Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette

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It is the Old Soldier’s deeply held belief that karaoke at its best is excellent performance art.  I have been singing karaoke for more than 30 years.  What many people do not understand about karaoke is that it is not about good singing.  Karaoke is about off-key singing.  There would be no karaoke without all the bad singers who sing karaoke.  That is why karaoke is so popular.  Anyone can do it.  People who sing poorly, the vast majority of people, have a chance to get up in front of an audience and sing.  It is not a coincidence that most karaoke takes place in establishments that serve alcohol.  The alcohol suppresses the inhibitions of the singers and increases the tolerance of the listeners.

But every so often someone who can really sing gets up to sing karaoke.  The person has a decent to good or even a very-good voice.  He or she stares at the monitor and hits all the notes.

But there is another level of karaoke singer.  This person knows the words well enough that he or she does not have to stare at the monitor, but he or she has good eye contact with the audience.  This person sings with passion, the body moving to the music.  The song sounds like a studio recording with the singer only a few feet away laying down the vocal track.  This kind of performance produces in the audience real excitement and enjoyment.

When karaoke is that good it is performance act.

*****

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Filed under: Commentaries Tagged: | flash fiction, inhibitions, Karaoke, passion, performance art, singing, submissions