|
karaoke box is the most popular type of karaoke venue. A karaoke box is a small or medium-sized room containing karaoke equipment rented by the hour or half-hour, providing a more intimate atmosphere. Karaoke venues of this type are often dedicated businesses, some with multiple floors and a variety of amenities including food service, but hotels and business facilities sometimes provide karaoke boxes as well.
In some traditional Chinese restaurants, there are so-called "mahjong-karaoke rooms" where the elderly play mahjong while teenagers sing karaoke. The result is fewer complaints about boredom but more noise. Noise regulations can be an issue, especially when karaoke is brought into residential areas.
In the Philippines, karaoke machines are available for rent for use in occasions such as parties.
North America and Europe A karaoke bar, restaurant, club or lounge is a bar or restaurant that provides karaoke equipment so that people can sing publicly, sometimes on a small stage. Most of these establishments allow patrons to sing for free, with the expectation that sufficient revenue will be made selling food and drink to the singers. Less commonly, the patron wishing to sing must pay a small fee for each song they sing. Both are financially beneficial for the establishment by not having to pay a professional singer or a cabaret tax which is usually applied to any entertainment of more than 1 person.
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).
Private karaoke rooms, similar to Asia's "karaoke boxes", are commonplace in communities such as Toronto, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Karaoke in Korean cultureIn July 2007, the nation of North Korea issued an edict banning, among other similar establishments, karaoke bars from operating in the country
. The Ministry of Security officially stated that the ban was enacted to "crush enemy scheming and to squarely confront those who threaten the maintenance of the socialist system."
Although extremely popular in South Korea, there have been expressions of dissatisfaction with respect to the circulation of Japanese music and songs via Karaoke.
South Koreans generally use another term - "Norebang", which translates into "Song Room". Norebangs typically have a number of private rooms.
Karaoke production methodsKaraoke is very popular in Asia, and many artists distribute a karaoke track at the same time the song is released.
In Europe and North America, karaoke tracks are almost never done by the original artist, they are re-recorded by musicians. The world's largest creator of Karaoke tracks, Blank Productions USA, (since 1986), produces between 40 and 60 titles per month, adding to their 25,000 title library, which is licensed to manufacturers and content providers. Karaoke companies like Stingray Digital and Chartbuster select popular songs and release soundalike tracks with lyrics synchronized, most commonly in CD+G format.
Karaoke in film.
Karaoke has been depicted in numerous movies and television shows, including:
- Films:
- 1989 film Black Rain
- 1996 comedy The Cable Guy
- 1997 romantic comedy ''My Best Friend's Wedding
- 1997 Korean gangster comedy No. 3
- Karaoke is central to the 2000 movie Duets, which features a father and daughter competing in karaoke contests
- In the 2001 film Jackpot, an aspiring singer tours karaoke bars hoping to catch his big break as a country star
- 2001 film Rush Hour 2 includes a karaoke performance by Chris Tucker, where he upstages a tone-deaf local in Hong Kong by singing Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
- 2003 film Lost in Translation
- Karaoke is the central theme of The Karaoke King, a 2006 independent film
- Karaoke 2009 Malaysian indie film starring Zahiril Adzim
- Television shows:
- American television show Desperate Housewives
- Several episodes of American television series Angel feature the demonic karaoke bar Caritas, whose proprietor Lorne (Andy Hallett) can read the destiny of the person singing.
- All of American actor David Boreanaz's major television roles have involved his character being assaulted (in particular, being shot at) in a karaoke bar.
- Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps featured Donna singing "Chick Chick Chicken", which was made for the BBC by Zoom Entertainments, a karaoke producer based in Hull, UK.
- One episode of the American show Heroes.
- Don't Forget the Lyrics, a game show in which contestants have to sing 10 songs correctly to win $1,000,000.
- Mai HiME, the titular character Mai Tokiha is a huge fan and the series features an episode with some of the various characters singing as well.
- Azumanga Daioh, during the episode where the characters celebrate christmas, there is a part where they go to a karaoke club.
- Music Videos:
- The video for Tenacious D's Tribute features Jack Black and Kyle Gass recording the song inside a karaoke box, though Black riggs the box to put in his own background music.
World recordsWiktionary
Finland holds the record for the largest number of people singing karaoke at one time, for over 80,000 people singing "Hard Rock Hallelujah" on 26 May 2006 in Helsinki after Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006.
People's Republic of China holds the record for the longest non-stop rally of karaoke, for 456 hours, two minutes, and five seconds between February 20, 2009 and March 11, 2009.
Copyright Citations
This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Karaoke
|
|
|
