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Ed Guca was born on August 7, 1944 to a very musical Polish family in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His uncle played clarinet in a popular wedding band and was of particular influence in Ed’s love for Polka music. It was in his youth that Ed learned how to play the accordion from a teacher who showed him how to play from the heart.
Ed formed his first band, The Polka Aces, in high school. He also took up clarinet and sax, which he mastered as his favorite instruments. After university, Ed, along with fellow musicians Joe Banel and Ed Grzesik, traveled to Chicago where they became acquainted with Li’l Wally. Wally was a great inspiration for Ed and suggested a new name for the band, The Polish Canadians. Ed Guca & the Polish Canadians soon became one of the most celebrated Polka bands of the 1970s and 1980s, performing at all the leading Polka festivals of the time.
During his heyday, Ed also engaged in a number of other exciting ventures. He hosted a show called "The All Night Friday Night Polka Party" as a DJ on CHIN-FM radio. He established RAM Records to record Canadian Polka talent. He ran the Canadian Polka Carnival on the first Friday after every Easter for 25 years, and promoted various other Polka dances, bringing top Polka bands from the USA to Canada. One of the greatest highlights of Ed’s career was to perform at the 1977 World Polka Festival in Poland.
In the early 1980s, Ed stepped away from the stage to raise two beautiful daughters, Weslie and Karen, with his wife Wanda. However, it was not long before he was recruited back onto the Polka scene by the Canadian Fiddlestix, touring with them until the group disbanded.
Come the 1990s, Ed formed a Polish pop band called Major Music, but soon reunited The Polish Canadians by popular demand from his Polka fans. With a desire to record his music once again, he constructed a modern digital studio and started POLANCA Records.
Ed has recorded eleven LPs on the RAM, Jay Jay, PolkaTone and Bel-Aire labels and three CDs on the POLANCA label. Ed’s biggest hit was "Ej Mamusiu Moja," which has been recorded by several other Polka bands.
At 65, Ed Guca is still performing, recording, and is currently in charge of the entertainment committee for the Roncesvalles Village Polish Festival in Toronto, promoting polka music to over 100,000 people each year. (2009)
Source: International Polka Association - http://www.internationalpolka.com/guca.htm
The CD "Raise Your Glasses/Niech Sie Gra" by Ed Guca & The Polish Canadians has been released today December 23. It contains 13 songs of which 5 are original compositions by Ed Guca. The CD also features 2 vocals by the Polish rock star Jerzy Krzeminski from the Polish group "No To Co".
Review below from http://www.bestpolkabands.com/fr_cdreviews.cfm
In an earlier review I had done I had said that John Gora's Polka Playin' Fool should go down as a polka classic, and indeed it did win the 2010 PAC Award for Best Original Song.
Well, this year, I think a very strong condender for the award should be Ed Guca's Raise Your Glasses, with vocals and lyrics by band member Joe Banel, and which is track 3 on this album. I have now listened to this track probably over 50 times, and each time I listen I enjoy it more.
Celebrating more than 50 years in the polka arena, 2009 International Polka Assiciation Polka Hall of Fame Inductee Ed Guca released an incredible cd this past Decemeber, his 15th recording with the Polish Canadians. The cd offers 13 excellently produced and thoroughly enjoyable tracks, mostly with vocals in Polish but with a few English tracks as well.
Niech Sie Gra , the first track on the cd, and one of 4 Guca originals, starts the cd off with a bang. And this is a bang that continues throughout the whole cd. Guca also presents excellent arrangements of many traditional songs such as Z Tamtej Strony, Rano Rano, Tylko We Lwowie, Czarne Oczy, Na Polskiej Zabawie, Pod Mostem Niebieskie Oczy and White Table, and does a great cover of Li'l Wally's classic Night After Night. Once you get to the end of the cd, all you want to do is start over, and over and over again.
The graphics on this cd must also be commended and the liner notes provide very good background information on all the members that contributed to this great musical work. It must also be noted that Jerzy Krzeminski, leader of the famous Polish rock band, No To Co contributes greatly on guitar and vocals
13 Selections:
1. Niech Sie Gra
2. Rano Rano
3. Raise Your Glasses
4. Only A Minute
5. Z Tamtej Strony
6. Tylko We Lwowie
7. Czarne Oczy
8. Na Polskiej Zabawie
9. Night After Night
10. Pod Mostem
11. Niebieskie Oczy
12. Corka
13. White Table
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Features
- Compact Disc
- 13 selections
- Total Time: 47:12
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