Contribution short abstract:

This contribution discusses karaoke as resistance, subversion, and emancipation, against the backdrop of the city of Aberdeen, Scotland’s karaoke capital. Karaoke fosters a radical form of self-expression similar to Bakhtin’s carnivalesque, where power structures are reversed in heterotopic spaces.

Contribution long abstract:

German artist Joseph Beuys famously said, “everyone is an artist”. Being an artist, according to Beuys, is the quintessence of being human; creating, and being creative, outside the confines of the now outdated notion of ‘high culture’. In this context, karaoke provides an opportunity for everyday people to become performers without repressive social constraints or pressures to conform to roles or identities. Similar to Bakhtin’s carnivalesque, where ritualistic pageantry, flipped stage, carnival laughter, and grotesque contribute to the reversal of power structures, karaoke fosters a radical and subversive form of self-expression.

That said, karaoke may seem like a solitary act, as the performer appears alone and vulnerable on stage, however it is in fact a community-building ritual where identities converge through the shared experiences of song, memories, laughter, mockery, and imperfection. All this takes place in heterotopic spaces such as karaoke booths, or dedicated stages in bars (where boundaries are imaginary). But are these heterotopias, or in fact part of a social assemblage? Despite its democratising effects of dismantling performance hierarchies and breaking down social barriers, karaoke’s class functions are clear, albeit different, across cultures. In Japan, karaoke affords business deals and fosters business relationships (Drew, 2005); in China, it provides a space of escape and resistance from state control (Dean, 1998); while in the US, it is more popular among working and lower‐middle classes (Drew, 2005). This podcast contribution will discuss karaoke as resistance, subversion, and emancipation, against the backdrop of the city of Aberdeen, arguably Scotland’s karaoke capital.