KARAOKE

Karaoke is the singing of popular songs, by members of the public, who sing along to the music, while reading the lyrics from a screen. Karaoke is most most popular in East and South East Asia.

Venues which offer karaoke vary from purpose built establishments containing a number of private karaoke rooms, which can be rented for karaoke sessions, to bars and open air food courts, where everyone in the establishment gets to hear each of the participating karaoke singers. Unfortunately many of these "singers" have appalling voices, which they seem to take pleasure in inflicting on everyone else in the vicinity.

Most of my personal karaoke experience has been when on business in Seoul. This was mainly the private room variety. I used to absolutely dread being asked to sing, since my voice is low and flat. However when discussing business deals, the Koreans expect you to participate. Some karaoke establishments are reasonably priced and some are exorbitant. The type of place you will be expected to entertain your clients in, will largely depend on the value of the deal you are discussing.

Typically the Korean men will value the establishment based on how pretty the girls are and how good they are at conversational entertainment. Sometimes there will be girls in the room who will try to sing along with you to save you from some of the embarrassment.

Usually even more expensive than the private rooms is the room-salon, where you are basically in a room shared with other groups of business men. Each group has it's own table and each of the hostesses tend to split their time between a couple of the tables. Here the singing is an experience shared by all in the room as each group takes it in turn to book sessions on the communal karaoke machine.

Typically in a private room or a room salon, the table will have a bowl of fresh fruit and perhaps a dish of snacks such as nuts and varieties of dried cuttlefish and squid. Drinks will typically include some bottles of beer and a bottle of spirit, which to me looks like brandy, but tastes more like a mild mellow whisky. I have often been surprised at how little effect these drinking sessions have had on me. They obviously had some effect though, otherwise I would not have joined in with the karaoke with such gusto.

Most establishment will have songs in a variety of languages. As an English speaker obviously I sing English songs when pressured to sing. Unfortunately many of the songs on offer are very cheesy. It is also surprising how often you can come unstuck by picking a song just because you like it.

Eventually in desperation I persuaded a Korean friend to hire a private room at a low price on a Saturday afternoon (most of the demand is late evening). I then spent a couple of hours going through the list, trying every song I had ever heard of, until I found half a dozen I could sing without embarrassing myself too much. Luckily about 80% of the English songs are the same ones from establishment to establishment.

Unfortunately, the pace of a particular song often varies from venue to venue, which can throw you sometimes. Also the transcriptions of the English lyrics are sometimes hilarious and it is difficult not to burst out laughing in the middle of the song. The example below is not from Korea. I found it on a Karaoke DVD, I purchased:-

From "Don't cry for me Argentina", the line "Couldn't stay all my life down at heel", becomes on this version "Couldn't stay all my life down the hill". Also perhaps more interesting on the same version "And as for fortune, and as for fame, I never invited them in" becomes "I asked for fortune, and I asked for fame, I never invited them in". Finally "They are illusions, They are not the solutions they promised to be" becomes "They are illusions, They are not the disillusions they promised to be".