Latest news with #Karaoke
CTV News
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Alberta karaoke bar provides community as well as a stage
The winner of the KWC Global Karaoke contest in Thorsby will have the chance to sing on a global stage. CTV News Edmonton's Connor Hogg has the story. Like many small towns, the hotel that serves also as a bar and restaurant in Thorsby, Alta., is the most happening place Friday nights. Located on a main street corner, the hotel boasts live local music every week — karaoke, that is. Thorsby Hotel Bar and Grill The Thorsby Hotel Bar and Grill is seen in this June 29, 2025, picture. (Connor Hogg/ CTV News Edmonton) The singers put on their best show last Sunday for a chance to participate in the 2025 Karaoke World Championships (KWC) finals in Bangkok, Thailand, in November. 'It can be a little intimidating once you get into the further parts of the competition, but honestly, it's actually one of the best things I've ever done,' contestant Pandora Aurora Knight told CTV News Edmonton. 'I've grown so much and gotten so many good people in my life as a result.... It gives me that sense of community, of a place where I fit.' Knight didn't exactly willingly begin karaoke 10 years ago. But the push was enlightening. 'I've discovered a passion for music and singing that I didn't really realize I had, and it's become very much a focal point in my life.' Thorsby Hotel Bar and Grill karaoke Pandora Aurora Knight sings karaoke at the Thorsby Hotel Bar and Grill on June 29, 2025. (Connor Hogg/ CTV News Edmonton) Other karaokers echoed the sentiment. They all credited the judges' feedback for improvements in their performance and lauded competition as a confidence booster. But largely, they touted karaoke for its other benefits. 'It's kind of a release of endorphins,' Laura Mae Cartledge said. 'I like to bottle them up and try not to let my emotions show too much. And then (through) music, I can express them a bit more.' Alex Schwarzer added, 'I was a singer when I was in grade school, and I knew I had a little bit of talent, but I didn't know how much talent.... You get the applause, there's some sort of validation there saying, 'Yeah, you're as good as you think you are.'' Whether it's in Thorsby – a community of 1,000 about 70 kilometres southwest of Edmonton – or their own home cities, some singers on Sunday said they do karaoke multiple nights a week. Thorsby Hotel Bar and Grill karaoke Alex Schwarzer sings karaoke at the Thorsby Hotel Bar and Grill on June 29, 2025. (Connor Hogg/ CTV News Edmonton) 'We're very supportive. We like to look out for what songs fit our vocal range, what we can kind of adapt and work with each other to get better,' Cartledge said of her 'KWC family.' The group gathers not just for karaoke, but holidays and other occasions, too. 'I moved a couple months ago and we put up a little post on our community wall. I had like 11 people show up to help me.... We are there for each other,' Knight told CTV News Edmonton. 'That's more important than anything — knowing where you belong or where you can fit in. Everyone needs that. Everyone longs for that.' With files from CTV News Edmonton's Connor Hogg
Irish Times
03-07-2025
- Irish Times
Maneki restaurant review: A showy start gives way to a muddled menu
Maneki Address : 43 Dawson Street, Dublin 2, D02 NH42 Telephone : 01-5610889 Cuisine : Japanese Website : Cost : €€€ There's a theatrical puff of smoke after the tuna sashimi lands – four coral slabs lined up in a wooden bowl (€12), flanked by a curl of carrot and a chunk of ginger. Mist billows across the table the second water hits the flask of dry ice. It is a perfect Instagram moment. The tuna doesn't need the drama. It's firm, without sinew and cut cleanly into thick slices. The restaurant is Maneki. It opened in 2019 in a Georgian town house on Dawson Street – a five-storey building now home to four diningrooms and four private karaoke suites at the top of the house. We're two floors up, in a room with banquettes, textured grey stone walls and four oversized white feathers. A slatted wooden divider gives a polite nod to Japan. Owner Polly Yang trained in Japanese kitchens before launching a menu pitched as a 