Die Polka Schlingel

Wilkommen! Die Polka-schlingel, a band based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has a large repertoire of German tunes as well as a growing number of swing tunes and novelty numbers. The band has a dozen members and an amazing longevity; it has been oompahing at Oktoberfests and other festivities for over 35 years!

Polka Band Albuquerque Accordian A Bavarian-style band in New Mexico? A bunch of guys in leather shorts, playing accordions and flugelhorns and tenorhorns and tubas?

Ja wohl. Also saxes, clarinets, trumpets, trombones. And it's not just guys, either. (By the way, "die" is German, pronounced like the letter D, not like the English word that rhymes with "dye." Event announcers, please note.) We do big band and swing tunes, too!

Is this a new band?

The band has been around for more than 35 years. It was started by a physician at Lovelace Medical Center who wanted to play the sousaphone (a wrap-around tuba used mostly in marching bands). He recruited a bunch of other instrument-playing folks around the hospital and their friends, and the band was born. The founder has long since departed, but the band plays on. And on. And on.

Polka Band Albuquerque Trombone Every respectable band has a CD. Do you?

For a long time when people asked us "Can I buy your CD?", we'd sheepishly answer that we last cut a record (yes, vinyl) in 1979. But in fact we now have a CD, recorded in 2001. It's called Oompah to Swing; you can listen to several sample tracks and then order it here!