Anti-Karaoke

Thirty years ago, a Japanese man named Daisuke Inoue -- drummer for an unknown band -- decided to remove the vocal tracks from song recordings to sing over the music. In this way, he hoped that the guests he invited to his parties would be willing to get on a makeshift stage and sing a few tunes. What Daisuke never imagined (he never even patented his invention) was that what he called "karaoke" would become, with the passage of years, a worldwide phenomenon -- equally loved and hated.

For some people, singing from the heart in public is what they love most in life. Others feel queasy just thinking about it. And let's not forget those who, in the typical karaoke, never find the right song; or those who prefer to be voyeurs, only willing to witness everyone else having fun... For each of these cases -- in which nearly everyone belongs -- arriving to Madrid is one of the wildest parties that Barcelona has given us this past last year: Anti-Karaoke

And what is Anti-Karaoke? A bit of concrert, a nip of performance, a good dose of love of rock and great quantities of laughs in an evening directed by mistress of ceremonies Rachel Arieff. Participantes have a list of nearly 500 carefully guarded classics by Guns 'N' Roses, Depeche Mode, Queen, Bowie and a long etcétera. Thus the brave people that set foot on a stage such as that of El Sol (normally the meeting place of rock stars) are likely to beef up on courage and immerse themselves in their performance.

That's it. But let no one expect a television monitor with subtitled lyrics. This is the closest to a concert that you'll get, and a squealing TV would undermine credibility. But don't worry. To avoid getting lost, there's a music stand onstage with a thick lyric book to help you follow along. So if you want to have a good time, Anti-Karaoke disembarks in Madrid February 14th.