'culinary dialogue' between Chinese, Japanese, and European techniques. In practice, this means sashimi and futomaki on the same page as stir-fries, hot pots, and party platters of wok-fried crustaceans in Cajun or curry sauce. The aim is comfort, not challenge. The Tripadvisor reviews are heavy on hen parties. I had received an email about their new 'Holy Crab Seafood Heaven', which includes crab, crayfish, prawns, octopus, squid, clams and mussels stir-fried in garlic butter chilli sauce on The Holy Special (€89 for two), with the addition of lobster on The Holy Supreme (€114). READ MORE [ Hub Himalayan takeaway review: Deep Nepalese flavour with no shortcuts Opens in new window ] Holy Crab Supreme: lobster, swimming crab, crayfish, prawn, octupus, squid, clams, mussel fish cake, corn, potato, broccoli, rice cake and sausage. Photograph: Alan Betson As entry to heaven is a bit on the steep side, I keep it to a step further down the stairway and opt for the soft shell crab roll (€26), a tidy eight-piece roll with enough crunch to register, chunks of avocado inside and bonito flakes twitching on top. It's dressed in a sticky soy glaze. You'd have it again. You'd also forget it immediately. Chicken gyoza (five pieces, €11) follow – steamed, then pan-fried, served on a narrow plate with a slick of dipping sauce. The filling is loose but warm, the bottom crisp and the top gently steamed. It's fine. The beef teppan yaki (€30) arrives on a teppan plate, spitting and seething like it's been fired directly from a kiln. The 8oz striploin is sliced, sitting on top of white cabbage and bean sprouts, with sides of rice and miso soup. It is rare (as requested), but the lightly browned exterior indicates that it has been seared on a flat top that wasn't hot enough, or there was moisture on the surface of the meat. It's missing that outside char. But the real issue is with the teriyaki sauce. It is a cooking sauce – applied to glaze the meat as it sears on the grill. Here it is brought in a jug, to be poured over the steak at the table. Nothing caramelises. It ends up tasting more like syrup than soy. Then there's the kimchi seafood ramen (€24), served in a deep bowl where an excess of farmed salmon threatens to derail the entire thing until it is removed to a side plate. The rest of it is pretty standard fare, a boiled egg sliced into halves, soft noodles, tofu, bok choi, scallions, squid, a prawn, and two fake crab sticks. The broth is bland. There's a trace of kimchi, but no funk, no spice, no acid. You could call it one note if you could identify the note. Maneki on Dawson Street. Photograph: Alan Betson Interior. Photograph: Alan Betson Karaoke at Maneki. Photograph: Alan Betson A 210ml carafe of Junmai sake (€12) is served warm – light, clean, slightly floral – and we also have a chilled bottle of Asahi (€6.50). The drinks list covers the bases – wine by the glass and bottle, sake in carafes, beers, plum wine, and a short run of spirits. Enough to work with, though not a list for lingering over. We share mochi for dessert (€7.50) – neat frozen balls of ice cream (green tea and mango) wrapped in a sticky rice casing. It's quite firm, out of the freezer, cold, chewy and not particularly remarkable. Maneki is built for groups – the kind of place where a big table, a bit of sake, and a blast of dry ice can carry the night. Service is warm, but the food coasts on surface-level polish. What's promised as layered, pan-Asian cooking lands as bland mediocrity. Prices aim high, but the cooking rarely does. There's no disaster – just a lot of theatre up front, and not much that stays with you after the smoke clears. Dinner for two with a flask of sake and a beer, including 12.5 per cent service charge, was €145.13. The verdict A showy start gives way to a muddled menu and inconsistent execution. Food provenance Scottish salmon; Sri Lankan tuna; Indian and South American prawns; Irish lobster, crab from Ireland, Greece and Spain; meats from Ireland – chicken and pork not free-range. Vegetarian options Sweet potato tempura sushi roll, vegan oden Japanese hot pot, yasai yaki soba, vegan chocolate and coconut tart. Wheelchair access No accessible room or toilet. Music Muted, in the background.
