(calm music) - [Announcer] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota On the web @shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information@explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web @lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7 Kram.

Online @96.7kram.com.

(polka music) - Before I had ever even put my toe in New Ulm, I knew New Ulm as, you know, the polka capital of of the United States.

It was the Nashville of polka music.

(polka music) (box clicking open) (polka record plays) Hi, I'm John Kass, the Assistant Executive Director of the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.

- [Interviewer] What brought you to New Ulm?

- Tinder.

(record screeches) - [Interviewer] Oh.

(interviewer laughs) - And of course she dumped me for her old boyfriend, which you know, always happens or whatever, but I was here, I'm like, hey, you know what?

This is a pretty nice town.

You know.

(bells ringing) I was just thinking this while I was talking.

You know, I'm a punk rocker, you know, I came from Minneapolis, watching the Husker Du and the Replacements, you know.

I used to book Soul Asylum to play keg parties.

I'm like, what the heck am I doing here talking about polka music?

Well, I was in the record business all these years, and I've always been a huge fan of Minnesota music, and having this two blocks from where I'm living, fell in love with the place, and I was gonna volunteer, and boom the pandemic hit.

So as soon as that was over, and we had reopened, I just came in and said, put me to work.

Give me something to do.

This is where I wanna be.

So I'm always here.

(door opening) Well, during the pandemic I did a lot of research about old time music, and I listened to a lot of records of old time polka music.

We can pull out records and listen to 'em at any given time.

One thing I learned (soft polka music) was that there were five different musical acts from New Ulm that were recording for Hollywood Studios and New York.

They all had a band from New Ulm.

The ones that are the biggest sellers, the ones that are the best known are Whoopee John and the 6 Fat Dutchman.

New Ulm has three other musical acts that recorded for major labels: Elmer Scheid, Babe Wagner, and Fezz Fritsche.

And that's why the Hall of Fame is in New Ulm.

(old-fashioned music) - Do you think Minnesota is the polka state in this country?

- [John] Kind of.

I think there's a historical case that could be made.

- Polka, Minnesota.

I don't know of any other state that does anything like that.

Every place you go it's polka, polka, polka, polka.

(bell dings) - If you need any players or anything, it seems like you gotta go to Minnesota to find them.

(bell dings) - Yes, there have been a million bands that have come from Minnesota.

(bell dings) - I would say Minnesota's a really close second for Polka.

Wisconsin, I believe, has that title.

(person gasps) (tuba blows) I know.

- [Female] Are you from Wisconsin?

No.

No.

- It's either Minnesota or Wisconsin.

I mean, it's one of those two.

- Wisconsin has more people, more Germans, more, you know, communities dedicated to Polka.

- Wisconsin is a lot of Polish.

Ohio is a lot of Slovenian.

(tubas blow) - There are others, but certainly it is one of, yeah, Minnesota for sure is one of the states.

(fairground music and crowds chatting) (band warming up) - I'm Florian Chmielewski.

I'm 95 years old and I've been playing for 77 and a half years, and I'm still on the go.

I played seven times last week.

We're almost ready to go.

I have four jobs this week, so I gotta keep going.

So I'm 95, and I'm still looking for work.

- Are you here to have some polka time?

Here's one called the Beer Barrel Polka.

(polka music) - Sing along with me.

You ready?

- Okay.

Well Minnesota, there's nothing like it in the Polka world.

There's no other state that can compare.

You got southern Minnesota, it's all that German music and news.

Whoopee John and the Six Fat Dutchmen.

- [Female] I know.

- [Florian] Then you come into central Minnesota and you got a little bit of Polish, and then you start to hit up on the Iron Range, and what do you have there?

Croatian, Slovenian, and then northwest Minnesota is the home of the Scandinavians.

I'll tell you, you go there, and they dance a lot of Finnish music and a lot of things like that.

♪ Oh, to be in Oleanna ♪ That's where I'd like to be.

♪ Than be bound in Norway to drag the chains of slavery.

