Dubravka Ugrešić

Dubravka Ugrešić (1949) is a Croatian literary scholar and translator from Russian, author of numerous essays, novels, short stories, children’s books, plays and film scripts. She was born in Zagreb and currently lives in Amsterdam. Her books include Nobody’’s Home (2007/2008); The Ministry of Pain (2005/2006); Lend Me Your Character (2004), Thank You For Not Reading (2003); The Museum of Unconditional Surrender (1998/1999); The Culture of Lies (1998); Have A Nice Day: From the Balkan War to the American Dream (1994/1995); Fording the Stream of Consciousness (1991/1993) and In the Jaws of Life (1992). Her texts can be found on www.dubravkaugresic.com.

Karaoke culture

Karaoke (from the Japanese word meaning ‘‘empty orchestra’) is a form of entertainment for millions of people who would like to be Madonna or Sinatra. The amateur crooner, a wannabe Madonna or Sinatra, replaces the original singer whose voice is turned down or completely switched off, and performs instead of the original. The amateur singer does not even need to know the lyrics which can be read off the screen. The karaoke machine was invented in the early seventies by Japanese musician Daisuke Inoue. Inoue never had his invention patented, allowing others to collect the revenues his idea has been […]