Karaoke comes from the Japanese word ‘kara’ and ‘one’, meaning ‘empty’ and ‘orchestra’. A karaoke performance can be termed a ‘virtual’ performance, in that a person can walk up to the stage and start singing without the aid of a live band. Karaoke machines provide that music. In a karaoke performance, the voice of the original singer is reduced in volume or is totally absent. Generally, there is a display of the song’s lyrics, as well as psychedelic color changes that are coordinated with the music.
This form of entertainment has been popular in East Asia for two decades. Musical entertainment has always been a permanent fixture at parties in Japan. It is noteworthy that singing and dancing was considered an integral part of a samurai warrior’s growth. ‘‘Utagoe Kissa’’ or ‘song coffee shop’ in direct translation, became a rage in Japan during the Taisho rule (1912 -1926), where customers used to test out their singing skills backed up by music from a live band.
In the 1970s, a singer named Daisuke Inoue who performed in a coffee shop was inundated with requests to lend his recordings so that people could sing along with them. Inoue realized that he could make money in this potentially lucrative venture and invented a tape recorder that played a song for a coin worth 100-yen. This was the birth of the karaoke machine. Initially, this form of entertainment was criticized for its unoriginality and its exorbitant price. In those days, a 100 yen could buy two lunches. However, it was gradually accepted into the main stream, and Inoue was given the Nobel Prize for his invention in 2004.
Early on, cassette tapes were used in the machine; but with technology, VCDs, CDs and DVDs gradually took the place of tapes. Karaoke soon spread to the rest of Asia and eventually the United States and other Western countries. Though it met with the expected disapproval from certain quarters, it has slowly become a great form of nightclub entertainment.
Related Articles of Interest :
-
History Of Karaoke
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
‘Always keep a song in your heart – it’s like karaoke for the voices in your head’ -Robert Fulton Abernethy Music has been part of the development of every culture in the world. People had few forms of entertainment and song and dance were the...
-
Karaoke Machines For Sale
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Music is the gateway to the soul, and singing is perhaps the cab that gets people across. People lose a lot of inhibition when they sing out loud, and very often, this opens the barriers between hearts and minds. Even if the voice has no...
-
Karaoke Bars
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Karaoke bars probably established their roots in the early twentieth century in Japan during the Taisho rule. “Utagoe Kissa,” or “coffee shop,” became popular with customers who tried out their singing talents backed up by music from a live band. Soon, the trend caught up...
-
Karaoke Lyrics
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Song brought a whole new era in human existence, making the expression of many feelings and sentiments possible, enabling communication, and creating a condition in which people could actually sing to the music they heard around them. No one can deny that the charm of...
-
Deaf Karaoke
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
There are perhaps few things more embarrassing than being taken out to a karaoke bar and made to sing in front of an expectant audience — especially if you are tone deaf. A tone-deaf person lacks the ability to decipher between notes. Thus, a tone-deaf...
-
Karaoke Downloads
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Karaoke downloads are a great way to get backing tracks for your favorite songs. However, you should be careful while downloading karaoke music. Some tracks will be midi files that come with lyrics attached. The midi files are generally free but are mostly illegal, and...
-
Karaoke Music
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Karaoke discs are specially formatted discs that have lyrics and music. There are two major karaoke disc formats: VCD and CD+G. CD+G discs are mainly audio CDs, having extra lyric data. They can be played on a CD player, though the images are low in...
-
Karaoke Machines
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
A karaoke machine has an audio input, an audio output and a way of changing the music’s tone and pitch. There are karaoke machines that have the means of vocal suppression. The machine actually suppresses the original singer’s voice and allows the music to be...
-
Top 10 Karaoke Songs
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Karaoke represents a freedom that few other activities in the field of entertainment can. It gives people the courage to come up in front of an unknown audience to sing songs even in the face of possible humiliation. The choice of music for a karaoke...
-
Karaoke Software
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Of the many high quality Karaoke software available in the market, the following are some of the best. Karaoke Sing-n-Burn software is capable of burning CDs of a live performance. This software can turn your home into a high-end Karaoke studio. You can change the...