♪ - You know, at one time we had a big argument about whether the chicken dance came in from Germany or Wisconsin or Minnesota.

I think it came from Minnesota.

- [Interviewer] Really?

- Yeah.

(Florian singing Chicken Dance melody) Yeah.

- [Interviewer] Do you have evidence or have you talked to people?

(men laughing) - I just make it up.

(men continue laughing) (polka music) That's it.

I've been playing now the accordion for 77 and a half years.

We have six generations of the Chmielewski Fun Time band.

(television applause) (bell dings) - How about that young lady?

What's her name?

Concertina Patty - Concertina Patty?

- Yeah.

- You oughta know her.

She's your daughter.

(Florian laughs) Ladies and gentlemen, Concertina Patty Chmielewski - [Male Offscreen] 1, 2, (accordion music) - My name is Patty Chmielewski.

I am from a family that began polka music in the 1890s with my great-grandfather, you know, horse and carriage stuff.

My great-grandfather, they played the fiddles wasn't the accordion, they played the fiddles, and they would ride to town halls, and just play music for the community.

It was like a social event.

- [Florian] And my dad had it in 1911, I have it, 1943.

Patty and Junior have it.

Junior's kids have it.

Six consecutive generations of polka music.

(symbols crashing) - Back in the seventies, I tell ya, the girls would go crazy over my brothers.

They'd be jumping in the windows, ripping their pockets off their shirts and things.

It...we were like the Beatles!

(Patty laughs) And believe it or not, it just doesn't seem possible.

People say with polka music.

Oh yes.

(polka music) ♪ I got a Polish boyfriend ♪ He looks a lot like you Seven years old is when I made my first recording.

They brought the whole truck and said, "We want you to be on TV."

And it just kept growing and growing, and that's just kind of what we did.

(polka music) (Patty laughing) Polka music is synonymous with Chmielewskis because we go so far back in history.

(polka music) (everyone laughing to the beat) - And that's the whole character of polka music.

People are laughing all the time.

They're creating a lot of friendship with one another.

It's so happy.

It's such a happy time.

(percussive beats) (man humming) - Alright.

(accordion music) ♪ Just because you think that you're pretty ♪ ♪ Just because you think that you're hot ♪ (whistle blows) ♪ Just because you think you have something ♪ ♪ That nobody else has got (horn blows) (percussive beats) (horn blows) (whistle blows) All right, I'm impossible to explain, but I'll give her a try.

My name's Steve Solkela.

I'm from Palo, Minnesota, way up north of Ordinary there.

(whistle blows) (crowd laughing) I live in Virginia, Minnesota, now.

It's the town, not the state.

And I'm a stuntman, comedian, musician, in that order.

I play the accordion on unicycle and stilts, and I have a one man band, and I travel the country doing something I love, and I tell you what, I need a nap.

It's exhausting.

♪ Just because (accordion plays) Yeah, that's the "Just Because" polka.

This is the historic Kaleva Hall.

Make some noise if you're Finnish.

(crowd cheers) And this is a historic building.

It was a temperance hall back in the day, and it was bought by the Finnish Americans, and we've been using it as as a clubhouse for many decades.

Yeah, they used to have dancing, (Steve singing) a lot of polka old timey music as they call it.

I always got polka on the back burner ready to whip it out if need be.

But it's usually for the older audience, of course, when they want the old timey music.

It's usually by request.

Any other requests?

(crowd chattering) Livin' On A Prayer (accordion plays) - I, that was really an economic decision.

I'm gonna please the old people 'cuz they got the wallets, ya.

(Steve laughs) - All right.

You ready?

(polka music) When I got an accordion, it was cuz I was a board farm boy growing up in Palo with nothing to do but my homework and practice accordion and chores and stuff.

And it wasn't really until I got into the ethnic side of stuff.

I grew up speaking a little Finish.

So yeah, eventually you're holding your accordion for long enough, the Slovenians scoop you up, and you end up getting gigs at the old timey bars and VFWs and legions and stuff.

I'm loosely a part of two metal bands.

