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Karaoke: The Global Phenomenon
Dancing Queen. Respect. Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl). There are some songs so infectious that you can’t help but belt out the lyrics along with the singer. Karaoke—meaning “empty orchestra” in Japanese—gets rid of the singer and leaves you in the spotlight alone. It is the social manifestation of our desire to sing, in tune or out, and in three short decades, it has exploded into a worldwide craze. In this unprecedented study, Zhou Xun and Francesca Tarocco engagingly examine karaoke and all its associated kitsch, crime, and weirdness.
Usually thought of as the pastime of desperately bad singers and slurring drunks, karaoke has never enjoyed a particularly stellar image. Xun and Tarocco, however, reveal its surprisingly complex history and significant cultural impact around the world. Originating in postwar Japan, karaoke soon spread to Southeast Asia and the West. Karaoke traces how it became a wildly successful social phenomenon that constantly evolved to keep pace with changes in technology and culture. Drawing on extensive research and international travels, the authors chart the varied manifestations of karaoke, from karaoke taxis in Bangkok to nude karaoke in Toronto to the role of karaoke in prostitution. Extensive personal anecdotes reveal the dramatic range of social experiences made possible by karaoke and how the obsession with performance and song has touched politics, history, and pop culture throughout global society.
Karaoke bars are at the heart of rich escapist fantasies and the authors—in readable fashion and using vibrant full-color illustrations—document this unpredictable fantasy world and the people who inhabit it. Karaoke, therefore, will delight anyone who has had the courage to take the mike and front the “empty orchestra.”
Usually thought of as the pastime of desperately bad singers and slurring drunks, karaoke has never enjoyed a particularly stellar image. Xun and Tarocco, however, reveal its surprisingly complex history and significant cultural impact around the world. Originating in postwar Japan, karaoke soon spread to Southeast Asia and the West. Karaoke traces how it became a wildly successful social phenomenon that constantly evolved to keep pace with changes in technology and culture. Drawing on extensive research and international travels, the authors chart the varied manifestations of karaoke, from karaoke taxis in Bangkok to nude karaoke in Toronto to the role of karaoke in prostitution. Extensive personal anecdotes reveal the dramatic range of social experiences made possible by karaoke and how the obsession with performance and song has touched politics, history, and pop culture throughout global society.
Karaoke bars are at the heart of rich escapist fantasies and the authors—in readable fashion and using vibrant full-color illustrations—document this unpredictable fantasy world and the people who inhabit it. Karaoke, therefore, will delight anyone who has had the courage to take the mike and front the “empty orchestra.”
207 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 16, 2012
This is the first book I read about Karaoke. This is a good book that introduces the phenomenon of karaoke in many places. It includes information on the history of karaoke, how people enjoy karaoke in different places, and some practical uses of karaoke, for example for language learning, in addition to for just leisure and passing time. I thought it is interesting the book did not seem to politicize the connections between karaoke and prostitution as it is happening in some parts of southeast Asia.
Despite these pluses, the book does have a range of shortcomings. As an anthropologist I was looking for, besides the usual ethnographic stuff, some sort of explanation of how karaoke, as a social phenomenon, becomes relevant in people's life and its impact on social relations, and the like. I didn't see any of these in this book. I did not see an extensive research with plenty of 'hanging out' time with participants of the phenomenon and how these people view their enjoyment of karaoke. I could see that this might be difficult given the goal of the book was to make karaoke a 'global' phenomenon. The authors claimed that the book is not an encyclopedia entry of karaoke, but I'm convinced that many people would think that it is, given the materials presented were from too many places and came from not extensive research. Although the semi-academic tone of the book might make it accessible to more audience, it is a drawback that brings the quality of a potentially very excellent book down a notch. The authors sometimes made very bold claims about karaoke such as banning karaoke from a Filipino is pretty much like stopping his heart beat. While I see that karaoke could very big for the Filipinos, I think such a claim is a little bit too much. The conscious attempts to connect the pieces from different countries together add to this drawback and makes the book more like a piece written by graduate students than by professionals. All in all, this is an interesting book, but falls short of an excellent research.
