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“Polish Village Music”Various ArtistsCD 7031
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Buy It Now!
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Recordings from the early Polish - American communities in New York and Chicago, from 1927 -1933. At the turn of the century the Polish-speaking population in Chicago drew music makers and music lovers from the villages and mountains of southeastern Poland, an area with a rich and distinctive tradition of music and song that continued to sustain immigrants in their new urban environment. The elegant violin/flute dominated sounds of George Dzialowy's Orkiestra Makowska reflect the dominant Chicago Polish ensemble sound of the period. Also included are the Józef Brangel Orkiestra, Piotr Kopacz, Orkiestra Jana Dranki and others.
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Listen to some of the tracks!! (uses RealAudio®) 1. Wsciekla Polka - Orkiestra Majkuta 2. Tam Pod Krakowem Na Bloniach - Stefan Skrabut 3. Tramla Polka - Bruno Rudzinski 4. Ostatki Na Podhalu - Karol Stoch 5. Icek W Kolomej - Orkiestra Majkuta 6. Zlota Rybka - Tarnowska Orkeistra Stasiaka 7. Wyjechalem W Pole Orac - Stefan I Wladyslaw Macon 8. Pijal Ojciec, Pije Ja - Frank P. Kawa 9. Po Bobowisku - Wladyslaw Dombkowski 10. Cialy Do Boxy - Aleksander Brokowski 11. Oberek Z Gorlic - Jozef Brangel 12. Pasla Andzia Pawie - Ignacy Podgorski 13. Dziadowski Karnawal - Jozef Kallini 14. Oberek Kopacza - Piotr Kopacz 15. Nie Boje Sie Ulana - Orkiestra Jana Dranki 16. Oj, W Bernie W Magazynie - Wiejska Orkiestra Kmiecia 17. Zbojcy W Karczmie - Makowska Orkiestra Dzialowego 18. Piesn Dziadowska - Waclaw Turchanowicz 19. Antek Z Manka Tancza Rach-Ciach-Ciach - Stanislaw Mermel 20. Z Karpat - Baczkowski Wiejska Orkiestra 21. Gdy Bylem Mlody - Wladyslaw Polak 22. Stach - Jan Wanat 23. Okreznym - Polska Orkiestra Pod Bialem Orlem 24. Diabel W Niewoli - Wladyslaw Polak 25. Na Boisku - Frank Dukla |
REVIEWS “World music remains the most interesting area of exploration for the independents, and Folklyric's Polish Village Music: Historic Polish American Recordings, Chicago and New York, 1927-1933 (CD 7031) doesn't fail to please. These aren't the better-known polkas popularized by Li'l Wally, nor are they the commercially smooth and danceable rhythms of Lawrence Welk. This rustic, regional Polish music relies heavily on violin to carry the melodies. The traditional base for the songs came in the early 20th century with the immigrants, who brought the sounds of Krakow, Gorlice, Jaslo, and other areas of Poland to the East and Midwest of America. If you're an aficionado of good Polish names, you'll enjoy this collection, which has some marvelous ones: Waclaw Terchanowicz, Wladyslaw Polak, and the Baczkowski Wiejska Orkiestra.”(Geary Kaczorowski — Schwann Spectrum) |
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“In the south of Poland, they refer to Chicago as the second biggest Polish city. The majority of the 25 recordings here were recorded there between 1927 and 1933, including one by the most commercially successful Polish-American band led by Frank Dukla.
Arhoolie offer us an insight into another aspect of American ethnic minority music. Dick Spottswood has compiled a fascinating album, mainly taken from 78's on Victor, accompanied songs and dance music. Typically the groups consist of 2 or 3 fiddles, clarinet and string bass, but there is also singing to accordion, solo fiddle and in one case, concertina. Most of the material is traditional and from the Polish southern highlands in polka, mazurka or waltz rhythm. The singing is generally good and the playing sounds out that traditional authenticity, even if some of it, particularly the fiddle playing is rough in the extreme. Polish-American music never had the broader influence that the Czech/Moravian/ German equivalent on the development of Tex-Mex and Western Swing and it eventually became absorbed in the `50's in the broader polka movement played by the likes of Li'l Wally. Congratulations to Dick Spottswood and Chris Strachwitz for offering us another piece of the complicated jigsaw that is American ethnic popular music.” (Vic Smith — Folk Roots) |
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“Nicely de-scratchified 78s, recorded between 1927 and 1933 in New York, Camden and Chicago, by Polish immigrants from villages in the rural southeastern parts of Poland. Fine liner notes, edited by Dick Spottswood, give texts in Polish and English. This CD gives a good range of styles and instrumentation: accordion solos, gutsy string bands, small combos with strings and clarinets, vocal solos and duets. Drinking songs mainly, from an exuberant male point of view, save for a politically incorrect duet by two women (mother throws baby into the water, miller's apprentice in boat grabs it out again). Here are also the beginnings of the polka in Chicago. `Let everyone remember to love girls - you will go to heaven'.
