Yes, I did karaoke. Not totally though, as I’m still a strong proponent that I sound like a cat being murdered when I sing; but the last karaoke night at The Wandering Paisa hostel in Medellin, Colombia…
TWP made karaoke into my go-away party!
I actually got to party instead of just rocking (and dancing badly) behind the bar.
The Wandering Paisa is awesome! I lived and worked there as a bartender for 4 months, then kept working the the bar for event nights (which was about 1 a week) even after I moved out. One of my favourite events – KARAOKE NIGHT!
Bi-lingual Spanish-English (and add in whatever other languages you might speak) karaoke is always fun and hilarious. If you can find the song on Youtube Karaoke – you can sing it! There’s:
- locals singing Spanish,
- tourists singing English,
- locals singing English,
- tourists singing Spanish,
- randomly German, Russian and Japanese songs will pop up.
They’ve been doing prizes lately too for English speakers to sing a song in Spanish and vice versa. Its like hidden cultural-language exchange classes. You are learning and not even know it. I’ve even had some Spanish song stuck in my head for the last 3 days which I hear every karaoke night, but can’t remember the song besides the chorus which goes “Borracho y loco” (“Drunk and crazy”).
Yup, that pretty much sums up karaoke. Drunk and crazy and getting songs in a language you don’t understand stuck in your head long after you return home!
So anyway, after a few Colombian Prostitutes
(best drink ever made up, and awesomely named, by Joaquin en el Mundo – go here for the post about it with recipe)
I was singing along with the songs.
Gisela – one of the many awesomely cool chics who work at the hostel, and the host of this karaoke, was trying all night to get me to sing. I don’t sing. At least not with a mic in front of my face. But eventually I ended up singing my brains out to For Non-Blondes. Someone else picked the song actually. But since that’s pretty much the only song I can sing (because its so low like what I have left of my voice), I sat next to Gisela and we sang the song …WITH MIC…along with whoever picked out the song.
Seriously, karaoke always ends up as a freestyle group sing-along by the end of the night. It was awesome. I ran around the whole night making videos of the singing. You can watch the compilation video of Karaoke (ok, so its not ALL form this last night…but most of it is).
If you ever go to Medellin, and want to have a great time with an amazing mix of foreigners and locals, you really need to go to The Wandering Pasia hostel off Estadio Station and La 70. (Its on Calle 44A just south of La 70. Turn down the street that Colanta is on the corner of. It’s a short block and a half down the road). Karaoke is every other Friday night.
The best part of the evening?
Diego singing Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz!
He’s been saying he would sing this at karaoke for a couple months now, but still hadn’t. So at the end of the night, when Gisela asked me what song should be done next, I said “THE GORILLAZ!”, then ran back to tell Diego if he wants to sing he better get up there.
HE ROCKED IT!
Diego is kinda a ham, and I knew he would be amazing at the song. I was so happy to see him get up and sing finally.
So yes, The Wandering Paisa Hostel and Gisela got me to do something I’ve always said I would never do in my life….sing karaoke.
I think when I go back I may actually stand up in front of everyone and sing.
But not alone.
I’ll have to find some awesome song to do with Diego and/or Gisela. Something that during the breaks I can do the running man too.
CHEERS!
About Dani Blanchette