Despite these pluses, the book does have a range of shortcomings. As an anthropologist I was looking for, besides the usual ethnographic stuff, some sort of explanation of how karaoke, as a social phenomenon, becomes relevant in people's life and its impact on social relations, and the like. I didn't see any of these in this book. I did not see an extensive research with plenty of 'hanging out' time with participants of the phenomenon and how these people view their enjoyment of karaoke. I could see that this might be difficult given the goal of the book was to make karaoke a 'global' phenomenon. The authors claimed that the book is not an encyclopedia entry of karaoke, but I'm convinced that many people would think that it is, given the materials presented were from too many places and came from not extensive research. Although the semi-academic tone of the book might make it accessible to more audience, it is a drawback that brings the quality of a potentially very excellent book down a notch. The authors sometimes made very bold claims about karaoke such as banning karaoke from a Filipino is pretty much like stopping his heart beat. While I see that karaoke could very big for the Filipinos, I think such a claim is a little bit too much. The conscious attempts to connect the pieces from different countries together add to this drawback and makes the book more like a piece written by graduate students than by professionals. All in all, this is an interesting book, but falls short of an excellent research.
January 16, 2025
„Karaoke: The Global Phenomenon” has been a colourful, entertaining and none the less informative deep dive into the y2k karaoke craze of the globalisation world and emerging online culture.
What felt extremely modern in this read was also endearingly „periodic” (if we could call the throwback to 2000s this way) - provided with aesthetically fitting pictures, this book felt almost like a written form of the video essays roaming free on YouTube now. YouTube itself was 2 years old when the book was published and nowhere near the state it is now. The „global village” outlook on the world this book presented in a nearly Liberalist manner proved that the lecture was not simply about karaoke but also completely right about where society was headed, at least in the rearview after almost 20 years. At the same time, current to the glorious explosion of y2k Japanese subcultures and the shy first steps of the „World Wide Web”, the book is just excitingly illustrative of the reality known to the authors then.
What is a big plus on this book is also its humor - both of the female writers present a quirky kind of humor that made this read feel so modern and even personal. Personally - I perceive it a huge plus that musicology was mentioned (from what I remember) at least twice. And since I study musicology, this is just a biased high five.
Definitely would love to see the authors’ other works after reading this!
What felt extremely modern in this read was also endearingly „periodic” (if we could call the throwback to 2000s this way) - provided with aesthetically fitting pictures, this book felt almost like a written form of the video essays roaming free on YouTube now. YouTube itself was 2 years old when the book was published and nowhere near the state it is now. The „global village” outlook on the world this book presented in a nearly Liberalist manner proved that the lecture was not simply about karaoke but also completely right about where society was headed, at least in the rearview after almost 20 years. At the same time, current to the glorious explosion of y2k Japanese subcultures and the shy first steps of the „World Wide Web”, the book is just excitingly illustrative of the reality known to the authors then.
What is a big plus on this book is also its humor - both of the female writers present a quirky kind of humor that made this read feel so modern and even personal. Personally - I perceive it a huge plus that musicology was mentioned (from what I remember) at least twice. And since I study musicology, this is just a biased high five.
Definitely would love to see the authors’ other works after reading this!
February 18, 2016
Some interesting bits -- how is it possible that there are so few books on the history of karaoke? Overall, though, nothing too inspiring or interesting. Dividing it up by countries may not have been the way to go, since some of the experiences are so similar. Not sure what it would be like for people who haven't experienced karaoke overseas. Maybe it would be a better read? It's not written well structurally or grammatically though.
I did learn that China's first karaoke was in ChengDu -- and I will be going there in April! Wahoo!
I did learn that China's first karaoke was in ChengDu -- and I will be going there in April! Wahoo!
January 15, 2008
The tone is fairly academic, but it's still an interesting read. For example, I had no idea how karaoke and prostitution were linked in much of Asia.
July 19, 2012
This was so bad I couldn't finish it. I rarely quit reading books.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews