Karaoke Forums

I just noticed Badsinger is from a very interesting and distant place. I bet he has lots to share about life there including the karaoke culture and other aspects of their nightlife.

How about others here? Where are you from outside North America?

I think that the way Karaoke is run can vary from region to region even in the states.  

When I go sing in upstate NY it's kinda like a free for all.  Everyone gets up for every song no matter who's song it is.  Very interesting anf fun!!!

When I was in Chicago the place I went to I couldn't even find the KJ to turn in my song so I ended up having to ask someone what to do.  They had a tin bucket on the corner of the stage that you placed your slips in.

In Texas where I am it is pretty straight forward, go to the KJ had him your song, that is after you look it up in the book.

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

Yeah, I'm sure it varies lots here in America, but can't you imagine how interesting it would be to learn how it is in those very far away places?...

Badsinger is a biologist from Serian....A town deep in East Malayasia....Wouldn't it be COOL to visit there and attend his gig?....And as a biologist, he could show you lots of interesting places like the Mulu caves and maybe other wonderful stuff including the local people and their customs.

I really miss my travels in the Navy....I miss especially meeting people from around the world...I feel like I have regressed culturally.

OK,  Who are you, and what did you do with Keith ?    

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Stop it, Steven! I used to have a life.....let me indulge myself a little....I need to escape these backwoods right now....You know you too are interested in far away places!

Yeah,  but I can't get lucky.. Send more pix of "far-away" places ~

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Actually that's true,  one of these days I have to tell you the story of when I crossed over the Tappan-zee bridge, and headed into Spring Valley,  Some of the Southerner's down in New Jersey are nutty people !


(In all seriousness, yes, I am fascinated in different cultures, and different geographic locations..)

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Oh gosh, me too. There are SO many places I'd love to go. I have all my life wanted to go to Ireland...... other than Texas & Oklahoma Choctaw country, haha, that's where my distant relatives hail from. (yes, I'm Indian & Irish, with a little bit a Texan thrown in...... quite a combo, huh?)  :wink:

I have brochures, and catalogs, on Ireland....... I would LOVE to go there.

But I'm scared to fly. If it wasn't for that- I think I would have wanted to train to be an airline stewardess........ just so I could GO EVERYWHERE.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Flying is cool, just take a book and learn to fight for the arm rests.

I can just see Charmin stuffing her splittin maul in the overhead and looking all stern-like at those round her....And then poking out herself some elbow room with her pointy lillte elbows.....I think it would be a trip to travel with her..."A trip?"...You know what I mean!

Something tells me she is like a banty hen when ruffled....and like a kitten when soothed.

I bet she would make a great travel partner.

I don't know this firsthand Charmin,  but if you are prone to heightsickness, I've heard some pretty scary things about some of the roads in Ireland.....

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I'm not prone to heightsickness. Hail no.... I spent my childhood climbin the biggest trees my brothers could find to "dare me" to climb.... and you should see some of the places I've went fishing. You have to climb up a bluff to look at the river & find the perfect spot, then jump rocks to get to the other side,(cause the other side of the river is ALWAYS better to fish on, haha) then walk out on that downed tree hanging out over the water... and balance there while you cast your line. (cause THOSE are the best fishing spots you know.  And, Im serious: Honcut Creek in Loma Rica, California..... a tributary of Feather River..... excellent fishing, but you had to GET there. And all the good spots you had to hike in- no roads to drive there. But it was gorgeous- and had awesome trout fishing. I wont even tell ya the stories of the places I've cut through with my brothers to sneak into some hidden bass pond.

Oh- so.......... "back on topic".......... no, I'm NOT afraid of heights. Been on plenty of those backroads in the mountains where you're on a narrow road hanging over a bluff. You should see some of the roads up around Molalla Hills, Goat Mountain, and in Colton where my mom lives. It's just- airplanes themselves- I am scared to fly on one.



Haha, Keith you're somethin' else. That line reminds me of a song I sing called "I'm Little But I'm Loud"...... it actually refers to a banty rooster.

Gotta go to town, see you all later or tomorrow.  :wave:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

I used to post on thread on how to run rotation when someone bring up the topic, but no one seem to notice my post. I know now that our system is just different and will never work in the west. There are a few things about karaoke that is done differently over here.

*Karaoke bar/club are almost always full time.

*Kjs are still known and referred to as DJ

*KJs are employed by the establishment; he is a staff. PA and music are own by the establishment. So PA are installed; speaker wall mounted and TV mon also wall mounted.