I do a lot of pop and classic rock, and I accompany rappers and do a ton of reggae.

But yeah, polka is a little bit underrated.

It's kind of got the negative connotation of only being for old people.

(symbol crashes) But you know, old people were young once too, and they danced.

They met their wives.

It's a beautiful part of history.

Yeah, if you can make an old couple feel young again at the Polka dance hall, why not do it?

- [Announcer] We'll have a little two step coming your way next.

Okay.

All the way from right downtown Willmar area here, so.

- Hey, I'm Larry Olsen.

I've been doing polka for 40 some years, and polka music's great.

Try it.

Everybody will love it.

Okay.

- [Announcer] Okay, here we go.

One entitled "Grandpa's Polka."

(polka music) - Got the gang all here from Atwater, Atwater, Minnesota, hey.

Ah, we got polka dancers out there.

- Ever since I was a child, my mom and dad would go to polka dances, and I got to go along, and I think I knew how to dance by the time I was five.

- All right, anybody else wanna get on the polka?

Now's the time to do so.

- Well, we have entertainment on Wednesdays at the senior club, and we have our dances on Fridays.

(polka music) It's $7 if you wanna dance, and if you just wanna come and listen, we charge $2, just, it covers the lunch, and then helps pay for the band.

There's more women than there is men.

And of course any of you have spouses.

Well no, my husband never cared if I danced with somebody else.

But then you have some people that, some women don't like that.

You know, if they're exclusive.

Yeah.

(polka music) - Been doing it my entire life.

I grew up on it.

Just family related and meet a lot of nice people with it.

You know how that darn covid, it kind of put a kibosh on everything there for a couple years, but we're rolling again, and had a good time here doing the polka.

- Larry Olsen's band plays the traditional southern Minnesota German, Czech, Oompah style polka music.

Yeah.

- [Interviewer] Here's a dumb question.

- Yeah.

My favorite.

- What is Polka?

- What is polka music?

- It's, that's a dance.

- Would it be a fast waltz?

Is that accurate?

- No.

- No?

- Different rhythms.

- Polka is just a two step.

I mean it's the most simple dance that is.

- Polka is a very simple genre.

- I guess what's in common is, is the style of dancing and the beat.

- From the lens of music theorist perspective, it's got a heavy one and five, usually with a tuba or an upright bass.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Then you just put a major chord, boom-pa, boom-pa, boom-pa-pa, boom-pa, in between your bass.

(Steve singing) It's the simplest thing ever.

(polka music) - You wanna know the heritage or where it's coming from?

- [John] Yeah, there's this area between like where Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Germany come together.

They were the ones who invented the concertina in that part of the world.

And it ended up coming here.

Eventually the biggest dealer of Concertinas in the world was right on this road right in front of us.

New Ulm has more people that claim German descent than any town in the United States.

And because those people settled here, they brought with them their instruments, and the knowledge of how to make 'em.

That I've dealt, I've dealt with a lot of record collections in my lifetime, right?

But the Scheid- and the Schels- all these S-C-H bands, there's just tons of 'em.

(John laughs) Yeah.

More than I've ever seen.

There's five different kinds of old time music and polka music in the United States and the German and Czech style of southern Minnesota.

This is certainly the place where that is based.

And you know, the German style is more of a loping beat.

It's more...oompah.

- You'll generally find a tuba, and a concertina.

- In Chicago and Buffalo in particular.

There's a huge amount of Polish polka music.

Wisconsin has a fair amount of that too.

- Polish, you'll see concertinas and a lot of brass.

- Now Cleveland also had its own style, and it's the Slovenian style.

- That's with a banjo and accordions.

- On the east coast, they merged polka music with a big band sound.

And then of course in Texas, there's a lot of Mexican polka music, and that's been going on for over a hundred years down there too.

So five different styles of music in the United States.

- Now there's what Polka music is coming to.

(crowd applauds) - [Mark] Hi, this is Mark Dobosenski, from Dobosenski Brothers and Cavaliers.

