Pronunciation: "kar-E-'O-kEy
or "kä-rä-'O-(")kA
Meaning:
A form of entertainment believed to have originally developed in Japan,
in which amateur performers
sing songs to the accompaniment of pre-recorded
music. It involves using a karaoke machine
which, as well as providing the backing track, also
enables the singer to follow the words on a screen.
Karaoke has been entertaining people ever since its
invention some 20+ years ago. Karaoke
is a word formed from putting two
Japanese words together. "Kara" that comes from
Karappo, meaning empty,
and "Oke", shortened from Okesutura, meaning "orchestra".
So Karaoke
means "empty orchestra".
It is understood that the use of karaoke started at a snack bar in Kobe City.
It is said that
when a strolling guitarist could not come to perform at the bar
due to illness or other reasons,
the owner of the bar prepared tapes of
accompaniment recordings, and vocalists enjoyed
singing to the tapes.
Even though it is only legend, this might have been the beginning of
karaoke,
and since then, karaoke has been commercialized and has become popular all over
Japan and
now in the United States.
However
other opinions say it was already known between 1950 and 1960 that it
began with an American TV-show. According to that
version, TV-spectors sang following a
ball
jumping above the song text on their TV-screen.
