Yesterday I was able to experience one very important aspect to the Filipino culture . . . Karaoke. The Filipino people love to sing. You can hear them singing in the cafeteria here or just walking around outside. They sing songs in their native language, Tagalog. They also know all the latest American hits like Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj. They even know the classics like Elvis Presley. On weekends and most weeknights, the thing to do is head out to the videole (Filipino term for karaoke) bars and sing your hearts out.
Now karaoke is done differently here than it is in the States. There is a TV screen in a central location that displays the words. Groups are sitting at tables and you ask for the textbook size song book to pick the songs you are going to sing. You write down your songs to hand to a waiter and then when its your turn, they bring the mic to you so you never have to leave your seat. That’s right you can sing while sitting at your table. No one is forced to stand on a stage, no awkward stares, and hardly any judgment. Its the best way to do karaoke if you ask me. I loved the fact that you didn’t have to stand up in front of everybody and it is much more relaxing.
The selections of songs is almost impossible. when I said that they sing almost any kind of song, I was not joking. You think of a song and you could probably find it in their song book. It took our group forever to leaf through half of the songs until we (mainly Piotr) settled on four songs. The locals got a kick out of the foreigners dramatically (again mainly Piotr) singing Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), Buttons, and I Won’t Give Up. Kuya Mellord even helped Piotr sing a song in Tagalog which the locals also loved. All in all, I think our experience with videole was a success.
(Picture: Kuya Mellord helping Piotr sing a Tagalog song)
adventures in rice 