When karaoke meets art

Praised for its socializing benefits, karaoke is considered in Asia, especially in Japan, as a primary element of the popular culture. So much that it now influences Arts beyond music and singing.

First in line: theatre. Sharing the idea of scenarios, both activities can now be merged into one concept: Karaoke Theatre. The goal is to break the barrier between the stage and the audience and get the publics to actively participate: each person in the room is likely to be part of the performance, without any preparation. The lines are displayed and some people are given a mic and a costume.

Another art has been influenced by karaoke: Poetry. This trend, rightfully called "Poetic Karaoke", was born in Scandinavian countries. Participants are expected to shout out poems they are assigned. No music is involved, but the principle of "staging" and a visual guide for the "lyrics" is similar to karaoke.

First seen at the Paris Cinéma festival, another concept has emerged and is getting more and more attention: Cine-Karaoke. Several key scenes are extracted from popular movies, like West Side Story or Grease, and displayed on the cinema screen, with lyrics scrolling like a regular karaoke song. Everybody is more than welcome to sing along!

Finally, music itself is reinventing itself with karaoke. Acid-Karaoke was born out of this trend. It's almost like a karaoke party, except all the songs are acid-techno mashup versions of whatever the original genre (folk, disco etc) might be.