"Letter To The Editor"
Tom Coss
Thank You for your wonderful story in Sundays Republican about the Polka
Grammy Award! I am a former DJ and Radio Announcer who both worked with
others doing Polka radio shows as well as hosting my own show on several
stations in the Connecticut area. This is Very Sad news for sure in the
polka music world. Your story showed the total Truth about how UN-Fair
the Grammy Award people are by cutting Polka Music and just how it hurt
Polka Fans everywhere! Thank You Again for doing this fine story in
Sundays Republican! I enjoyed reading it very much and I hope it will
help to one day bring back "The Polka Grammy Award!" Tom Coss - A Former
DJ and Radio Announcer
Tom Coss
POLKA GRAMMY GONE! Grammy's dropping polka music is called 'a slap in
face' By Jake May, Buffalo News Staff Reporter
Polka has waltzed across the Grammy stage for its last time. The
elimination of the best polka album category strikes at the heart of
many Buffalo musicians, as a number of area polka bands and individual
artists have been nominated for the golden statuette record player over
the years.
"It's a slap in the face," said Greg Chwojdak, a Buffalo native and
polka disc jockey. "Polka music has a firm foothold for what makes up
the United States."
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which gives out the
Grammy Awards, said the polka category is being eliminated "to ensure
the awards process remains representative of the current musical
landscape."
Bill Freimuth, the academy's vice president for awards, said the cut was
sad, but necessary as it brought in the fewest entries of any category.
In 2006, only 20 albums were considered with five nominees, of which
only one album was distributed nationwide. Through the next couple of
years, polka squeaked by with more than 25 entries, the minimum
threshold, Freimuth said, for a healthy category. In the past five
years, the highest its reached was 38 entries, and in January, the
numbers dipped again — this time to 23 entries. "It's certainly not
our intention to say that polka as a genre has gone away, but in the
recording industry specifically, its presence has diminished in the past
few years," Freimuth said. "That's why we did what we did." Though
Freimuth said the genre is not "gone," a kind of industry code
underlines the message that polka — once able to sell million dollar
hits for numerous artists — has dwindled to micro-niche status. The
polka Grammy was first given out in 1986, but in the past decade, some
critics say the field is just "too small to sustain its own category."
Freimuth said it is not uncommon for a popular artist in any category to
win more than one Grammy, but polka has little variety in its entries.
America's Polka King, Jimmy Sturr, a frequent Buffalo visitor, has
collected 18 awards in the last 24 years, only one fewer than heartland
rock musician Bruce Springsteen.
"We think that's kind of embellished," he said. Chwojdak, 50, who now
lives in Cleveland, also plays in local a polka band, the Buffalo
Concertina All Stars, which has toured the United States and Europe in
the last decade.
"America is not made up of all hip-hop and Top 40 hits. It's a sad day,
yes, but I think polka will survive," he said. Though the
squeezebox-toting enthusiasts may not have a category of their own,
polka entries can be submitted to the folk music category, against
traditional folk, bluegrass and Americana. That's no real consolation to
the polka musicians.
"It's going to get buried alive in there," Chwojdak said. "It's going to
go unrespected and now no longer recognized as a music venue." Marty
Biniasz, founder of Dyngus Day Buffalo, said this is surely a blow to
the polka, but Buffalo residents and area polka musicians should not
fret. He said Buffalo is a safe haven of the genre, citing a large
resurgence for the Polish-style music.
"It has a very loyal fan base, and that won't change," Biniasz said.
"American polka is such a unique art form. It is exciting to go up
against different genres of American folk. If anything, it's going to
make polka stronger."
Freimuth, a Central Pennsylvania native and of German- American descent,
said he knows what it must feel like for the polka musicians of the
area. Freimuth plays tuba himself, and wants to tell area musicians not
to give in because of the lost category.
"Don't lose heart. Don't worry about the Grammy awards," Freimuth said.
"It doesn't mean the music isn't still great. I know it's some of the
happiest music out there. Just because there isn't an individual
category for polka doesn't mean it shouldn't continue."
jm...@buffnews.com - From, TOM COSS of MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT 06450 USA