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Occasions

Karaoke

The Japanese word "karaoke" is now listed not only in Japanese dictionaries but also in the latest edition of The Oxford English Dictionary proving the word has become common throughout the world. Karaoke is a typical form of entertainment for Japanese business people; they drop into a bar with colleagues after work, have a drink, and enjoy singing popular songs to the accompaniment of karaoke. Karaoke has been entertaining people ever since its invention 20 years ago, and has become firmly established in Japanese society, going far beyond just a temporary boom. Karaoke is a Japanese abbreviated compound word: "Kara" comes from "kakapo" meaning empty, and "oke" is the abbreviation of "okesutura," or orchestra.

Usually, a recorded popular song consists of vocals and accompaniment. Music tapes in which only the accompaniment is recorded were named "karaoke." It is now widely recognized that the use of karaoke started at a snack bar in Kobe City. It is said that when a local singer-guitarist let the owner of the bar down one night, he prepared tapes of accompaniment recordings and the people enjoyed singing to the tapes. Even though it is only legend, this might have been the beginning of karaoke, and since then karaoke has become popular all over Japan.

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There are one or two things that can make people nervous about singing at a karaoke party and some people pay quite a few visits before deciding to get up and sing. However, having a drink of your favourite tipple can give you a bit of courage and make you give up caring what people may think. There are some truly tone-deaf people capable of murdering songs and you could be grateful when their turn finishes, although you must respect the right of bad singers to get up and they always get a warm ripple of applause from around the bar. Seasoned veterans of the karaoke scene have some memorable moments they have experienced including some nights involving fisticuffs, although it usually all calms down quickly afterwards. When you try a new song and it goes down well you get such a buzz from it. You don’t get time to practice a song for a while before you sing it, but you will probably have learnt the words from haring the original track played in the past. It’s as well to remember that songs can come up in a different key to the record and that the backing track could a bit high for you. Panic will start to set in if this happens and you may find yourself looking for a quick exit. Don’t worry too much though, a good MC will notice this and turn the speed or key down a bit and it won’t be long before your confidence grows. It’s fascinating to watch people’s confidence grow and their talent develop over a period of time when they feel more relaxed. They may be shy about singing in front of an audience at first even if amongst friends and family, but they always sound better when they don’t care and they enjoy it. There is a social side of Karaoke in Leicestershire and meeting new people, encouraging newcomers to have a go and hopefully making sure people have a good time is all part of the fun.