The finals become, for the British, a labor. I wonder how the English-speaking judges will avoid unconscious bias toward lyrics they understand or melodies that are closer to the pop songs they’re familiar with. Every act is diverse to the point that they're completely incomparable. Others perform folk songs from their country in traditional dress. Canada and America, for example, are full Glee club, whipping out Broadway numbers. Some countries go for gags and flamboyance. Or, at least, everyone has conflicting ideas. I'm not alone in my confusion: No one knows what karaoke is. It’s not drag, because, apart from one contestant dressed like a queen and a couple of guys singing Whitney Houston numbers, there isn't anything political or subversive about what we've seen so far. Neither is it a Stars in Their Eyes-type scenario, since there's no pressure to perform the song like the artist. It’s not the same as an open mic night where you sing your own songs, with no recorded track, and a level of professionalism expected (for instance, actually knowing the words). What is karaoke? For the first of many times this weekend, I try to work it out. Notably, Britain is absent-further proof our country has lost its vital essence. The hosts, Finland, and-of course-Japan is there, as are others, including Brazil, Canada, India, and the Philippines. There are three categories: male, female, and duets. Members of the public can pay to watch at the back. Every competing country has a table facing the stage, each of which, is furnished with large monitors for the lyric videos. The Championships are held inside the Tapahtumakeskus Telakka, a space decked out like something your dad would do to the kitchen after a mid-life crisis-arcade games, shiny reds and pinks, angled spotlights-with an awards ceremony set-up at the back. I'd know those haunting cries anywhere: "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence, miraculously one of my favorite karaoke songs to perform. No one would hear the screams.Īnd then suddenly, I hear some screams myself. The Championships are apparently somewhere in an industrial park that no woman should be walking around alone, and the cold wind off the Baltic Sea is biting cracks into my red hands. On Friday evening, it's the semi-finals of the competition, and I'm on a gray peninsula of land that couldn't feel lonelier. I’m in Helsinki not just for brief karaoke-based chats with strangers, but for the 2017 Karaoke World Championships. It’d be normal for you and your friends to casually do it every Friday or Saturday night." "My grandfather would always bring out the karaoke machine at home and sing on it. "I used to think karaoke was just something for old men to do in bars, or you did with your family at gatherings," 25-year-old shop assistant Salla ("Chasing Highs" by ALMA) tells me during my first day in Helsinki. It is possible that many Finnish people love karaoke even more than the Japanese. There is a metal karaoke bar, a gay karaoke bar, and there is a public library with a karaoke booth. It’s a small capital city with about 30 karaoke bars-one every few minutes walk in the center. It was used in hotels and bars as a go-between for drinking and interacting after work hours.īut karaoke spots can also be found in abundance in the activity's lesser-known cultural home: Helsinki, Finland. Those glass boxes set into skyscrapers where, for a reasonable fee, you can scream into a neon night that can't hear or see you. Think of karaoke and you'll probably think of Japan.
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