I used to tag along with my Dad all the time when I was little. In our home town that meant going to parties and attending fiestas. Back in those days entertainment was made up of singers and acoustic guitars (think Mariachi less the horns) playing and singing mostly local music. Once in a while there would be a piano in the house and those got played too. At Fiestas entertainment would culminate in showdowns between various competing marching bands in the plazas. These days its all about karaoke machines playing droning melodies done with General MIDI, the poor singers singing along to soulless accompaniment. At the Fiestas, horrid stacks of PA playing Pop drivel with boosted highs and one note bass.
Urban legend has it that the very first Karaoke machine was invented by a Filipino then later popularized in Japan. It was based on a 2 track compact cassette which had instruments on one track and vocals on the other summed to mono. You could just kill the vocal track to sing along. It just makes me sad how IMO it has weakened our musical culture.
Urban legend has it that the very first Karaoke machine was invented by a Filipino then later popularized in Japan. It was based on a 2 track compact cassette which had instruments on one track and vocals on the other summed to mono. You could just kill the vocal track to sing along. It just makes me sad how IMO it has weakened our musical culture.
