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Most Popular Filipino Karaoke selections..

Discussion in 'Life in the Philippines' started by Bootsonground, Feb 28, 2016.

  1. Bootsonground
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    Bootsonground Guest

  2. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    That IS popularly sung in Philippines videoke bars. Always by girls although I sometimes sing it as part of a duet.

    Duets : 'You're the One That I Want' from Grease is the obvious choice but surprisingly few girls are familiar with the song.
  3. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    Again YES. Popular. Anything by Tom Jones, unlike Frank Sinatra, is popular especially Green Green Grass and Delilah.
  4. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    YES. Very popular.
  5. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Something I can agree with at last. (not the Sinatra comment, to be clear)
  6. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    Sinatra just isn't sung all that often. My Way is probably the most popular one, but still not often. There is many Sinatra songs in the most ubiquitous pink-and-white songbook to choose from, and I myself quite often sing Sinatra songs. But Filipinos, not so much.
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  7. Maharg
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    Maharg Well-Known Member Trusted Member


    I just asked my missus if lots of Filipinos sing My Way in karaoke.

    She replied: 'Yeah. Then they're dead.'
  8. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    I'm really sceptical about it. I honestly think it's a myth - whether foreigners, or Filipinos believe in it. My Way is just quite rarely sung. It's not unknown. Guys of a certain age can sing it. But not very often.

    that My Way Killing Wikipedia article has expanded greatly in the past few years. Five years ago it was very short. But if you check through the sources, it is all very thin. All of the Wikipedia article that is connected to the My Way song is reliant on that single Sinatra Song Strikes Deadly Chord New York Times article. An article which does actually mention 'urban legends', in it.

    the 5-peso karaoke bars can be pretty violent places. In some of them, not many, but some they even frisk for guns. I've witnessed quite a few confrontations in them, and not just in the Philippines either. In fact the only time I actually had to take cover during a flare-up in a karaoke bar was in Malaysia, not the Philippines. But it is never anything to do with who is singing what, or how, that causes the confrontations.
  9. Maharg
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    Maharg Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    It may well be a myth. I've no idea. But if it is it‘s a Flipino one, not a Western one as it's the first I've heard of it.
  10. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    I'm inclined to the belief that the original New York Times article stressing the My Way link was a bit of a mischievous article. It's a good article and in the best New York Times style, but it was penned by a guy with a Japanese name. A lot of fun of course. But I'd throw the whole suggestion about the My Way link out with the trash. People in Philippines videoke bars, where the violence takes place, only rarely sing My Way. They are likelier to sing Tagalog songs than English ones anyway.
  11. Bootsonground
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    Bootsonground Guest

    Do you think they would rather sing Tagalog songs than sing English songs?
  12. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    seeing as you asked, and seeing also as Filipino is their native language, then of course YES. It is over 50-50.

    sometimes they have Bisaya and Bicol etc language songs in the songbooks as well but again only rarely.

    it seems to me most of them don't really want to sing in English and most of them are content to sing in Tagalog.
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  13. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    the important thing is that you sing and dance in the first place. Who cares, what language it's in.
  14. Bootsonground
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    Bootsonground Guest

    This one was etched into by brain as one of their favourite all timers and I never go to the damned places!

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  15. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    sometimes they have Ilocano dialect songs in songbooks too. These are songs that were made popular, by singers that were not Tagalogs. But make no mistake. Filipinos, sing mostly in Tagalog.
  16. AndyRam
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    AndyRam Banned


    It is bizarre how popular that song is in Ph karaoke, and they have no idea what it's about!
  17. whipster
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    whipster BANNED

    the Thais love Zombie too. It is one of the few English songs that is always in their karaoke songbooks.

    but Thai karaoke is not a patch on the Philippines. It might look similar as they huddle around the same kind of machines, except they accept 5 baht coins not 5 peso ones.

    but 98% of the songs are in Thai language. At the back of the book, they make this grudging concession to western culture by having a few English songs in there.

    but most of the songs are really obscure. Even though you are the one that is supposed to be the westerner, the chances are that you've never heard of most of them. Thais are like Filipinos in that they have their own preferences for western songs and songs that are popular there are not so popular in the west.

    in Malaysia it is interesting in that is really multicultural. There is Chinese and Indian songs as well as much more English ones than there is in Thailand.

    the karaoke situation is much better in Malaysia than it is in Thailand, but this is one area where the Philippines wins hands down.
  18. whipster
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    whipster BANNED



    Filipinos love that one. In fact that is the song I get requested to sing the most, by Filipinos. I think they have this perception that just because you are a westerner, then you must be able to sing that particular song better than a Filipino can. Although I would never sing this particular song on my own account. I only ever sing it when requested to. It's a boring song, like the other Eric Clapton song in the book, 'Cocaine', which is even more one-dimensional and not going anywhere. The only Clapton song in the book I like to sing is 'I Shot the Sheriff' - which is not an Eric Clapton song at all.

    I change the lyric to Wonderful Tonight. The woman's hair becomes not blonde, but black. And I cannot possibly give her the car keys, because nobody in the Philippines drives a car. So instead of my giving her the car key and she helping me to my bed, I give her the bike key and she crashes it into a hedge.

    but only westerners laugh. Filipinos don't know what a hedge or hedgerow is.
    Last edited: Feb 29, 2016
  19. Markham
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    Markham Guest

    Dumb.

    Oh really? Another totally incorrect statement from our Philippines expert.

    And another ....
  20. ChoiAndJohn
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    ChoiAndJohn Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    I wouldn't rise to it if I was you @Markham. I've given up commenting on this kind of statement - otherwise I would just be irritated the whole time. Everyone knows its BS already. :)
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