*The stage; well there is non as the whole floor is the stage. people sing from the table. The mic is pass around and many time it walk out of the door.

*The discs are either in vcd format or LD. No one ever heard of cdg; SC, CB, SF, Zoom, TMH, means nothing to people here.

*GRO; they are almost a must.

*Most place have songs in at least 3 languages, English, Malay, Indian, Kadazan, Dayak or Chinese. depending on the population composition of that area.

*Most places have cheap PA mostly made by Uli B. and most the KJ I come across just do not know how to do proper sound.

enough for now and more to come if there is any taker



ps.. Mulu National Park..... I did a lot of work there with the Penan (nomadic people), studying their hunting habit and their dependency on the forest. It have the biggest cave in the world and a fantastic place to be. I was introduced to karaoke in one of the pub there.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Last year on vacation, we went to Sandals in Ocho Rios Jamaica.  Karaoke was interesting with the mix of folks from all over the world.  The songlist was interesting, and included selections in several languages.  The show was run by the DJ/KJ, but they also had someone going around getting people up and singing.  When things slowed down, they would play 'group' type songs and get lots of folks up and pass the mic's (3 cordless) around.  Of course, since it was all inclusive on the drinks, that helped a lot too.  :drunk:  :drunk:

[quote="Badsinger @ Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:31 pm
*Karaoke bar/club are almost always full time.

*Kjs are still known and referred to as DJ

*KJs are employed by the establishment; he is a staff. PA and music are own by the establishment. So PA are installed; speaker wall mounted and TV mon also wall mounted.

[/quote]

The club that I go to most of the time has it's own system installed/ and owns his own music too and within about 3 miles there are 5 or six that are the same way.  It seems to be a karaoke mecca of sorts.  All of the DJ/KJ work for the establishment.  
and they are all 7 nights a week.  

I found it strange when I started going other places and their systems were mobile.  And when I travel it has been hard for me to find places because most places are not 7 nights a week.  My biggest complaint when I travel is "Can't I just find a good Karaoke Bar that is 7 nights a week"

So BadSinger if I am ever in your area of the world, I should be happy.

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

ive just got back from BENIDORM in spain where you can sing at karaoke from 12 oclock midday through till 3 in the morning if you want to,truly karaoke heaven  :oh yeah:

I've never been across seas except Maui. I would love to go to France or Italy. Ireland right now I guess is a hostle place. A lot of fighting going on.

The difference I notice from my karaoke to others is it is interactive. A lot of bars in the Chicago area have contests, so it gets competitive. A person goes up to sing and is ignored by the crowd. I find this rude. At my bar everyone is encouraged to sing a long. Sometimes the crowd is so loud from all the singing you can barely hear the singer. There are songs the crowd knows where to snap their fingers, clap or yell along. This makes it fun for everyone, even me.

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I come from an era that it was common to sing and party in any bar in any country .  If there was a few there with instruments that was even better.. We once sang and partied with a bunch of Russian sailors in a beer garden in Beruit Lebanon.. It done more for relations than all the other bs. I too miss the international flavor but actually we live in a country that like europe has many regions of ethnic groups that one can visit.. Remember when in Rome do as the Romans do... One of my dreams is to sing with the quior in a southern back church when it is shakin...(and get some more soul)

You will perfectly fit in, in our kind of club. We have a Karaoke mecca of a sort too, 11 or 12 of them all within walking distance.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

[shadow=darkred][font=Comic Sans MS]Where I live there are three small towns all with in 20 miles or less of each other.  Everything here is at least ten years behind the rest of the world.  I sang karaoke 6 nights a week about 10 years ago.  Then I got married and it slowed to 3 and then just when I got days off.  We have a lot of bars that offer karaoke, which are all small by big city standards.  The largest of which runs about 100 to 120 patrons a night, while the average is 60 and below.  Most of the KJs here are small shows, a couple of speakers, a few microphones, a monitor or two and a CDG player.   There are 1 or 2 bigger setups, and of course they charge more.

They use a standard rotation, but can be persuaded to fiddle with it especially late into the night and with a little tip.  There are quite a few contests, although not as many as there used to be.  The good singers are extremely competitive.  I host a picnic in the summer that has a contest.  (of course I don't compete, being the host and all).

The music is all types, but mostly country.   The honky tonk crowd her likes it loud and bassy.  They smoke (more than cigarettes) and drink a lot.  The alcohol is fairly cheap.  A beer is around $2.00 and a shot of Mezcal is around $2.50.  [/font][/shadow]

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