Slovenian-style polka (also known as Cleveland Style polka) is an American style of

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

in the

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n tradition. It is usually associated with

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

and other

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

ern cities.

Instruments

The Slovenian style polka band always includes a piano accordion, chromatic accordion, or the

Diatonic button accordion A melodeon or diatonic button accordion is a member of the free-reed aerophone family of musical instruments. It is a type of button accordion on which the melody-side keyboard contains one or more rows of buttons, with each row producing the ...

(also called a "button box"). Sometimes an accordion called the Half Chromatic, often abbreviated half-chrom, is used. This accordion has a right side similar to a three-row B-system chromatic accordion, but a bass side similar to the

. Some bands in Slovenia use keyboard instead of accordion. The other melody instrument is a saxophone or clarinet, and the rhythm instruments include drums, bass, and guitar or banjo. The Avsenik brothers also add a trumpet to their sound. The Slovenian style polka in the United States of America came about when immigrants from Slovenia taught the old songs to their children. Those children, as adults, translated the old songs from Slovene into English, and arranged them in a polka beat. This began the

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

of Cleveland-style polka music.

History

At first, Slovenian style polka was just music for

ethnic An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

clubs and union halls. However, the commercial success of Frankie Yankovic (Jankovič) and other musicians soon introduced the genre to a wider audience. William Lausche incorporated the elements of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

and early

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

; at this point, the style took on a type of swing that can be heard in his piano playing, even on some early Yankovic recordings. Johnny Pecon and Lou Trebar consequently extended the style to its farthest reaches harmonically, including blue notes, substitutions and compounded symbolism, elements of whole-tone scales, modality, borrowed and altered chords homophonically or in the implied or broken form and compounded and odd rhythmic embellishments or reductions, in addition to the use of structural and textural dynamics and phrasing that had up to that point never been utilized to such a degree. In addition to Frankie Yankovic, the most important pioneers in developing this style of music include Matt Hoyer, Dr. William Lausche, Johnny Pecon, Lou Trebar, Johnny Vadnal, Eddie Habat, and Kenny Bass. The music heard during scene transitions on ''

The Drew Carey Show ''The Drew Carey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionaliz ...

'' is played in Cleveland-style polka to suit the city it is set in.

Notable musicians

Slavko Avsenik Slavko Avsenik (November 26, 1929 – July 2, 2015) was a Slovenia, Slovene composer and musician. Beginning in 1953 with the formation of the Avsenik Brothers Ensemble, Avsenik produced more than 1,000 songs and garnered success both in Slovenia ...

* Louis Bashell * Eddie Blazonczyk * Roger Bright * Tom Brusky * The Chardon Polka Band * The Vadnals * Verne Meisner * Walter Ostanek

External links

International Polka Association

Slovenian & Cleveland style polkas - hundreds of pages with information, photos, articles and music related to Slovenian polka music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slovenian-Style Polka Polka genres American styles of music Slovenian folk music Slovene-American history Culture of Cleveland

Instruments

History

Notable musicians

See also

External links