Polish Village Music - Historic Polish-American Recordings 1927-1933

Various Artists - International - Europe - Eastern | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 6, 1995)
• Original Release Date: May 18, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arhoolie Records
• ASIN: B0000023U2
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,566 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #82 in Music > World Music > Europe > Eastern Europe > Poland

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very traditional folk music, January 16, 2005

By 

Polska "folk dance choreographer" (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Polish Village Music - Historic Polish-American Recordings 1927-1933 (Audio CD)

This sound track is very authentic from an ethnographic and
anthropoligic angle; this is true Polish folk music played on traditional, handmade instrumentation. I am using this CD for my Polish folk dance ensemble. This is music one would hear at a traditional Polish village wedding or celebration in times gone by.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great vintage polkas by the barrelful!, November 3, 2002

By 

Lee Hartsfeld (Central Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Polish Village Music - Historic Polish-American Recordings 1927-1933 (Audio CD)

Fascinating vintage polka 78s beautifully restored, with much variety in style to offset the inherent monotony of the simple and repetitious (but fun and lively!) strains. There is incredible historical background in the liner notes, along with unintentionally hilarious text translations, such as: "So, because of this opportunity, I saw those garters. It's nothing strange; They're made of elastic ribbon." Hopefully, in Polish such lyrics sound more lyrical. To be sure, these recordings are not for those whose idea of "folk" is Bob Dylan. In particular, the "highlander" style of track 4 (Last Evening in Podhale) is a jolt to most ears, courtesy of strange rhythmic figures and a stranger mode that features the perfect fourth AND tritone of the scale, with much emphasis on the former. Ouch! The pieces are 2/4 polkas and 3/4 "obereks," and they are recognizable in the modern-polka sense by a predominance of simple arpeggios, scale-runs, and mostly three-chord harmonies--not to mention lyrics about vodka, women, and dancing. The main difference resides in performance styles, which are generally as remote from Myron Floren as can be. This package is a joy, its only flaw consisting of inaccurate musical analysis. The notes promise modulation "between several keys, and between the major and minor." In fact, none of the tracks feature more than two key changes--usually, very traditional shifts to the keys of IV and or V (or IV only). Most of the tracks feature Major-mode melodic strains. Only three tracks (5, 9, and 24) feature minor mode, and only the last, "Devil in Jail," moves from major to minor, or vice-versa. Certainly, this music is exotic enough to begin with, without the assigning of harmonic and modal features that aren't present.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you are interested in Polish culture, February 20, 2007

By 

Aneta Rusek (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Polish Village Music - Historic Polish-American Recordings 1927-1933 (Audio CD)

So i promise you that the music is original... it is also very old. Unfortunately, that means that it will not be the quality that we expect our CDs to be in. If you are Polish and I am, you can recognize the words... although you might notice that they are in different accents. Just because we learn the same language at school doesn't mean that what lies in roots of the nation is as unified. Those people that were recorded for this CD are barely musicians... they are mostly old... can't really sing but do remember the words of crazy old songs. Those people played and sang their whole life not for your recognition but for their own enjoyment to ease the hardships of whatever they were doing. I think that it is a good picture of what south Poland was long time ago when it came to celebrating weddings, baby showers and other things.