The SFC has just cataloged two rare 10-inch EPs by Paul Weingardt and the Dutch Hop Boys (Vega Records, 1950, SFC call #s 78-16170, 78-16171. The first of these is pictured left.)
The polka on these records is of a special type known as the “Dutch Hop,” played and danced by the Volga Germans in the Great Plains region of the United States. (Eastern Colorado and western Nebraska are particular hotspots for the dance). The “Dutch” in “Dutch Hop” is thought to have started as a disguised version of the word “Deutsch.” During and after the World Wars, German-Americans were harshly stigmatized—and thus willing to portray their origins as Dutch rather than German.
Compared to standard polka, the Dutch Hop is faster, involves “bouncier” steps, and features a hammered dulcimer in addition to more standard instruments like the violin or the accordion. According to the Polka Page website, poor recording quality sometimes made the dulcimer hard to hear on Dutch Hop records. This may explain why the 1950 Billboard review of Weingardt’s Vega release only mentioned the “alternating accordion and violin.”
In this excerpt from “Katy Katy Polka,” the dulcimer is indeed barely audible–one hears it as a faint plucking sound on the offbeats, at phrase endings, and under the violin solo at around 0:45.
Katy Katy Polka
During his career, Weingardt also recorded with the Alpine Dutch Hoppers, the Alpine Polkadots, and the Polka Kings.
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