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Awards
Polka Grammy Award dropped
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 5 June 2009
Grammy organisers The Recording Academy have announced that they are removing the polka category from their annual nominations list. To those active in the genre, it has come as a major blow. Carl Finch of polka band Brave Combo says: “It’s devastating. Polka is so misunderstood, you know, the butt of jokes. Having a polka category was the most important step to legitimacy that we could ever hope to achieve. To have that taken away, it’s like it was all for nothing”.
The polka category was added in 1986 but has long been a target for criticism because some say the genre is too small a field to justify its own award. The number of albums considered for the shortlist has also dwindled – in 2006 there were just twenty. The Recording Academy’s Bill Freimuth says: “When it gets down to around 20 entries, just by entering, you have a one in five chance of being nominated. That’s not as competitive as we’d like these awards to be”.
Another consideration is the fact that the category has long been dominated by Jimmy Sturr, who has won eighteen of the awards, and who has a non-traditional approach that many consider to be quite far removed from pure polka. Dave Ulczycki, of the International Polka Association explains: “It’s basically the same person winning it all the time. I like his music, and I like the person himself. But Jimmy is not a polka band per se”.
Other genre category changes are taking place. The best contemporary folk/Americana award is to be split into two separate awards, one for best contemporary folk album and one for best Americana album. Best Latin urban album, meanwhile, has been merged with the best Latin rock or alternative album catergory. There are still shitloads of awards, though; the ceremony will now feature 109 categories. No wonder it takes so long.
