Okay, it’s back to the regular schedule for a while!

In the late 1920s, the Victor company decided to begin producing recordings of music geared specifically to Slovakian immigrants in the United States. It was a short-lived effort, yet it yielded some fascinating music, most of which was performed by a cache of immigrants (quite probably coal miners) from western Pennsylvania. I’ve heard other Slovenian/Slovakian 78s, but nothing matches the wild, almost primitive energy of these Victor recordings, which don’t turn up too often.

The Pachač a Juskanič Slovenská Orkestra recorded this, Part One of their “harvest” čardáš, on December 6, 1929, in New York – the same date they recorded the bulk of their entire output (the group would later record a few more releases in that dark year for the American recording industry, 1932). The čardáš is a closed-circle folk dance in 2/4 time which originated in Hungary, but has close gypsy connections according to Richard Spottswood, in the notes to his excellent CD Slovak Csardas: Dance Tunes from the Pennsylvania Coal Mines. In his opinion, the Slovakian music on Victor from this period may be a peek into what music from the area may have sounded like in the nineteenth century.

There are several tracks by the Pachač a Juskanič Slovenská Orkestra on Mr. Spottswood’s CD, but this track remains unreleased. Listen close for the whistling!

Pachač a Juskanič Slovenská Orkestra – Žnivarský Čardáš, Čast 1

Technical Notes
Label: Victor
Issue Number: V-22038
Matrix Number: n/a