Forbes
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Advancing Technology For The Pursuit Of Happiness
Back side of Tom Coughlin's IEEE Coin On Thursday, June 12, IEEE celebrated an IEEE Engineering Milestone for the first Karaoke Machine in Tokyo. The event included a press conference and a commemorative celebration at the Karaoke rooms connected to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. In attendance were the family of the Karaoke inventor, Shigeichi Negishi, representatives from the Japanese Karaoke industry as well as IEEE Past President Toshio Fukuda and IEEE volunteer Dr. Tomohiro Hase, who submitted the Karaoke milestone proposal. I attended as immediate IEEE Past President. The following paragraphs are extracted and edited from my talk at the Karaoke event. Shigeichi Negishi, who invented the earliest prototype of the karaoke machine, originally called it the Music Box. Known to start his mornings with a sing-along radio show titled "Pop Songs without Lyrics,' Shigeichi found inspiration one day in 1967 while at the offices of Nichiden Kogyo, his electronics assembly firm located in the suburbs of Tokyo. The story goes that when his chief engineer overheard him that day and told him jokingly that he was not very tuneful, Shigeichi had the idea of attaching a microphone to a tape deck so he could hear himself over a recording of the radio show. 'Piece of cake, boss,' the engineer replied, and delivered a simple prototype three days later. Shigeichi tested it by crooning a popular ballad called Mujo no Yume or the Heartless Dream. Over time, they expounded on the design to create the coin-operated 'Sparko Box,' an 18-inch cube with chrome fittings and multi-colored flashing lights that played selected instrumental recordings on 8-track tape cartridge, with printed lyrics provided. The picture below shows Dr. Hase-sensei holding an 8-track tape cartridge next to an operating Sparko Box that the family brought to the event. Dr. Tomohiro Hase and the Sparko Box, the first commercial karaoke machine Despite never seeking patents or recognition, Shigeichi's impact on popular culture is undeniable. As karaoke has transcended borders and became a global phenomenon – and in what has been estimated as a more than $10 billion global industry – Shigeichi's vision of bringing people together through music endures. The image below shows the Negishi family with me and the IEEE Karaoke Engineering Milestone plaque. Negishi family with me and the IEEE Karaoke Engineering Milestone plaque So, why does something like Karaoke deserve an IEEE Engineering Milestone? Karaoke machines, whether basic or sophisticated, are essentially audio processing systems that rely on electrical engineering principles. Karaoke systems rely heavily on computer science for their functionality, from the processing of audio and video to the software that manages song selection and display. Karaoke systems use microphones and speakers, which require analog-to-digital converters to digitize the sound. Digital filters analyze the sound, and the system compares the user's singing to the original track, often displayed on a screen alongside the machines often utilize software for managing the song library, displaying lyrics, and potentially adjusting the music to fit the user's vocal range. These systems can incorporate algorithms for analyzing vocal performance, recommending songs, and even generating modern karaoke systems are online, allowing users to stream music and lyrics through the internet. This requires networking technologies and cloud computing for efficient data transfer and systems handle digital audio signals, including things like compressing and decompressing audio data, as well as managing the separation of voice and instrumental software and algorithms behind karaoke systems also contribute to the user interface and experience, making sure it's intuitive and easy to the world's largest technical professional organization, it is an important part of IEEE's mission to preserve the legacy and heritage of our professions, to recognize great achievements, and to promote the importance and impact of Karaoke represents the use of technology to bring people together to celebrate, at a time when some other technologies seem to isolate us. I believe that Karaoke advances technology to pursue human happiness.
