As we mentioned in our last post, the rambunctious crowd over at the Chronicle for Higher Learning decided to dabble in the arts of karaoke. One of the highlights of the article (in fact, the entire basis of the article) was Xun Zhou’s bestselling work of karaoke nonfiction, Karaoke: A Global Phenomenon. The book was published on April 2, 2007 by Reaktion Books. I’ve read it 3 times since then, and I was planning an expansive review of the work, but found that June Sawyers at Booklist wrote a beautiful one that made me cry (3 times):

In their serious but not ponderous study of a worldwide phenomenon, Xun and Tarocco indicate that karaoke can mean different things to different people and within different cultures. It also serves different purposes: to encourage egalitarianism (before karaoke, after all, few people sang in public), to learn foreign languages and improve literacy, for propaganda, and for self-expression. They devote a chapter to karaoke's origins--the common belief is that it originated in Japan, though Filipino inventor Roberto del Rosario holds the sole patent for the karaoke system, and even the Welsh have staked a claim--then look at karaoke fever in Japan and Korea, Southeast Asia, China, North America, Britain, and Europe. The concluding chapter chronicles the increasing sophistication of karaoke technology, including karaoke on the Web, karaoke video games, and karaoke on mobile phones. A cultural study that is simultaneously surprisingly erudite, entertaining, and a lot of fun. June Sawyers
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