Karaoke Culture

So in Cambodia, a common pastime for the young and old alike is karaoke. There are karaoke bars and rooms where you can go and sing (I haven't been because I know it would just be a disappointment from the norre-bongs of Korea). The bars are popular with the menfolk because they usually are places for latenight mingling with the hostesses, more commonly referred to as karaoke girls. Some of the teachers at my school told me that they call them Srei OK, or OK woman. They told me this after I nicknamed another teacher at my school as Mr. OK because he always wore the OK (planning for happy :) families) baseball hat and because I think he likes to 'sing karaoke'. OK is a popular supplier of condoms and birth control around Cambodia... so it all kinda fits together. Not to say that all Srei OK's are working girls but the industry has made a sort of reputation for itself. But to be fair I have had pretty much no firsthand knowledge of any of it.

But also, many households have karaoke systems, including my old host family's house. It was pretty common that many of the teachers would meet there to have dinner, drinks and a little loud karaoke time. It didn't take long until they realized that I can really not sing. Like I really can't sing... I want to be able to, but I just can't... choir maybe, with a few hundred other singers to drown me out. But they still think it is funny to watch me try. Since I was fair to the karaoke girls I will be fair to myself... the only english language karaoke disc they have has like no songs I think anyone would know, except for some carpenters song and the tears from heaven song (which would just make me cry and not even Celine Dion would sound good when she is bawling about a man losing his son). Still, karaoke is pretty fun.

Going back to the karaoke bars, I was at school one day talking to a few other male teachers about going to karaoke bars and karaoke in general. Most of them would say that they enjoy karaoke, listening if not actually singing... this is mostly because karaoke is just a time to forget about your problems and hang out with friends. That said, I asked Teacher Piseth who is one of the youngest teachers at my school, if he liked to sing karaoke. I had asked him in Khmer so his response back in English just made his answer even more hilarious... "No," he answered "I prefer to recite poetry." Well played, Piseth, well played.