Daily Mail
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Karaoke star who stunned stag do revellers with stunning version of Nessun Dorma says he's 'ecstatic and flabbergasted' after video went viral
A Karaoke star who stunned stag do revellers with his astonishing version of Nessun Dorma has said he is 'flabbergasted' after a video of the rendition went viral. Welshman Timothy Richards was recorded belting his heart out in Tallinn, Estonia where he gave the 'once in a lifetime' performance to a room full of Brits. Footage filmed in the Satumaa Karaoke Bar shows dozens of men brought to their feet by the powerful performance as they sing along to the iconic piece of Italian opera. But the most soul-stirring moment of all comes at the aria's climax where the partygoers raise their arms high in the air with whoops and cheers as Mr Richards perfectly hits the famous concluding note. Following the spectacular showing of May 11 this year, a video was finally uploaded last night - though it was only a matter of hours before it surpassed one million views and amassed thousands of likes. Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Richards, who currently lives in Germany but had been performing in Richard Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin the night before in Estonia, said he had arrived at the karaoke bar in a group of six - having never previously been to one in his life. The singer said: 'I was in town at the same time as these guys - I didn't even know who they were. 'We had a few drinks and soon I was up. I enjoyed it. They [the revellers] all knew it that's why sang together. 'I just went with it. I left the building straight away and then sort of forgot about it - until today. 'I only heard about the video from children who use TikTok. I was ecstatic and flabbergasted to see the response and I am still pinching myself.' Mr Richards, who studied at the Royal Northern College of Music Manchester, made his professional operatic debut in 1998 as Alfredo in La Traviata for Welsh National Opera. The Tallinn stag do groom, Sam Stride, who Mr Richards is now in contact with, also recounted the memorable event which he described as the last night of his stag do. Mr Stride also told MailOnline he was now looking into the process of 're-uniting for the big day' with Mr Richards. He described the experience as a 'just a complete right time, right place'. 'It's not something you expect to see. I've seen Fulham get promoted and a lot of other big things. But this was better than all of that together. Mr Stride recalled the bar was 'pretty packed with British people'. He said people from the smoking area came 'flooding in' as the song was performed and the moment was 'pretty magical'. Following circulation of the video on X, a number of people commented to sing the praises of Mr Richards. Someone said: 'Cancel the wedding, it does not get better than this.' Another person added: 'Absolutely unreal.'
Geek Culture
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
Samsung 2025 TVs Bring Karaoke Service, Up To 3,300 Free Channels, AI And More To Asian Homes
Samsung Electronics is going all in with its smart TV features this year, bringing a suite of capabilities to the Asian market like Stingray Karaoke, Tizen OS, and AI assistance like pet care or universal gestures. Available on select 2025 Samsung AI-powered Smart TVs like the OLED S95F 4K Vision AI, living rooms will soon be transformed into concert stages with the integration of Stingray Karaoke, utilising a new mobile microphone technology with the SmartThings app to bring a seamless karaoke experience without the need for external sound systems. Users will be able to connect their mobile phones to the TV, which turns the phone into a microphone to belt to their hearts' content, with Stingray Karaoke offering an expansive catalogue spanning genres like pop, rock, country, R&B, hip-hop and more. The karaoke service will be made available through Samsung Daily+, with new 2025 Samsung Smart TV owners receiving a free six-month trial of Stingray Karaoke. Additionally, owners of 2023 and 2024 Samsung Smart TVs can redeem free access to Stingray Karaoke for one month Stingray Karaoke on Samsung Smart TVs is powered by Tizen OS, which also provides access to a wide range of content like shows, movies or games, with support for up to 3,300 free channels, varying from country to country, and will also host other features like screen mirroring, voice assistant and SmartThings. Outfitted with SmartThings, the latest Samsung Smart TVs also provide interactive and personalised experiences that enhance a user's everyday life, including features like Pet Care, which turns the TV into a pet-sitting assistant and can detect barking, automatically turning on content to calm them down. The TV can also differentiate barks from other noises like a baby's cry, with options to soothe the latter too. Other features include Universal Gestures, which enable users to control the TV using hand gestures while wearing a Galaxy Watch, or workout trackers, which provide real-time data like heart rate and calories burned gathered by the Galaxy Watch and overlay them on the TV's display while watching other content. These features will soon be available in the Asian market with the launch of Samsung's 2025 range of Smart TVs, which will be announced at a later date. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. Samsung SmartThings Stingray Karaoke Tizen OS
