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.

Word origin

The Japanese word stems from the words kara (?), meaning "empty" (as in karate, "empty hand") and oke which is short for ?kesutora, meaning "orchestra". The words together make a contraction literally meaning "empty orchestra".

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It used to be a slang in media where a live performance is substituted by a pre-recorded music and thus it is written in katakana. The term karaoke can be interpreted as "virtual orchestra" because one can specify a key to the music and start singing along without the presence of a live band or orchestra. In the United States, the word is often pronounced as {{IPA|/k??rioki/}}. The Japanese pronunciation is {{IPA|/ka?aoke/}}. (These pronunciations are in IPA.)

Related Topics:
Katakana - IPA

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