It’s heartening to see a polka band long-lived and large as Dorf Kapelle hanging on. Leader Ernie Broeniman and his group’s 15-plus members hail from Wisconsin and have been specializing in the folkloric danceable music of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic for nearly 30 years. For their latest album, Music of the Heartland, they stick to compositions from the 1910s through the ’40s. On several tracks, vocalist Abby Broeniman dips into the lyrics’ occasional emotional complexities. Even with so big a band, there’s a reserved air surrounding much of the music here. Listeners hankering for the oomph of harder-driving American Dutchman and Polish-derived polka styles will have to adjust their step and, perhaps, open their mind, but there’s plenty of beauty and bounce to Dorf Kapelle’s ethnically respectful approach.
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