April 27, 2007

'Karaoke: The Global Phenomenon'

By NINA C. AYOUB

Watch American Idol any week, and you may hear an epithet — karaoke. For Simon Cowell, the famously rude British judge, the word has become shorthand to damn any contestant for hokey, amateurish singing. Yet what, exactly, is being insulted?

For a hint of the mania in question, consider Karaoke: The Global Phenomenon (Reaktion Books), a new study by Zhou Xun, a research fellow in history at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, and Francesca

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