Polka Happiness (Visual Studies)

Polka Happiness celebrates an extraordinarily durable style of dance music that was immensely popular in nineteenth-century Europe and has delighted millions of Americans throughout the twentieth century. Virtually ignored by scholars until recently, polka performance remains an important part of Polish-American family gatherings, weddings, local institutions, and national festivals. For twenty years, Charles Keil, Angeliki V. Keil, and Dick Blau have been a part of the social world of polka music and dancing in the Polish-American bars, church halls, and ballrooms of Rust Belt America. Their exuberant descriptions and images reflect the infectious enthusiasm embodied in polka sociability.The polka scene is more than music and dance. It is a year-round carnival that is improvised anew every weekend: a secular ritual full of high jinks and theater, hilarity and tears, that draws its power from sources deep in both Polish and American experience. After tracing the history of polka's spread throughout the world and the emergence of its distinct styles in the United States, the authors focus on Polish-American polkas in Buffalo and Chicago, comparing them with Slovenian-American polka in Milwaukee. Interviews with musicians and fans, old-timers and young enthusiasts, illustrate how polka culture has resisted the melting pot for more than a century.Polka Happiness celebrates the energy, excitement, and sense of belonging that are shared among generations. Numerous photographs portray the stars of the polka scene - Li'l Wally, Walt Solek, Eddie Blazonczyk, Frankie Yankovic, the DynaTones, and many others - as well as the musicians and the effervescent fans who keep the party going. The book focuses on the importance of the International Polka Association for establishing networks and promoting events, and it describes the intense rivalry between Chicago-style and Eastern-style polka dancers. The rich and raucous experience of the polka comes alive in these pages and attests to the joy of all who join in.