Joe Valencic in New York on Slovenians in American Music

New York, March 16 - New York, March 16th (STA) – Lecturer, historian, film producer and explorer Joe Valencic from Cleveland was in New York on Sunday lecturing on the musical heritage of Slovenian people in the United States. Valencic, along with a Slovenian movie producer Damjan Kozole, is finishing a documentary about the Slovenian artist Bogdan Grom. His works can be seen in Arizona, New Mexico, Maryland, Chicago, Florida, Kansas and elsewhere. Valencic also left his mark in the Slovenian church of St. Cyril in East Village. Moreover, statue 'The Guard' stands in front of the Slovenian Embassy in Washington, DC.

During his research of historical material, Joe Valencic managed do discover several facts about the Slovenian musical heritage in the U.S., which he introduced in an interesting way to the New York audience as a part of one of frequent cultural hours under the guidance of Dr. Silvester Lango.

It was Frankie Yankovic, accordionist, who 15 years before Frank Sinatra sold more than 2 million records and spread the popularity of polka music throughout the United States. While he is most likely the most famous Slovenian musician of Slovenian heritage in the U.S. and has received the first Emmy award in the polka category, he is not the only one. Valencic also stressed that polka is not the only form of music that Slovenians helped spread throughout the U.S.

Valencic discovered that the first recording of Slovenian music was made in United States on by the actress Avgusta Danilova in 1917 on Columbia Records label. First Slovenian radio broadcast also was produced in the U.S., interestingly enough, half a year before Slovenia got its own radio station. The 1920s meant a renaissance of Slovenian music in the U.S., which Yankovich helped carry into the 50s, when rock music came onto the popular scene, and polka along with other genres moved aside. In one of the first popular rock groups, "The Monkeys," the drummer was a Slovenian, Micky Dolenz.