Fine description (solo voice and fiddle) of the "Beggar's Carnival," in which band and celebrants finish the vodka bottle horizontally on the floor. Some of the string bands show close connections to Czech, Ukrainian, even Romanian and Hungarian music, and it's easy to see how wide experience in many eastern European styles shaped Klezmer music.” (Hank Bradley — Victory Review) |
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“Now, this is roots music from an entirely different tree. Arhoolie, a label that regularly serves up vintage Cajun and Amerlcan border music, has delivered an album that should be of great interest to lovers of polka and other forms of immigrant music. These selections, made from 1927 to 1933 in Chicago and New York, document the rich tradition of music brought to Poish-speaking enclaves in this country from villages and mountain regions back home. The recordings are raw and unsophisticated yet carried within them are the genes of modern polka and, even, American country rhythms. There's no "Beer Barrel Polka" here, but Frank P. Kawa's "Pijal Ojciec, Pije Ja" ("Father Drinks, So Do I") could be its musical grandfather. Throughout the course of the album, these 25 solo and ensemble dance tunes demonstrate stylistic evolutlon within the genre and herald the beginnings of an early "Chicago Sound" in polka music. Dick Spottwood provides informative notes, and translations are included.”
(Gary Dretzka — Chicago Tribune) |
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“This collection of "Historic Polish-American Recordings, Chicago and New York 1927-1933" shows the careful hand of Dick Spottswood. He's made judicious selections from the available stock of recordings to present a well-rounded view of the music. In fact, if you're expecting the standard Midwestern oompah band sound, you will be in for a surprise. Of course, much of this music is intended for dancing, so there is a strong rhythmic feel to it. Often as not, this is accomplished through the use of string bass or the bass notes of the accordion. These instruments give the tune a solid beat over which the bubbly melodies percolate. The low string sound is quite similar to Romanian music, though the fiddle style is not. A bright-sounding, wet tuning appears to be the norm among the accordionists. An example of this is the beautiful mazurka "Devil In Jail" played by Wladyslaw Polak. Its unusual, three-part melody modulates back and forth between major and minor tonalities, ending abruptly (maybe he ran out of space on the recording medium) Another fun tune is "Father Drinks, So Do I" featuring the dexterous clarinet playing of Jan Wyskowski.
Frank P. Kawa sings this drinking song in a gruff, boozy voice and the clarinet runs rings around him. Although this was recorded in 1929, the sound is quite full and clear, as is the case with most cuts on this disc. We have the skilled work of Jack Towers, who transferred the original 78s to tape, to thank for that. A rather less-refined track is the "Oberek Z Gorlic," a triple-time tune played in a very rustic style by three violins, a clarinet and string bass. There are several instruments playing the melody at once, though not all the same notes at the same time. The result is exuberant, if sometimes cacophonous. A more poignant example of traditional Polish music is "Beggar's Song." This doleful song with a slightly misogynist cast is sung to the accompaniment of a fiddle. The song is reminiscent of the custom of beggar musicians who sang about current af-fairs and made wry comments on them. Chock-full of great dance tunes, singers, orchestras, fiddles, clarinets and squeeze-boxes, this disc proves there's more to Polish music than polkas.” (Elaine Bradtke — Sing Out!) |
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“Now this was a surprise. I figured an album of `Historic Polish-Amerrcan Recordings Chicago and New York 1927-1933' might be vaguely interesting, but rather
definitively Special Interest, and didn't anticipate it being absolutely entrancing. Seems Polish immigrants, mostly from the mountain villages of the southeast, spurned the major labels' offerings of modern imported urban music from the old country and filled the gap with their own defiantly roots records (I'm cribbing shamelessly from Dick Spottswood's informative liner notes). It has to be admitted that, for outsiders, 79 minutes of music in a language you can't understand, by people whose names you can't pronounce, tends to overkill, but there's some great stuffhere. Mostly polkas based round violins, clarinet and string bass, or solo accordion, among the most riveting of the 25 tracks are Karol Stoch's Ostatki Na Podhalu, Aleksander Brokowski's Cialy Do Boxy (Charlie In Jail), Jozef Brangel's Oberek Z Gorlic, Jan Wanat's Stach, Frank Dukla's Na Boisku and Makowska Orkiestra Dzialowego's Zbojcy w Karczmie.”
(JC — Music City Texas) |
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