Polka music topic has been discussed a lot lately at the meetings and in certain newspapers articles.
The main point of discussions seems to be that polka music is losing its followers - and dieing out.
Hearing and reading statements like this bothered me but I didn't really pay that much attention to what some people's opinion was on the topic - until yesterday.
That's when spontaneous browsing on the Internet took me from one proof to another that Slovenian Polka Music - or Cleveland Style Polka (in United States) is becoming more and more popular and alive - than ever before - at the place where it all started, on the Sunny Side of Alps...
The first and most surprising proof of my statement above is that Slovenian children of very young age are creating and performing Slovenian folk music and playing button boxes and accordions (the staple instrument in polka beat melodies) with such a passion and virtuosity, that even I, born and raised in Slovenia, was totally amazed.
Let me go back for a few decades, in rural Slovenia.
Even though I was living in a small village where almost all the people were farmers, folk music wasn't all that popular among my piers in grade school.
I can only remember two of my school mates, twin brothers, that were wildly addicted to that kind of a music.
At the time, quite a few kids were learning to play accordions at the Music school.
However, at the recitals they were performing classical music, not polka tunes - and sometimes certain folk songs, corresponding with the occasion or time of the year.
Of course, at the very popular "veselica" dances, polkas and waltzes were played and danced at - at least half of the time and everybody (regardless of age) would dance to them.
And the ones who stayed seated would joyfully tap one of their feet or fingers of their hand to the beat of the happiest music known to man - polka.
Back to the present time, the Internet and my laptop.
Using both, I came across some unbelievably young and talented performers and creators of the Slovenian polkas, individuals as well as bands.
Their enthusiasm for what they do is contagious and I can clearly see and state without a shadow of a doubt that at one of the main sources of the happy music, in Slovenia, things look brighter and more promising than ever!