Polka

Polka is a type of dance and genre of dance music; it originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia, and is still a common genre of Czech folk music; it is also common both in Europe and in the Americas. In classical music, many polkas were composed by both Johann Strauss I and his son Johann Strauss II; a couple of well-known ones were composed by Bedrich Smetana.

Samples

• of "Jenny Lind", a polka from the Library of Congress' California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collection; performed by John Selleck (violin) on October 2, 1939 in Camino, California

Some polka artists:

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• Slavko Avsenik
• Global Kryner -- Austrian band/pop/jazz/polka
• Eddie Blazonczyk -- Chicago push
• Brave Combo -- alternative, two-time Grammy Award winner
• "Happy" Louie Dusseault
• Li'l Wally -- Chicago honky / Chicago push
• Walter Ostanek, Canada, three-time Grammy Award winner -- Slovenian-Canadian
• Jimmy Sturr, United States, fourteen Grammy Awards
• Lawrence Welk
• Whoopee John Wilfahrt -- Dutchman
• Frankie Yankovic -- Slovenian-American
• Eddie Zima -- Chicago push
• Harold Loeffelmacher -- Dutchman/Oompah
• Those Darn Accordions
• Polkacide -- alternative/punk/San Francisco
• Big Lou and her Polka Casserole
• The Dynatones
• "Weird Al" Yankovic

See also:

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• Austrian folk dancing
• polska 3/4-beat Nordic folk dance
• polonaise - 3/4 -beat slow dance of Polish origin
• polka-mazurka - 3/4-beat dance, musically similar to the mazurka