Filipinos and their Karaoke

Last night Tita Lydda had a small birthday party. She invited co-workers, friends, and family. And we all had a good time practicing the national pastime of the Philippines: singing karaoke.

Filipinos love to karaoke (also called videoke or KTV, karaoke TV). Whether at a bar, in a private room, or in the comfort of their own home, Filipinos will karaoke anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Karaoke is a very social activity and it’s perfect for parties; you can’t be self-conscious performing in front of friends and family, which means you have to let go of your inhibitions (and which also explains why karaoke and alcohol go hand in hand). Those who can sing have a chance to show off; those who can’t have fun screwing around; those who aren’t singing laugh at those who are. Everyone has a good time.

Although karaoke is a Japanese invention, Filipinos have taken it to a whole other level; karaoke is an essential part of Filipino culture. Every Filipino family, either here or in the States, owns a karaoke machine. Years ago, home karaoke was done using VHS tapes, then laserdiscs (remember those?!), and eventually DVDs. But now the most popular home karaoke machine is the Extreme Sing Sing Magic Mic, endorsed by Filipino boxer Manny Pakiaow, which is a microphone that contains a chip with thousands of songs. All you have to do it plug it in, which makes it easy to use and thus popular.

I have several theories why karaoke is important to Filipinos. Firstly, many Filipinos speak and understand at least some level of English. So there are a lot of songs for Filipinos to choose from, in both English and Tagalog (even Chinese for you Chinoys out there), unlike other cultures. Secondly, Filipino culture as a whole just feels more open than other cultures. Filipinos seem less inhibited and more willing to put themselves out there and make fun of themselves. Although there are definitely Filipino and Catholic traditions in Filipino culture, those traditions don’t seem as strict, as regimented, or as formal as other traditions, i.e. Persian tarof.

As a point of comparison, most family parties in America (read: White people) center on meeting people, sitting around, and having a good conversation. But in my experience, there is some semblance of formality and politeness which are to be followed. This is not to say that Filipinos don't enjoy good conversation (although it seems to consists primarily of tsismis—rumors and gossip), and this is not to say that such rules of politeness don't exist in every culture. The rules simply seem more lax in Filipino culture; in contrast to this air of formality, Filipinos want to create situations of good-natured embarrassment, which means fun for everyone. Karaoke is the prime example, and at my high school graduation party, Cody was tripping over himself learning how to hula from my cousin and everyone loved him for it.

Now, let me say I hate evaluating culture for many reasons, one of them being that no one and no family can really be pigeon-holed into such labels. But the point to even having the term “culture”—and the point relevant to this argument—is that commonalities do exist and they are interesting to identify. My point: for whatever reason, Filipinos sure like their karaoke.