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Betty and Merlin

In class we danced the Czech and Polish polka, and WE LOVE IT.

While the quick, “half-step” polka actually originated in the Czech land of Bohemia and became popular when Viennese composers wrote polkas in the 19th century, the Poles adopted the dance and made it the centerpiece of many popular cultural celebrations. When Poles emigrated to countries like the U.S. they brought the dance with them. We’re so glad they did. So are our friends Betty and Merlin, who we meet in this video dancing the Polish polka on their 50th wedding anniversary.

Fly and Fly, Then Land In My Arms . . .

Yesterday we met “Tancuj, Tancuj,” a Czech/Slovakian polka that you will definitely enjoy the next time you go to a Czech wedding. Here is the version we sing in class. Our lyrics: “Tancuj tancuj, turn around turn around, Dance and dance and soon you will leave the ground, Fly and fly then land in my arms, Winter’s cold but I’ll keep you warm.”

Getting Married in the Czech Republic? Spin Around, Spin Around

“Tancuj Tancuj” is popular Czech wedding song — a polka you’ll certainly hear if you’re lucky enough to go to a Czech or Slovak wedding.

This lively polka implores dancers to dance and spin with abandon — “Tancuj tancuj” means “dance, dance” and the next words of the original, “vykrúcaj vykrúcaj,” mean “spin around, spin around” — but, as this translation provided by Mama Lisa’s World tells us, one must be careful! “Just don’t make my stove fall down, fall down…A stove is good in the winter, winter…not everyone has a down comforter, comforter.”

Plastic People of the Universe

The best band name ever may veery well be Czechoslovakia’s “Plastic People of the Universe.”

Throughout the 1960s the people of Czechoslovakia demanded the ruling Communists increase social, political and economic freedom. In 1968, after a period of exuberant freedom known as “Prague Spring,” the Soviets sent troops to reassert control. In 1976 the government arrested four members of the Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa-influenced rock group, The Plastic People of the Universe, who we see in this video, accusing their lyrics as possessing “extreme vulgarity with an anti-socialist and an anti-social impact, most of them extolling nihilism, decadence and clericalism.” After a controversial and very public trial, several members of the band faced prison sentences or went into exile in the West. The Plastic People broke up in the late ’80s though they did reunite in 1997, celebrating the successful emergence of Czechoslovakia from Soviet rule.

The Worldliness of Cankisou

Let’s start our week of music from the Czech Republic and Poland with Čankišou — one of our favorite Czech bands.

Čankišou is a Czech “world fusion” band that blends Eastern European/Balkan brass with international influences from the Arab nations and India. We see them in this video performing live in concert, appropriately, in Pakistan.