Chemnitzer Concertina - Polka Music's Workhorse
I was listening to The Dynatones, the great polka band from Buffalo, NY, and I thought it was about time I learned a little about the Chemnitzer Concertina, the instrument, along with clarinet and trumpet, at the heart of so many mid-west polka bands. The Dynatones, by the way, ROCK. They're brassy and boisterous and their music just drives along. It's raw and in your face - and a lot of it is sung in Polish. Although my mom spoke Polish with her sisters, we never learned the language. We were Canadian kids, even if we at cabbage rolls and pierogi and meat sticks and so on. Now I really wish I had learned!
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A friend of mine, before she moved back to Ireland, used a Chemnitzer Concertina extensively in her Celtic traditional band. It blended in great with the hammered dulcimer, fiddles, penny whistles, mandolins and octave mandolins. She was very proud of it, almost more so than her antique Martin guitar. I assume she and her Martin and her Chemnitzer are now thriving in Dublin!
Suddenly, I have this urge to listen to Polka music. I'll have to do it secretly, of course.
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