The Origin
So we talk about karaoke and singing and hitting the roof with your lungs pushed to the limit. And we do know karaoke machine is a cool fad your gramps would envy how easy and popular it is nowadays compared to their times. But really, can we answer the questions; “How and when did it start?”, or “where did it begin?” If yes, either you were doing research for you younger brother’s school project about karaoke, or you go out of concentration everytime you attempt to sing unless you figure out the answers to these questions, and so you did researching. Otherwise, countrymen, lend me your ears..err.. I mean eyes.
Anyway, karaoke is believed to have started in Japan during the days when there is no izakayas yet, since in the early times, entertainment has been defined most closely to singing and/or dancing with instruments, and it is said that during evenings when the bar is getting ready to accept customers, a performer sings on a stage along with a band. Unfortunately, the band is not there all the time so they have recorded the usual piece the band plays. Ergo, when they couldn’t make it in a certain evening, the bar would just play the recorded band piece and the singer would sing along with it. Surprisingly, the bar labeled it “karaoke”.
From the japanese word karano, which means “empty”, formed the word kara, as in karate. Kara, as in empty, and te, as in hand, thus form “empty hand”. From the word okesutora, meaning “orchestra”, where oke has originated. And so the terminology karaoke is formed, which in japanese is “empty orchestra”. Ta-daaa!