Metropolitan   July 2006

Anti Karaoke
It's Not Your Usual Lip-Synching Routine by Alice Ross

Monday night in Ciutat Vella: tourists meander, touts hand out flyers, bums drink wine from cartons. In a basement club on Plaça Reial, four young men bellow into a shared microphone, to rapturous response from a rocky, up-for-it audience. One of the performers is wearing a Michael Jackson mask, another flails a (largely limbless) baby doll with zeal. "We are living in a material world," the sing, "and I am a material girl."

Welcome to the warped world of Anti-Karaoke. The routine is simple: turn up, pick a song from the Anti-Karaoke roster, and wait a while. Yell, stomp, clap and cheer, transform into Van Halen, the Sex Pistols, Queen, the White Stripes, Survivor, or Motorhead. Or, in this case, Madonna.

"I come here every week, and always sing. Always," gasped Manuel Alfonso, one of the Madonna performers, as he recovered at the bar from his moment of fame. "Sometimes we practice first, but not this time. I love it -- it's the best night in Barcelona." After a couple of hours, it's easy to see why he thinks so.

As people step into the spotlight, they morph. A skinny, shy-looking man in a tight pink t-shirt becomes a microphone-swinging, hip-thrusting Vegas showman as Tom Jones's "It's Not Unusual" booms through the club. Stepping reluctantly offstage, he was visibly elated. "My mum was a big Tom Jones fan, so that's why I chose the song," he mused afterwards. "This is my fifth time here, and I always perform -- it's awesome."

Rather than being vaguely embarrassing, Anti-Karaoke is weirdly compelling. It's karaoke, but with an attitude. The night is the brainchild of comedian Rachel Arieff. "I'd been doing my show and having an open mic night, and I thought, "I really miss doing karaoke," she said. "And nobody wanted to do karaoke with me ever, so I was like, 'Fuck you all. I'm going to start my own karaoke night.'" So she did. Anti-Karaoke was started last November, and has been surprisingly successful, regularly attracting 150-200 people. "I thought it'd be mostly attended by English-speaking people -- the tourists and or the people who are here to live -- but it's not," she said. "There are many Spanish and Catalan people -- they're in the majority. That really surprised me. It just snowballed, until this dead night had become the club's most successful night. A Monday."

Although most people opt for rock or heavy metal tunes, Arieff has plenty on offer. "I think of myself as being like a beekeeper. I like to have songs that attract all kinds of people -- gay people, rockers, songs that girls will like to sing, I like to have soul, rap, and a couple of songs that people are completely horrified to see on the list, like the Backstreet Boys and Barbra Streisand. You never know who's going to pick up a song and make it different."

Everybody is a star, but it's Arieff who embodies Anti-Karaoke's spirit. She sings, dances, moshes, wisecracks in Spanish and English, dons costumes, and as others take to the stage, she mingles ceaselessly, encouraging the crowd. Clad in a bowler hat, hotpants and vertiginous platform boots, Arieff becomes Sinead O'Connor, Britney Spears and George Michael. "I get to perform, meet people, watch other people have a good time, and for some people I get to facilitate the first time they get onstage. Sometimes I try to encourage people but generally I don't need to -- lately, if you want to perform, you'd better arrive and sign up early."

The most striking thing about the night is how relaxed it is. Everybody's watching, but nobody's waiting for nascent perforomers to mess up. "It's the most anti-poser, anti-cool show. Nobody's going to go, 'I'm a hard rocker, Abba suck.' We're too busy having uncool fun. And it's cool."

Anti-Karaoke
Sidecar Factory Club
Plaza Reial, 7, Tel: 93-302-1586
Mondays, 10 pm