It's pretty much all I've been posting lately, and I miss the polka stylings of my earlier entries. So what exactly is that genre of polka? Is is Chicago-style Polish-American music, aka "push-polka?" Upon further review, no, it is not. The sound is pretty identical to Slovenian-American polka. In fact, here's Wikipedia's definition of push-style:
"The typical Chicago-style polka band includes one or two trumpets, an accordion, a concertina, drums, a bass, and sometimes a clarinet, saxophone, or fiddle. This style is connected to the '50s rock-and-roll era and is sometimes referred to as "push" style because of the intense "bellow-shaking" of the accordion."
Maybe it's just too early in the morning for me, but this definition seems pretty similar to Slovenian-American polka. Maybe it's German-American polka I long for? However, my research brings me to the same conclusion as the latter cases, and Wikipedia greets me with another near-identical definition:
"The German-American sound is often described with the term "oom-pa-pa" and is characterized by an emphasis on brass (especially the tuba), accompanied by drums and reed instruments (including the accordion or concertina, although for the most part the concertina is usually favored over the accordion in German-American bands)."
It's at this point I realized where my distinction in taste comes from. I long for the classic days of polka. How can I be such a curmudgeon over an era of polka that existed long before I was born? I will not let myself become old at heart. I must embrace the new! Well...new-ish. Today's tape is after all nearly 30 years old. So let's talk about it!
When I first saw the cover art for Frankie Liska and The Brass Connections "The New Generation" I was under the assumption that it would be Star Trek themed. However, like most of these tapes that I've posted so far, the theme of this album is only surface level. That's not to say that this tarnishes the album in any way. There are still great tracks like Good Friends Polka and Gonna Have My Love Polka.
I'd dedicate My Buddy's Wedding Polka to my buddy Connor, but I have no idea what's actually being said. I'll dedicate it to him anyways. Don't Tell Me Polka comes off a little too "nice guy" for me, but some may find comfort in it.
Not a bad release, just more of the same that we've been seeing lately. Well worth a listen through! Hope you're all well. Take care of each other. There's a light at the end of this tunnel.
DOWNLOAD HERE:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ntb4epdadpalyzn/Frank_Liska_TBC_-_The_New_Generation_MP3s.zip/file
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