Up-tempo upstate - Polka in western New York

The following interview with polka musicians, presented here with a brief h istory of polka in the New World, is one of a series of radio documentaries sponsored by the New York Folklore Society. Others in the series include ' Square Dancing in Western New York State', 'Mark Hamilton: Folk Fiddler and Square Dance Caller', and City Lore's 1999 People's Poetry Awards. The doc umentaries have been produced by Dale W. Johnson, the society's director of services, and Lamar Bliss. Packaged as Voices of New York Traditions, they will be available later this year to public radio stations and classrooms.