YOU don’t have to sing in the shower all the time with an audience of shampoo bottles and soap bars. KTV, which really stands for Karaoke Television, has been around for years to help you unleash your inner Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, and Whitney Houston. Heck, you can even aspire to be like the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
Karaoke is not all about great singers. It's about people enjoying themselves. Vocal talent would be nice, but not everyone is gifted with a good set of pipes and an angelic voice. The thing about karaoke is that it levels the playing field. All you need is 99 percent guts and one percent talent, along with a bunch of amazing friends, and you’re guaranteed to have a great time in a KTV. And guts I have in abundance!
Last week, my zumba mommy group and I traded our dancing rubber shoes for kickass stilettos to try-out the new, wholesome family KTV uptown. It was an epic mommy bonding moment filled with excited chatter, songs of our youth, dancing, and laughter. There were several song birds in our group, namely: Arrissa, Joy, and Ching. Thankfully, they were game enough to sit through our performance and forgive the rest of us who were tone deaf.
Ok, fine...I have to add that my beshie, Weena is also a “good” singer (I am anticipating her violent reaction if she is not included). She is the epitome of all guts and glory! Our friends, the bffs Almadora and Glenda, brought the house down with their choreographed version of “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” Aireen, the youngest among us, laughed at all our crazy antics and was forced to listen to our repertoire, which were way before her time. Ethel was able to catch up from Bukidnon and de-stress with “Fernando.”
Thanks to Terrazzo for providing a perfect venue that’s just nearby our homes. This joint is a popular family restaurant known for their bulalo, sisig, and other pulutan fare. Of course, they also have reasonably priced buckets of beer. They recently opened up their second floor, where all the new karaoke rooms are. Each room is equipped with a big LCD flatscreen TV, 2 microphones, and a high-tech sound system.
Terrazzo caters to all ages, serves yummy food, and provides private rooms where you can belt out your favorite ditties and hits at the top of your lungs. They have several room sizes to accommodate different party groups. They charge a reasonable rate per hour; it is not consumable though. But the hourly rate doesn’t break the bank, so it is totally fine. Each room has a theme, and the one we got had the Golden Gate Bridge as its backdrop making it perfect for selfies and groupfies.
They have an updated song list so you can sing your all-time favorite ballads, jazz, r&b, and even Metallica if that’s right up your ally. The Terrazzo karaoke area opens as early as 11am if you feel like hitting different vocal registers before lunch. For booking and enquiry, you can check out their FB page with the same name.
The fine art of vocal mimicry is really a national pastime in our country, going even back to the early days of the old TV shows like Bagong Campeon and Tawag ng Tanghalan. It is an understatement to say that Filipinos love karaoke. Almost every Pinoy home (including those abroad) has a Magic Sing—a digital microphone that turns your ordinary television into a karaoke machine.
Singing is almost always a feature at birthday, christening, graduation, and holiday parties because we all love to be entertained. Sometimes, though, it feels great not just to be part of a listening audience. It can be insanely liberating to hold that mic and release your inner diva. Heck, why be pa-shy-shy when you can give the greatest performance of your life.
Singing your heart out is a great stress reliever, especially when you do it with an equally crazy group of friends who know how to have a good time. I certainly feel very lucky that my mommy gang are willing to listen to my killer version of I Will Survive. And indeed, we shall all survive this crazy journey of life if we know how to sing our blues away.