| Karaoke is Japanese for 'empty orchestra'. It | | | | CDs of various decades to 'cheese nights', where all |
| describes a strange Japanese tradition that has | | | | the music played falls very definitely into the |
| somehow made its way worldwide, where you sing | | | | category of music you shouldn't like, but do anyway. |
| the lyrics of well-known songs over a backing tape, | | | | If you're into karaoke, it's well worth noting that you |
| preferably badly, and usually while very drunk. Many | | | | don't just have to go out to bars and do it. Many |
| bars now have special karaoke nights and | | | | companies will readily rent you the equipment, but it's |
| competitions, and some have even become full-time | | | | not really that hard to get hold of it yourself. |
| karaoke bars. | | | | Karaoke CDs are cheap and easy to find, as are |
| Anyone who has only ever heard karaoke might | | | | microphones and players capable of decoding them: |
| wonder how on earth this happened - after all, 99% | | | | they're little more than CD players capable of plugging |
| of karaoke singers sound absolutely howling-cat | | | | into a TV. If you don't even want to go to this much |
| nails-on-a-chalkboard terrible. If you've ever taken | | | | trouble buying things and connecting them up, you |
| part yourself, though, then you'll know the answer to | | | | could try the SingStar series of games for the |
| that question: karaoke is really great fun. | | | | Playstation 2. SingStar is basically a karaoke kit in a |
| I mean, who wouldn't want to sing along to the | | | | box, complete with song disc and microphones, with |
| classics by Elvis, and Abba, and songs from Grease? | | | | the advantage that you can also see the music |
| Karaoke is not the only place that you can see the | | | | videos and keep track of your progress on your |
| appeal of these old standards - you can also find | | | | memory card. |
| them in all sorts of 'retro' culture, from compilation | | | | |