Steel Valley Voices

For many people, music is a central part of their cultural identity.  Wherever they come from, people bring music with them.  They play instruments carried from the old country and sing songs that have been part of family and community gatherings for generations.  As part of festivals, family celebrations, and religious ceremonies, music becomes one of the key ways that people experience their cultural identities.  Music helps many groups hold on to their grandparents’ native language, so that people who can’t carry on a conversation in Italian can still sing every word of an Italian song.

While every group calls some music its own, musical genres also connect people of different nationalities.  For many European immigrants, the distinctive rhythm and upbeat sounds of the polka provide common ground.  Different ethnic groups play and sing tunes specific to their histories.  Polish bands play oberics, while Italians play the tarantella and Hungarians play the chardaz. Despite different styles, polka crosses national boundaries.  Consider these three examples:

Einz, swei, drei, vier (1-2-3-4- Polka), performed by the Del Rezek Orchestra

Three Caballeros, performed by “Libby”

Amore Mio, performed by The Frank Gallo Band

In the Mahoning Valley, immigrant groups formed churches and social halls, and in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s these halls hosted ethnic music and dances.  The Slovak Sokol Hall operated on Homewood Avenue, while the American Croatian Club (A.C.C.) was nearby.  The Krakusy Hall on South Avenue served the Polish community.  The Ukrainians opens the Berkley Woods pavilion on the East Side, and the Hungarians had Pitlicks.  A few clubs hosted bands and dances without being tied to any specific ethnic group, like Danceland in Struthers and Kuzman’s in Girard, which still hosts Polish, Slovenian, and other ethnic dances.

Pages from a POPPs Scrapbook

In most of these clubs, polka was king.  The power of the polka is best exemplified in the Penn-Ohio Polka Pals, a social and professional networking group for polka musicians.  The group was formed in 1976, thanks to the leadership of  Tony Trontel.  POPPS membership comes from Slovak, Polish, Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, Italian, Ukrainian, and Hungarian backgrounds, and they play polkas from a wide spectrum of nationalities.  The group has members from across the Mahoning Valley and western Pennsylvania.  The late POPPS historian Frank Rezek, Jr. described POPPS as a “patchwork quilt,” a “fraternal blanket that covers an entire community with its music and energy.”

You can get a sense of the camaraderie among the Polka Pals in this video from the 14^th Annual Picnic, July 15, 1990, at the Shady Run Picnic Grounds.

While most POPPS members have “day jobs,” all are professional musicians.  Along with celebrating and performing polka music, POPPS organizes several events every year, including an annual Person of the Year award dinner and dance, raises money for charitable organizations, and produces compilation albums featuring bands from the group.  They have also taken polka music into the schools, demonstrating the instruments and teaching area schoolchildren about the history of the polka.  Members of an associated POPPS Boosters group sometimes come along to teach students how to dance the polka.

POPPS has its roots in the Slovak community in Lansingville, on Youngstown’s south side, and a number of the members grew up together there.  Joe Fedorchak, one of the founding members, decided at the age of 7 that he wanted to learn to play the accordion when he heard someone playing the “Cherry Polka” in a neighborhood store.  He took lessons at T. Ross Music in downtown Youngstown, renting an instrument at first.  When the teacher told his parents that Joe had talent, they somehow scraped together $325 to buy him an accordion, and he’s been playing ever since.  Bob Smrecansky had a similar experience learning to play the drums, and by 7^th or 8^th grade, he and Del Sinchak and a few others had formed a band and begun playing at parties.  They’ve been playing together ever since, maintaining a friendship and preserving a sense of community for more than 6 decades.

For a long time, local polka bands had large and loyal audiences.  Years ago, people would have to wait outside of Kuzman’s when a polka band was playing, hoping that someone would leave and make room for more to enter.  Local bands from POPPs still play around town and around the US, for polka gatherings, polka cruises, and polka weekends in Las Vegas.  People are drawn to the music and to their favorite bands.  As Smrecansky says, “Polka people are so nice and down to earth, and they love their bands.”

While music is a common thread that ties people together both within and across ethnic groups, POPPS is an unusually strong organization.  While some have tried to form similar organizations in Chicago or Cleveland, POPPS has outlasted them all.  Their shared history and strong leadership has held them together.  It is, as founding member Jack Vasko puts it, “a class act.”

If you talk with members of POPPS, it’s clear that a shared love of playing the polka has woven together a strong, multi-ethnic community, providing members with a common bond and a great source of joy.