Polska OR Polka.... what a difference an "s" makes

Putting music styles in discrete categories is always a challenge - styles all interact and comingle, combine and morph.  Imagine describing, to a Martian, a seemingly simple concept like.."pizza". You might say it's round (except when it's square or rectangle), it is smeared with tomato sauce (except when it's not), it's covered with mozzarella ( unless it's not) and baked on a thin crispy crust ( or a thick soft crust ) and may or may not be baked at all.   Categories and verbal descriptions are really not very clear or descriptive most of the time.   YouTube is a great way to get a more holistic sense of what these styles actually are, so this post is loaded with them.

The only thing Polka and Polska have in common are 5 of the letters in their spelling. Well... they are both traditional DANCE styles, but after that, they are 2 different creatures altogether. 

Polka - from the Czech word "pulka"  meaning "little-half" - a reference to the small half'steps in the dance. While there IS a Polish-style polka, the style does not actual have a Polish origin, as many people presume it does.   The style was actually common in central Europe ( Bohemia now Czech Republic) BEFORE it became known as Polka. Almost always it is a 2/4 beat, fast duple groove that is very familiar in the U.S. and around the world.  There a so many styles of polka it'll make your head spin. Notice that several of the styles come by way of Mexico, attributable to the German and European immigration to South America and Mexico. Here are just a few of the different styles:

Chicago Honky
Chicago Push
Slovenian
Cleveland Style
Polish Style
Dutchman Style
Oberkreiner
Conjunto
Norteno
Tejano
Alternative
Peruvian Curucaon
Irish
Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish
German and European

 Maria Kalaniemi (Fin.) is well known in Scandinavia, here playing a Finnish polka on solo chromatic button accordion ( see previous post Chromatic Button Accordion for a description of this amazing system ).

Grammy Award winner Flaco Jimenez is the king of Tejano polka accordion. He plays a diatonic ( major scale ) accordion with push-pull system - push for one note, pull for another. (video and audio not particularly synched up very well on this one!)

Irish Polka set played in a pub in Ennis, Ireland.  There's that strong 2 beat feel again....( turn your volume down a bit on this one- it's recorded a little hot)

Polska - literally means " Poland" in Swedish, this form likely has its roots in music and dances of the Polish courts and evolved after it filtered into popular middle class culture.  The Polska is mostly associated with Norway, Sweden and Finland, is almost always in 3/4, tend to be slower than "waltzes" but tend to have more notes and don't seem so slow on the surface,  and can contain quite asymmetrical phrases that are sometimes pleasantly confusing.  Some of the more interesting Polskas have long phrases and are almost better described as 6/4.  The style has evolved musically and geographically over hundreds of years and the current state of the art is pretty complex.  Wikipedia has a great entry on Polska for more in-depth information.

A quintessential polska would be in 3, mixed 1/8th-note and 16th-note melodies, with the player pulsing on 1 and 3 - notice his foot tapping on those beats in this video of Magnus Holmstrum on the Nyckelharpa. ( See my previous post about the Nyckelharpa to learn more about the instrument ):

A brilliantly played Swedish polska for Guitar and Percussion by Ottelid and Jarl with a bit of contemporary flair:

 
Below is Marku Lepisto performing a Polska with more asymmetrical phrases and long 6 beat phrases of 16th notes. ( Count the beats at a slow waltz time with the quarter note about 108 bpm if you have trouble hearing the 6 beat phrase ).