And you're listening to The Funtime Polka Party with Patty Chmielewski and Michael Bell.

(singing in foreign language) - They got that, and then they go into-- (polka music) - Got a happy deal for them.

And then we'll go into the next one.

Welcome back to the Funtime polka Party.

I'm Michael.

- And I'm Patty.

- Welcome to the second hour.

- Second hour?

You didn't warn me, Michael.

- I know it goes so fast.

(Patty sighs) Well it's all this dancing we've been doing.

(Patty and Michael laugh) - Yeah, right.

- The band was playing at KBEK radio in Bram.

And so one time they said, "Hey, you know, I think our people would really love some polka music here.

We'd like for you to do a radio show.

Can you do that?"

And it's like, hmm, I don't know.

Can we?

Well, absolutely.

You never say no 'cuz that's what my dad always taught me.

Yes.

Always challenge yourself.

You know, we just try to pick a German, a Slovenian, a Polish, a local, you know, we just try to do a big variety because we like to support all kinds of polka music.

(fast polka music) It began in Minnesota and has expanded.

It's syndicated, and it is all around the country, but it began in Minnesota.

Hey, that song was called Seven Days Polka by the Chmielewski Fun Time Band.

And that was one of the original orchestras.

- That was all the older people that your dad had.

It wasn't the bro--Was it the brothers or was it right after the brothers?

- I think it was right after the brothers.

- Okay, okay.

Yeah.

That's still a wonderful group though.

Love hearing those songs.

- Absolutely.

Our music has changed over the years because it started with the Chmielewski brothers' orchestras, my dad and his brothers.

I think it was probably naturally assumed that one of my brothers would continue the music side of it, but I kinda started stepping up to the plate, be the leader, manage the band now, manage everything.

And my life is parallel to my dad's.

(polka music) (Patty whooping) I just feel like my purpose in life is to make people happy.

(drums beating) (Patty whoops) - [Patty] All right.

(Patty laughing) - All right.

- Yay!

(Michael laughs) - [Interviewer] So what do you think the future of Polka looks like?

- Grim.

- I would like to say it's bigger and bigger and better than ever.

But is that the case with anything?

- The state of polka in Minnesota, I would say is, it is what it is.

- It's the elephant in the room in in general.

Yeah.

Polka is deteriorating at quite an accelerated rate, and it's quite sad.

Yeah.

You don't find it in bars anymore.

You know, even Chisholm, you could hear it every week, and someplace every Sunday after church there'd be something going on.

And it's not that way anymore.

The population that grew up with it that has the emotional connotation and the nostalgia value, it doesn't cut as much mustard as it used to.

- You know, I should call Craig Ebel up.

He will tell you, let's see, what day is it today?

4:30 I should call him up and, and ask him.

And what he says, just get-- Is my phone here?

Just to get--hang on.

Let's see if he answers.

(phone ringing) Craig Ebel, Craig's mom and dad had a, the Bell Rae ballroom in the Twin Cities.

- [Craig] Hey, Patty.

- Craigie!

I am doing an interview here on Polkas, and I had a question for you.

- [Craig] Yeah.

- Its the question that he asked me "How do you feel is the state of Polka music now?"

- [Craig] We played today.

The band comes from Iowa.

I drummed for them.

They're five hours away.

We generally have about 160 people here.

Today, maybe we had 120, 125, and you put 10 more years on the crowd that we had today.

And you could cut that in half easily.

There's just, there's no young, younger people-- - And then why do you feel it's not being passed down or that-- - Families just don't go out to these events anymore.

The younger couples don't bring the people out anymore.

And it's, it's just live entertainment in general really slipped.

And especially now this covid thing.

It just, it just killed it.

It it killed the polka.

- Yeah.

- Big time.

And, there's just, places are drying up, and the bands aren't playing anymore.

- Yeah.

(muffled yelling) (fast polka music) (instruments warming up) (people chattering) - [Male Musician] Can I just keep this right here while we practice?

- [Female Musician] I know, it's really nice.

I like being able to see it.

