The socio-economic dimensions of karaoke as a globally popular leisure activity are explored through the theoretical lens of sound studies and contextualised by personal experiences. The resulting audio essay contemplates how the structure and rules characteristic to karaoke as a form of group entertainment encourages regular ritual participation, and through the consumption and reproduction of highly commodified forms of music, participants find themselves becoming part of intimate communities.

Listen to the audio essay: Karaoke: Creating Community through Commodity (11 min 47 sec)

Read the complete essay: Karaoke: Creating Community through Commodity

The process leading to the creation of this audio essay began with readings on sonic philosophies and related listening sessions, under the guidance of Dr Petra Klusmeyer. The resulting discussions brought up various threads of enquiry, ‘karaoke’ being the one that was developed for this essay.

Audio lent itself well as a medium to engage with the topic of karaoke. A number of pop music tunes were appropriated to sing ideas and theories brought up in the essay. The interaction of familiar melodies with discussions about its very use as vehicles of community building, resulted in a very particular kind of knowledge dissemination different from written forms of presentation. This process echoes Kenneth Goldsmith’s experiments in singing theoretical texts.

The final audio essays by the class were presented at Hochschultage 2024 in the SnRC space. A class also hosted a live talk show on Radio Angrezi, discussing their approaches to their respective essays, musings on sonic philosophies and thoughts on sound-text relationships.