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Karaoke in Vietnam
Arseny Neskhodimov
They prefer to have fun in karaoke. It’s come into fashion 15 years and now its essential part of Vietnamese society. Nowadays buildings with a sign «KARAOKE» can been seen everywhere, even in tiny towns, where population 1000 people. In big cities such as Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh numbers of karaokes estimated in thousands.
The karaoke in Vietnam looks like a five or even higher store building with rooms inside. Rooms can be from 5 sq. meters to 100 sq. meters. The price varies from 50 cents to 100$ per hour. Every each karaoke has its own design. There is a fierce competition between the owners. Managers of karaoke often reluctantly let me take pictures of rooms being afraid that I could steal their design, especially from the expensive ones. A great deal of money has been spent to make rooms look incomparably beautiful.
I have seen rooms that the price of repair was over 50000 $, the rooms that can accommodate hundred people. Even weddings are celebrated in karaoke.
Facades of building are glowing with neon lights to attract costumers. It’s really hard to pass by KARAOKE without noticing a building. It stands out from the rest residential buildings by shining for one hundred meters away. It works as a giant magnet.
Vietnamese never goes to the same karaoke his choice is random. He never knows in which karaoke he will be singing today. He doesn’t remember the name of karaoke cause the majority of them are called just KARAOKE. He just comes it across. He spends there an hour before heading home. He drinks a couple of beers and rarely smokes. There are no windows. He sings impeccably.
Vietnamese language has a considerable large numbers of vowels. Probably for this reason to sing for Vietnamese as natural as to speak. Everybody is able to sing here. They really enjoy singing, they go singing even during the lunchtime being absolutely sober
To run karaoke business it’s a dream for many young people. Whatever happens in the world people never stop eat and go singing. After hard working day, after having lessons Vietnamese goes to karaoke. They go singing after meeting with friends, colleges, weddings, birthdays and even funerals. In other words any party ends up in karaoke. There is even a saying exists “A party without karaoke is not a party”
I have photographed karaoke for 4 months. Especially I was in interested in design of rooms all rooms that I have seen never been the same. I took pictures of the staff that work there. They earn just 150 $ a month and I come to conclusion that they get this job not for a salary but for having an opportunity to sing for free.