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.

Public places for karaoke

A karaoke bar / karaoke restaurant / karaoke club / karaoke lounge is simply a bar or restaurant with karaoke equipment, so that people can sing publicly. This is the most common arrangement in North America. Many establishments offer karaoke on a weekly schedule, while some have shows every night. Such establishments commonly invest more in both equipment and song discs, and are often extremely popular, with an hour or more wait between a singer's opportunities to take the stage (called the 'rotation').

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In some regions, a Karaoke Box is the most popular type of karaoke venue. A karaoke box (or KTV as is known in Taiwan) is a small or medium-sized room containing karaoke equipment for a group of friends to rent by half-hour increments, providing for a more intimate and less public atmosphere. A typical karaoke box establishment contains 10-20 such rooms as well as a main "karaoke bar" area in the front. Some believe that the karaoke box format originated in South Korea, where it is called noraebang, which literally means "song (norae) room (bang)". Noraebang parlours is the Korean name for karaoke box establishments. Most Americans have experienced karaoke only in the "karaoke bar" setting, although "karaoke boxes" also became popular in New York in the late 1990s.

Related Topics:
KTV - Taiwan - South Korea - New York

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In some traditional Chinese restaurants, there are so-called "mahjong-karaoke rooms" where elderly can play mahjong and teenagers can enjoy karaoke. The result is fewer complaints about boredom but more noise.

Related Topics:
Traditional Chinese restaurants - Mahjong

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