Ostanek still the polka king at 83
Welland concert Saturday
It’s not a genre of music that’s topping charts today, but polka music “isn’t dead,” says Walter Ostanek.
The Canadian Polka King, a longtime Niagara resident who makes his home in St. Catharines, won three consecutive Grammy Awards from 1992 to 1994, and has been nominated 21 times throughout his career.
Now, at 83 years old, Ostanek continues to hit stages across North America, one of them being at the Welland Community Wellness Complex on Saturday at 7 p.m., joined by Big John T-Bone Little and Roger Wyatt.
Coming off a recent nine-day stint at Oktoberfest in Kitchener and shows in the Ottawa area, he’s getting ready to make to trips to Saskatchewan, as well as on a Caribbean cruise for which he will be supplying entertainment.
Still very busy, his schedule isn’t as intense as it used to be.
“I don’t travel as much as I used to — I’m kind of semi-retired,” he said in an interview at his home recently.
He has also been the band leader at Club Heidelberg for the past 59 years.
His taste for polka started when he was nine years old and his parents, of Slovenian descent, would host an annual party that would start Saturday afternoon and wrap up Sunday night.
There would be a man playing an accordion, a sound he was immediately drawn to through the joy it was spreading through the household.
“I’d never seen happiness like this and I said to myself — this is what I like,” he said.
He has a star on the Canada Walk of Fame, has been named to the Order of Canada, is the recipient of an honorary degree from Brock University, and has seen the pavilion at Montebello Park in St. Catharines named after him, to name a few accomplishments.
“I’ve had a good, wonderful career — nothing to complain about,” he said.
Ostanek started his first band at age 16, before landing his own TV show in Hamilton. Before the fame started settling in, he worked at Canadian Tire and a clothing store.
He and his wife also owned a music store in St. Catharines for 40 years until five years ago when it was bought by Long & McQuade, a major musical equipment retailer.
Asked about the current state of polka, he admitted it’s “not as popular” as it once was but compared it to other niche genres like bluegrass and jazz.
“You can still work and make a living, but not how you used to be able to,” he said.
A major leap in his career was meeting Frank Yankovic, known as the Polka King in the U.S.
Becoming friends, it was Yankovic who crowned Ostanek with the same title in Canada.
“He told me there’s nobody that’s done what you’ve done — so you might as well call yourself that,” he said.
Tickets for Saturday’s concert are as little as $14.50.
For more information, email joeytwhite65@gmail.com.