karaoke, anyone?

last sunday, as i was poring over a rack of fun shirts, my attention was suddenly assailed by this wince-inducing, bombastic sound of somebody singing lustily (greatly enhanced by a well-oiled microphone, of course).

…and ay-ayyyyy….  will alwayyys loooove youuuuu!!!

it wasn’t just the grating quality of that voice mind you. despite my assiduous efforts to ignore it, there was just no way of escaping its all-encompassing reach. instinctively, i turned to glance at the enthusiastic performer — a matronly woman in her 50s, who was probably considering buying a karaoke set, was trying out the merchandise with unbridled passion (complete with facial expressions and grand gestures that would put a prima donna to shame).

what was really riveting about that performance was her relentless pursuit of hitting (and consistently failing to reach) the right notes and her mangled pronounciation of certain words — which would have been enough to send me fleeing from the scene, except that i was eventually won over by her courage and and utter lack of self-consciousness (think Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend’s Wedding).

this was her moment. and nobody, not even the wincing and smirking passers-by — nor the long-suffering expression of the sales attendant — can deny her this pleasure of belting out her favorite tune in the middle of Robinson’s Galleria.

which leads me to marvel at how pervasive karaoke has become in the social scene. of course, it’s a well-known fact that karaoke first became popular in Japan (although the concept itself started in the US). the first karaoke machine was invented by a daisuke inoue, whose invention was cited for “providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other.” amen.

but i’ll bet only a few people know that the person who actually holds the patent for this device is none other than roberto del rosario, who named his own version “Minus One” (that name ring a bell to you?). apparently, mr. inoue never bothered to apply for a patent to cover his invention. (tsk, tsk, that’s a huge pile of money down the drain)

karaoke ranks as one of the best ways to spend time with your friends and giving in to the secret conviction of yours that — given the right motivation and emboldened by several bottles of beer — you sound just like (or even better than) the original artist. cheers!