During one of the meals on my 2006 trip to China, I talked about music to some of the guys that we were visiting. They found out that I write and sing songs. I found out that some of our hosts were into karaoke. They thought that I would enjoy going to a karaoke bar. Why not? I didn’t know anyone that could say they had sung in a karaoke bar in China.
My experience to karaoke was much as it is portrayed in movies and TV shows. It is usually set up in the corner of a bar that only occasionally does karaoke. Anyone who comes into the bar can hear you sing. The place we went to in China had a completely different setup. While the building had a large bar area, we were taken to our own karaoke room. The room was set up with a small stage in the corner. The stage had two microphones and two stands with video monitors for the singers. The long wall next to the stage had a large monitor that also ran the video. Across the room from the monitor were several couches. Another microphone was located next to one of the couches. There were also a couple of tambourines. We had a waiter who brought food and beverages when we needed them. This business seemed to have most of its customers in these party rooms.
The music available to perform included many popular American songs that you would find at a typical karaoke bar in the U.S. They also had Cantonese music. My hosts really got excited about some of the songs they Chinese songs they sang. I had never heard any of them. They seemed to be familiar with most of the songs that I sang. They sang along with “Yellow Submarine”. They seemed to enjoy it when I sang Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” especially when I was doing his signature fist pumps. They seemed perplexed when I sang one of my karaoke favorites, Olivia Newton John’s “Physical”.