Karaoke

Karaoke (Japanese: ????, from ? kara, "empty", and ?????? ?kesutora, "orchestra") is a form of entertainment where recorded music accompanies an amateur singer who sings along with the accompaniment on microphone. The music is of a well-known song in which the voice of the original singer is absent or reduced in volume. Lyrics are usually also displayed, sometimes including color changes synchronized with the music, on music video to help with the sing-along.

History

It has been common to provide a musical entertainment at a dinner or a party in Japan for a long time. It appeared in the earliest Japanese mythology. For a long time, singing and dancing remained the only entertainment in the rural area. Noh was initially played at a tea party and guests were welcomed to join in for a cheer or a shout of praise. Dancing and singing was also a part of a samurai's education. It was expected that every samurai have a dance or a song they could perform. During the Taisho period, Utagoe Kissa, (literally song coffee shop), became popular and customers sung to a live performance of a music band.

Related Topics:
Japanese mythology - Noh - Samurai - Taisho period

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The industry started in Japan in the early 1970s when singer Daisuke Inoue (Inoue Daisuke) was asked by frequent guests in the Utagoe Kissa where he performed to provide a recording of his performance so that they could sing along on a company-sponsored vacation. Realizing the potential for the market, Inoue made a tape recorder that played a song for a 100-yen coin. This was a karaoke machine. Instead of selling karaoke machines, he leased them out, so that stores didn't have to buy new songs on their own. Originally it was considered a fad which was lacking the "live atmosphere" of a real performance. It was also regarded as somewhat expensive since 100 yen in the 1970s was the price of two typical lunches. However, it caught on as a popular entertainment. Karaoke machines were initially placed in restaurants or hotel rooms; however, new businesses called Karaoke Box with compartmented rooms became popular. (See below "Public Places for Karaoke" and Terms of Karaoke" for a description of karaoke boxes.) In 2004, Daisuke Inoue was dubiously awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Prize for inventing karaoke, "thereby providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other." http://www.asahi.com/english/opinion/TKY200410060126.html

Related Topics:
1970s - Daisuke Inoue - Fad - Ig Nobel

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Early karaoke machines used cassette tapes but technological advances replaced this with CDs, VCDs, laserdiscs and, currently, DVDs. In 1992, Taito introduced the X2000 that fetched music via a dial-up telephone network. Its repertoire of music and graphics was limited, but the advantage of continuous updates and the smaller machine size saw it gradually replace traditional machines. It is now common to use karaoke machines connected via fiber-optic links to provide instant high-quality music and video.

Related Topics:
CD - VCD - Laserdisc - DVD - Taito - X2000

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Karaoke soon spread to the rest of Asia and then to the United States in the 1990s. Facilities such as karaoke bars or "KTV boxes" provided the venue, equipment and software for amateur singers to entertain (or "torture") each other.

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Its popularity has spread rapidly to the United States, Canada and other Western countries. Some people still regard it as "hokey" and simply a method for the intoxicated to embarrass themselves, but as the novelty has worn off and the available selection of music has exploded, more and more people within the industry see it as a very profitable form of lounge and nightclub entertainment. It is not uncommon for some bars to have karaoke performances seven nights a week, commonly with much more high-end sound equipment than the small, standalone machines noted above. Dance floors and lighting effects are also becoming common sights in karaoke bars. Lyrics are often displayed on multiple TV sets around the bar, including big screens.

Related Topics:
United States - Canada

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It also growing in popularity in the United Kingdom, with Martha Lane Fox, the founder of lastminute.com, helping finance what is being touted as a chain of upmarket Karaoke venues, called Lucky Voice.

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