KARAOKE

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) A sound system with a pre-recorded soundtrack of popular music from which the vocal part has been erased so as to allow an individual to sing along with it, often recording his or her performance on tape or video. Also, the pastime of singing to this kind of system. Etymology: A Japanese compound word which literally means 'empty orchestra'. The coincidence of two vowels which results from joining kara and oke makes the Japanese word even more difficult than most for English speakers to pronounce; some solve the problem by changing the first of these two vowels to /I/. History and Usage: Karaoke was invented in Japan and is extremely popular with Japanese business people visiting bars and clubs on the way home from work. It has a Western precedent in 'Music minus One', the recordings of classical concertos with the solo part missing which have been available for some years, and karaoke itself was successfully introduced both in the US and in the UK during the eighties (although not taken up with such popular enthusiasm as in Japan). The word is often used attributively, especially in karaoke bar or karaoke club (where karaoke is the main form of entertainment, with the customers themselves providing the cabaret) and in karaoke machine, the jukebox on which the accompaniments are recorded. The hotel people had provided a karaoke kit: a microphone and amplifier with backing tapes for amateur songsters. James Melville Go Gently Gaijin (1986), p. 16 Karaoke nights...on Fifth Avenue...are the hippest events in the entire city...A natural extension of the No Entiendes theme, which encouraged anyone with enough bottle to get up and perform, karaoke has attracted the cream of Gotham. Arena Autumn/Winter 1988, p. 183 The karaoke, or singing bar, is a few yards off Shaftesbury Avenue...The idea of the karaoke bar is very simple. You get roaring drunk, chat up the bar girls and sing maudlin popular songs, dreadfully out of tune. Daily Telegraph 19 May 1989, p. 15 They improve on the usual rugby songs by putting a lot of effort into the singing, aided and abetted once a week by a karaoke machine. Evening Standard 19 Apr. 1990, p. 19