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Private karaoke rooms a hit with Asian students
USINFO | 2013-07-31 10:06
Bin Fan sat on a soft couch in a dimly lit private room surrounded by a few of his friends.
He then grabbed a microphone in both hands, stood up in front of a 60-inch karaoke screen and sang "Beijing, Beijing" in Chinese.
When he briefly botched the lyrics, his friends giggled, but he fed off their enjoyment nonetheless.
At KBOX, an Asian-style karaoke house wedged between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University at 214 S. Craig St. in Oakland, customers enjoy a selection of more than 70,000 Chinese songs and 13,000 English songs that they can sing to in the privacy of each other's company.
Although just catching on in Pittsburgh, private karaoke houses are a popular entertainment venue in many Asian countries and big cities in the United States.
"Where there are lots of Chinese, there is karaoke," said Liu Liu, one of 12 owners. "We also see it as a way to bring Asian students together. It's sort of a community thing to make more social connections for people because we are living abroad."
The idea of starting the four-room karaoke house here was conceived by a group of Chinese students and alumni from CMU and Pitt in 2011 with a passion for singing.
"It's not only about solely singing a song, it's more about hanging out," said Bin Fan, a CMU student. "I like a private place much better because sometimes in a song, I cannot sing very well, but I don't mind if I can just sing this with my friends. It's totally OK, and if it's public, maybe I will feel a little bit embarrassed."
KBOX recently added 8,000 Korean songs to the selection of 100,000 songs available on each touch-screen song search monitor, which also includes Japanese, Spanish, English and Chinese content.
The trendy experience is priced at $59 per room (friends share the cost) from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. On weekday afternoons, the rate is $6 per person for groups smaller than five and $29.50 per room for five and more.
To accommodate growing demand, KBOX will open its second floor, adding five more rooms by the end of August.
Before being converted into a karaoke house last year, the building served as a bookstore and also a political campaign office, Ms. Liu said.
American customers, who don't want a night of drinking and singing in front of a crowd gathered shoulder to shoulder, also come to KBOX. Sometimes, Ms. Liu said, they try to sing along with Korean bands.
"I think there was a time when [all the customers] would sing and dance to 'Gangnam Style,' " Ms. Liu said.
Students aren't the only ones coming to the house. Ms. Liu said they are seeing more young professionals and parents who come with their teenagers and friends.
It's also becoming a popular place for birthday and graduation parties because each of the four rooms have couches that can fit eight to 10 people comfortably.
Mason Lee, manager of KBOX, said he also sees a variety of people coming to the house. Some will sit down and relax to slow songs; others will blast the music and dance.
"You also have the heartbroken ones that come in here and sing and break down to tears," he said.
More information and song selections can be found at www.kbktv.com and on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/KboxKTVPittsburgh.
"If American customers know more about it and try it, you will like it," Ms. Liu said.
He then grabbed a microphone in both hands, stood up in front of a 60-inch karaoke screen and sang "Beijing, Beijing" in Chinese.
When he briefly botched the lyrics, his friends giggled, but he fed off their enjoyment nonetheless.
At KBOX, an Asian-style karaoke house wedged between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University at 214 S. Craig St. in Oakland, customers enjoy a selection of more than 70,000 Chinese songs and 13,000 English songs that they can sing to in the privacy of each other's company.
Although just catching on in Pittsburgh, private karaoke houses are a popular entertainment venue in many Asian countries and big cities in the United States.
"Where there are lots of Chinese, there is karaoke," said Liu Liu, one of 12 owners. "We also see it as a way to bring Asian students together. It's sort of a community thing to make more social connections for people because we are living abroad."
The idea of starting the four-room karaoke house here was conceived by a group of Chinese students and alumni from CMU and Pitt in 2011 with a passion for singing.
"It's not only about solely singing a song, it's more about hanging out," said Bin Fan, a CMU student. "I like a private place much better because sometimes in a song, I cannot sing very well, but I don't mind if I can just sing this with my friends. It's totally OK, and if it's public, maybe I will feel a little bit embarrassed."
KBOX recently added 8,000 Korean songs to the selection of 100,000 songs available on each touch-screen song search monitor, which also includes Japanese, Spanish, English and Chinese content.
The trendy experience is priced at $59 per room (friends share the cost) from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. On weekday afternoons, the rate is $6 per person for groups smaller than five and $29.50 per room for five and more.
To accommodate growing demand, KBOX will open its second floor, adding five more rooms by the end of August.
Before being converted into a karaoke house last year, the building served as a bookstore and also a political campaign office, Ms. Liu said.
American customers, who don't want a night of drinking and singing in front of a crowd gathered shoulder to shoulder, also come to KBOX. Sometimes, Ms. Liu said, they try to sing along with Korean bands.
"I think there was a time when [all the customers] would sing and dance to 'Gangnam Style,' " Ms. Liu said.
Students aren't the only ones coming to the house. Ms. Liu said they are seeing more young professionals and parents who come with their teenagers and friends.
It's also becoming a popular place for birthday and graduation parties because each of the four rooms have couches that can fit eight to 10 people comfortably.
Mason Lee, manager of KBOX, said he also sees a variety of people coming to the house. Some will sit down and relax to slow songs; others will blast the music and dance.
"You also have the heartbroken ones that come in here and sing and break down to tears," he said.
More information and song selections can be found at www.kbktv.com and on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/KboxKTVPittsburgh.
"If American customers know more about it and try it, you will like it," Ms. Liu said.
