Yves Klein Blue - 'Polka'

Taken from the debut EP, 'Yves Klein Blue Draw Attention To Themselves', out 5 April 2008.



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"Polka Party!" - "Weird Al" Yankovic

Another Music Clip, this time some more attention was made trying to get the lip syncing correctly



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AMV - Weird Al Yankovich - The Anime Polka

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Bohemian Polka - Weird Al Yankovic

This is the polka that was on the Alapalooza album which parodys the Queen song "Bohemian Rhapsody"



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Herencia musical

polcas en casa blanca



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LynnMarie - Happy Wanderer Polka

Watch Lynn Marie perform "Happy Wanderer" from her Grammy Nominated album,
Lynn Marie + The Boxhounds!



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Global Kryner- Lady Marmelade

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Global Kryner- Sex Bomb

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Global Kryner - Uber Polka

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Global Kryner

Video above: The famous Oberkrainer group (Freestyle / Pop / Nu-Jazz ), whose main influence was Slavko Avsenik, performs Merci Chery, on the ORF1 TV channel.

As Michael Werner, culture editor of the Stuttgarter Zeitung so well puts it in his statement, "It's been a long time since anyone has reminded us with such virtuosity as Global Kryner, that on the stony path to tomorrow there are still a few hours left of today."

On their http://www.myspace.com/globalkryner site they state:

"...six musicians from widely different fields have joined up to

a) transform the Oberkrainer sound from its beer-tent bliss to a serious world music genre,

b) without losing the musical fun and puns,

c) and to prove that every song, every melody – whether pop, jazz or classical – can be 'krainerized'."

Members:

• 
  
  
  Sabine Stieger, Vocalist - from Lower Austria is the latest addition to the group and seems to be "born for the stage"
  
• 
  
  
  Karl Rossman, Trumpet - born in Graz, a class by himself in experience and brilliance
  
• 
  
  
  Christof Spörk, Clarinet - global.kryner founder, political scientist, musical cabaret producer (Salzburger Stier 2003 with Landstreich); plays everything from Cuban rhythms to Styrian and Bulgarian sounds
  
• 
  
  
  Anton Sauprügl, Accordion - music school director in Purgstall, Musikantenstadl-veteran and Oberkrainer expert, all in one
  
• 
  
  
  Edi Köhldorfer, Guitar - excellent as Oberkrainer swinger, also known as one of Austria’s best jazz musicians who has already played with the likes of Stephane Grappelli
  
• 
  
  
  Sebastian Fuchsberger, Bass Trombone and heroic tenor - well-known as the charming dynamo of ”Mnozil Brass”, performs ”globally” as brilliant yodeling tenor and groove coordinator on the bass trombone

Website:

http://www.globalkryner.at/

Global Kryner - Something Stupid

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Finntroll Trollhammeren

This would not be your ordinary, run-of-the-mill standard polka band. On their Trollhammaren EP they combine elements of polka with heavy metal and that's how they created a Folk-Metal-Polka sounding album.



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"Kantele" or "Finnish Harp"

Kantele is a string instrument from the zither family, related to Russian gusli, Latvian kokle and Lithuanian kanklės. All four of these instruments together form the family named Baltic Psalteries.

In its original form, kantele has 5 or 6 horsehair strings and a wooden body, carved out of one piece. Modern versions of this instrument have metal strings and a body is most often made from several pieces of wood.

Kantele has a characteristic bell-like sound. Players hold it in their laps or place it on a small table. Two main techniques to play are:

• plucking the strings using fingers or
  
• strumming unstopped strings which is sometimes done with a matchstick

Kantele src="http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii86/fbahrami/Kantele.jpg" width=682 border=0>

In recent years kantele is more and more popular in Finland again. So much so that a Finnish luthiery, Koistinen developed an electric kantele. That one exercises pick-ups similar to those of electric guitars. And the most unusual fact is that Finnish harp was even adopted by some Finnish heavy metal musicians - like Amorphis in video "My Kantele" below.

Loituma - Levan Polka

Levan Polka (the official video)

Polka - Finnish style... :) And the video below has more than 3.5 million views on Youtube (same song, same group, no instrumental music).

In 1989, when the new students started a new school year at Sibelius Academy - Folk Music Department (the only music university in Finland), is when Loituma was first formed. Originally a seven-member group called themselves Jäykkä Leipä (Stiff Bread). Loituma invented and preserved its original style, sometimes even using improvisation, while at the same time skillfully adapting influences of other sources.

In Finnish folk music one of the corner stones is the skill of song/singing. According to Finnish tradition, stories and feelings are best expressed with man's own instrument - voice. Another corner stone is a folk instrument from the zither family, called kantele or Finnish harp (more about it in my next article). It sounds unbelievably beautiful and versatile.

All of the members of Loituma group sing and the song is an ever-present, underlying current in their music, carrying Finnish tradition. They also compose/arrange their tunes themselves, using lyrics in Finnish from traditional sources.

In 1997, Loituma were selected Band of the Year at the 1997 Kaustinen Folkmusic Festival.

Their song Ieva's Polka was an instant hit in Finland (released in May of 2006) and has since spawned viral remixes and video sites across the Internet. Loituma Compilation in the video below is just one example.

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Atomik Harmonik - Turbo Polka

Weird Al Yankovic - Polkarama!

Another Way to Use Accordion

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Polka, but Not Folk (Traditional) Music

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Lately I've been observing this phenomena of polka beat and instruments being widely popular with young bands, musicians and their fans.

Music in polka beat includes (mostly) piano accordion and other traditional instruments but it also integrates other music genres like rock and jazz, even rap and more - and that's why it's not a folk or traditional music any more.

Another difference is that most traditional polka groups perform in their ethnic costumes while the modern polka artists are anything but "heavily covered", especially the female members.

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