Karaoke

Karaoke started off as a form of entertainment for Japanese business people. They would go to bars after work with their coworkers and have drinks. They would enjoy singing popular songs either by themselves or with each other, resulting in Karaoke. Karaoke was invented 20 years ago in 1980.

The breakdown of the word Karaoke is as follows: “kara” comes from “karappo” which means empty and “oke” comes from “okesutura” which means orchestra. Karaoke means the orchestra is playing but the voices are not there, the song is empty. The word can now be found in dictionaries world wide including The Oxford English Dictionary, Webster’s and many more.

Karaoke started at a snack bar in Kobe City, the owner had a regular guitarist but on the days the guitarist wasn’t able to make it in then the owner would play tapes of accompaniment recordings and allowed customers to sing to the tapes.

Karaoke has evolved over the years. Now allowing compact discs to be used as well as TV screens that’s display the words for the songs. Karaoke has become a major entertainment industry. Not only have they become popular in clubs and bars but in the home, for families and children. http://www.karaokescene.com/history/