A night out at KTV is one of the many charms of living in Taiwan. There’s nothing like singing your heart out to a favorite song while quaffing draft beer with friends.
A couple of years ago, several young Taiwanese musicians “had the idea of re-arranging some of the classic karaoke favorites into ska, hoping to get that sing-along participation from the audience,” said Tom Hu (胡世漢). Thus, Skaraoke was born.
Ska music is still a new relatively new genre here. Hu credits DJ @llenblow of Taimaica Sound System (台買加環繞音效) for “spreading the words of ... ska,” reggae and dub in Taiwan.
This weekend, Skaraoke joins High Tide for two gigs, held to pay tribute to “the greatest British ska giants,” The Specials. They’ll play selected Specials songs and original tunes, while @llenblow will “kick down with the classics from the British 2-tone era” until late.
Skaraoke is a big band with a big sound. Hu plays trombone alongside Ru Lin (劉儒霖, guitar), George Lee (鼓俠, drums), Jaco Chang (張朝凱, tenor sax), Sammy Chen (陳聖翔, keyboard), Jun Zen (曾至雋, bass) and John Doo (小杜, trumpet). All seven do vocals.
“Ska music,” said Hu, “has evolved and fused with many different styles: ska-punk, ska-jazz, skafro-cuban, swing-ska, techno-ska, ska-funk.” So, ska-karaoke, or skaraoke, is not such an odd concept.
The band’s members bring song ideas to rehearsal, then they “work out the kinks until it sounds good,” said Hu.
One of their songs was featured in the opening credits of the movie Catch (國士無雙). Another, Run Formosa, appears on the Nike Sportswear/TCM Compilation CD, which came out last month.
Some songs are personal, like Song for Archie, which is about Archie Lee (李天池 aka 阿奇), who was “one of the grooviest musicians” Hu says he ever met.
“He taught me a few things about the Taipei scene and being a musician in this city,” said Hu, who wrote the song for Lee “right after he passed away a few years ago.”
Other songs are more lighthearted.
The Skaraoke Anthem is “about heading to the karaoke or KTV for whatever reasons you can think of,” said Hu. “The people of Taiwan love their karaoke. Whether it’s the karaoke sound system in your next door neighbor’s living room, or the coin-operated karaoke vans at the riverside parks in Wanhua, or the weekend morning KTV sessions with fellow classmates, or even the odd late night after-after-parties at Cashbox, you know you will always have a great time.”
“One of these days, hopefully, we will get people singing Skaraoke songs at KTV,” said Hu.
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