A European Informational Website
learn more
Polka is a type of dance, and also a genre of dance music. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia, and is still a common genre of Czech, Polish and Slovenian folk music; it is also common both in Europe and in the Americas. In classical music, many polkas were composed by both Johann Strauss I and his son Johann Strauss II; a couple of well-known ones were composed by Bedřich Smetana and Jaromír Vejvoda, the author of Škoda lásky ("Roll Out the Barrel").