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Soupe du jour
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soupe du jour
That's wonderful that you have such a musical family, Nammu! Accordions are definitely still played in most of Central Europe, and beyond. The first modern types were made in I believe Berlin (Germany) and Vienna (Austria). They are good instruments for playing polkas, which is the Czech national dance. Every single Czech must learn to dance the polka. Many think it is a Polish dance, but it is a Czech one, though the name "polka", in Czech, refers to a young Polish girl. The song "Škoda Lásky" (known as "Rosamund" or "Roll Out The Barrel" in the US) is a classic Czech song that's great on this instrument:
I've heard the bagpipes live many times. The sound is wonderful. About six bagpipers even played at my high school graduation. It made it special. It is (or at least was) a tradition at that school, in Pennsylvania. |
Thank you Soupe! Two of my uncles played both these melodies you presented. My grandfather taught me to dance polka (but since it is many years ago, I think that I probably have forgotten how to do it). I have one cousin who plays accordion and one son of mine went to learn it together with one of his cousins. Since it wasn't seen as modern among the youth, they soon dropped it.
I didn't know it was from the Czech Republic. I miss that culture that went away with the elder generation. In certain circles, here, it is still popular and young people is still trained to play accordion.
I think that many European countries share in the same music tradition.
By the way: I am well and have hopes for the future.
