A big karaoke-box building in Tokyo, which was featured in the movie Lost In Translation.

Discover many one of a kind music items at bargain prices. Lots to choose from: classical, Rap, Hip Hop, Rock, Religious musics and accessories and much more!

Karaoke

Karaoke (Japanese: カラオケ, from 空 kara, "empty" or "void", and オーケストラ ōkesutora, "orchestra") is a form of entertainment in which an amateur singer or singers sing along with recorded music on microphone. more...

Home

Accessories/ Storage

CDs

Cassettes

Avant-Garde/ Experimental

Blues

Brass Bands/ Military Bands

Comedy

Country

Dance

Easy Listening

Folk

Indie/ Britpop

Irish Folk/ Traditional

Jazz

Karaoke

Metal

Pop

Rock

Records

The music is typically of a well-known song in which the voice of the original singer is absent or reduced in volume. Lyrics are usually also displayed, sometimes including color changes synchronized with the music, on music video to guide the sing-along.

Karaoke has been a popular form of entertainment beginning first in Japan, then the rest of East Asia, since at least the 1980s, and has since spread to other parts of the world.

Word origin

The Japanese word stems from the words kara (空) which is short for karano, meaning "empty", and oke which is short for ōkesutora, meaning "orchestra". The words together make a contraction literally meaning "empty orchestra".

This term used to be slang for media where pre-recorded music substitutes for a live performance, thus it is written in katakana. The term karaoke can be interpreted as "virtual orchestra" because one can specify a key to the music and start singing along without the presence of a live band or orchestra. In the United States, the word is often pronounced as /kɛriˈoʊki/, and in Britain /kæɹɪˈəʊkɪ/. The Japanese pronunciation is /kaɽaoke/. (These pronunciations are in IPA.)

History

It has been common to provide musical entertainment at a dinner or a party in Japan, as in the rest of the world, for a long time. This tradition appeared in the earliest Japanese mythology. For a long time, singing and dancing remained one of the few adult entertainments in rural areas. Noh was initially played at a tea party and guests were welcomed to join in for a cheer or a shout of praise. Dancing and singing was also a part of a samurai's education. It was expected that every samurai have a dance or a song they could perform. During the Taisho period, Utagoe Kissa, (literally song coffee shop), became popular and customers sung to a live performance of a music band.

The karaoke industry started in Japan in the early 1970s when singer Daisuke Inoue (Inoue Daisuke) was asked by frequent guests in the Utagoe Kissa, where he performed, to provide a recording of his performance so that they could sing along on a company-sponsored vacation. Realizing the potential for the market, Inoue made a tape recorder that played a song for a 100-yen coin. This was the first karaoke machine. Instead of selling karaoke machines, he leased them out, so that stores did not have to buy new songs on their own. Originally it was considered a fad which was lacking the "live atmosphere" of a real performance. It was also regarded as somewhat expensive since 100 yen in the 1970s was the price of two typical lunches. However, it caught on as a popular entertainment. Karaoke machines were initially placed in restaurants or hotel rooms; soon, new businesses called Karaoke Box with compartmented rooms became popular. (See below "Public Places for Karaoke" and "Terms of Karaoke" for a description of karaoke boxes.) In 2004, Daisuke Inoue was awarded the tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobel Peace Prize for inventing karaoke, "thereby providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other."