(people laughing) (instruments continue warming up) - [Male Musician] We can live it forever.

(guitar riffing) (instruments continue warming up) (trumpet blowing) - Beep.

- [Male Musician] Hey, what?

- [Second Male Musician] What should we do?

- [Male Musician] I think we should just start from the top.

- Your mom.

- [Male Musician] No.

(trumpet blowing) - No?

Okay, fine.

- What?

- Nothing.

I had a really sweet, "your mom" joke, and nobody paid attention to me.

- [Male Musician] I heard it!

- [Second Male Musician] I got it.

I got it.

(Kayla laughs) - 1, 2, 3, 4.

- Sorry!

- We are Winzige Hosen.

We are Tiny Pants.

- That's terrible.

(everyone laughs) (upbeat punk polka) - I'm Kayla, this is Patrick, Brian, Abe, Eric, Tommy Luke.

And we are Winzige Hosen.

(upbeat punk polka) - My comrades down in Duluth and stuff.

They're mixing punk polka.

They're mixing metal polka.

White people be crazy.

That's all I'm saying.

- The definition of success is to take something old fashioned and something new, and combine 'em together in a way that nobody else has done.

- Kick it in the face and put a little rock into it.

I think that makes it more palatable.

Palatable.

- I looked at things like, you know very more aggressive bluegrass, even like Irish folk stuff.

And then I looked at polka that was kind of on the same plane of that style of music.

I've always loved going to polka establishments, and the smile on people's faces when they're dancing and having a great time that I thought that it'd be fun to take it to another level.

(song ends) - [Interviewer] I don't mean to be mean.

Sounds like you don't know a lot about the history of polka.

(everyone laughs) - I was never good at history.

- I don't think you need to know the history of polka.

I just think you need to have grown up in a town where every church basement or Moose Lodge had a polka band that your grandparents made you go see.

- Polka night down at the Moose Lodge.

- Polka night at the Moose Lodge.

- Oh yeah.

- [Kayla] I only know how to polka because my grandpa showed me.

- What's next?

(drums beat) (Abe yells) - [Kayla] I think maybe we should play the one original song we have.

- What?

(tuba blowing) (polka music) ♪ Won't you come over ♪ We could play a game.

♪ I know that you're so good ♪ At every game you play ♪ And on your way, hey ♪ You could get some beer ♪ Won't you come over?

♪ I could cook for you, ♪ If you stop by the store ♪ And pick up some food ♪ And while you're there, would you ♪ ♪ Also get some beer - How many people here are former emo kids?

(crowd yells) ♪ I don't know what you're doing ♪ ♪ But I know what you should do ♪ ♪ You should come on over here ♪ And bring along some booze ♪ I don't know where you are ♪ But I hope you're on your way ♪ ♪ Because I drank all the beer ♪ In my house earlier today - Oh, I'm just gonna lie down for like 1, 2, 3, 4 (punk-polka music) - I've had this conversation with a few people we've played with.

And the future of polka.

People are gonna go one of two directions, strictly classic like go hardcore, classic polka.

Or people are gonna do kind of what we are doing, which is put their own twists on it.

- Which there is, if you go, if you see those like, German videos of like those big October festival, it's it's all like techno, like big bouncy.

It sounds terrible.

(everyone laughs) (band yelling and crowd responding) (drums and cymbals crash) - They're like the ultimate, you know, version of what we're talking about here.

Two different genres of music.

You know, that's, it's a hybrid, so yeah, that's what is gonna keep polka music going.

- Nah, you know, it's been dying for 150 years, and it still continues to go.

People still come, want to come out, and they want to have fun.

They want to maybe drink a beer, socialize, listen to some great toe tapping music.

- We're staying here forever I think.

I don't think it ever stopped.

- It's just polka, polka.

- It won't die.

It'll live off.

I believe, and I'm a pessimist.

(punk-polka music) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies.

Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen.

On behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota.

On the web @shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information @explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar, showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web @lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7 Kram.

Online @96.7kran.com.

(upbeat music)