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Carry-Oke A Tune! |
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Where and How to Sing Along |
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by Narasu Rebbapragada |
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While your inner chanteur or chanteuse yearns to sing free, it's probably tied down by a less-than-perfect (or perhaps just unpracticed) set of vocal cords—well, unless you're like Nana Osaki (see the next chapter of Nana, page 214 of the December 2005 issue of Shojo Beat Magazine). Thank the lyrical Lord there's karaoke, the practice of singing aloud to a prerecorded orchestration of popular music, often accompanied by a low-budget early '80s video.
Rumor has it that karaoke was born in the 1980's in Japan when a bar owner who made instrumental tapes had to deal with an emergency—the evening's entertainment called in sick. But the real breakthrough is thought to be the creation of the "Karaoke Box" (circa 1984), which was usually an empty freight car set up in an open space for the express purpose of letting participants belt out sound as loudly (and often as badly) as they wanted. That experience is now open to you in a variety of forms—here's how to get started.
Bar Karaoke
There are two kinds of karaoke bars for the 21-and-over crowd. The first kind has disheveled décor and disheveled people singing in all kinds of tone-deaf ways. This is the best place for the karaoke beginner to start. The worst place is a bar that appears to be open to the public, but is actually frequented by out-of-work or off-duty singers belting out perfectly pitched Cole Porter songs in multiple octaves. |
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"Carry-Oke A Tune!" by Narasu Rebbapragada has been edited for shojobeat.com;
the complete article appears in the December 2005 issue of Shojo Beat Magazine. |
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