Pawlo Humeniuk was a Ukrainian

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

-American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 fiddle

Fiddle

The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

r from the early 20th century, one of the biggest stars of the era's ethnic music.

Biography

He was born in Pidvolochyska, a village in the western area of Ukraine, and moved to the US in about 1902. He performed at various celebrations, such as wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

s, in New York.

Humeniuk was signed to Okeh Records

Okeh Records

Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...

 in 1925, and began recording on December 3 of that year. His early records sold well, and included kolomyjka

Kolomyjka

The kolomyjka is a Ukrainian folk dance especially popular in southwestern Ukraine. It originated in the eastern Galician town of Kolomyia...

s, kozachok

Kozachok

Kozachok or kazachok is a folk dance from Ukraine. It is a fast, linear, couple-dance in 2/4, typically in a constantly increasing tempo and of an improvisatory character in a major key...

s and polka

Polka

The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...

s. He was the undisputed king of Ukrainian-American popular music, until Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 began promoting Ewgen Zukowsky. The two occasionally worked together, such as on "Ukrainske Wesilia", which is said to have sold more than 100,000 copies (though reliable records are not available from this era).

After 1926, Humeniuk began recording traditional Polish music under the name Pawel Humeniak. His influence in this field is important, as he helped developed the genre of American polka and inspired future bandleaders like Edward Krolikowski and Ignacy Podgorski. His 1928 "Kanarek" was the best-selling polka in the era, and set the standard for eastern style polka.

Humeniuk's last recording came in 1940.