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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Sandy Poitras has a theory on why karaoke singing remains so popular.

Sandy Poitras, a part-time karaoke DJ in Fort Smith, says a lot of people love to sing. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"It makes you the star," said the karaoke DJ in Fort Smith. "There are a lot of people that love to sing."

Poitras said those people won't necessarily get up to sing with a band, but will sing when the words are displayed. She thinks part of the appeal of karaoke is they don't have to worry about forgetting the lyrics.

"You have the words there," she said. "You have the music there."

Karaoke, which is a Japanese word, is a form of entertainment in which singers - regardless of their vocal abilities - sing along to tracks of well-known songs on which the vocals have been removed. As the music plays, the song lyrics are displayed on a screen.

Poitras offers the karaoke through a part-time business she owns with her husband, Gerald Poitras. The business is called North Country Rock and has three parts - a band by the same name, a sound/recording system for meetings and karaoke.

Her role in the business is taking care of karaoke and occasionally the sound systems at meetings.

In her full-time job, the 46-year-old is the regional secretary with the GNWT's Department of Public Works and Services.

Poitras has been a karaoke deejay since about 1999.

"I bought Gerald a karaoke machine for his birthday and we borrowed some CDs from my brother, and we just started from there," she recalled.

That karaoke machine was just for private use and no one expected it to become part of their business, which began in the mid-1990s with the band.

"From there, people found out we had karaoke and with Gerald's sound system we just hooked everything up and got a TV and went to play in a bar," she said.

Poitras said karaoke is still popular in Fort Smith at birthdays, dances and bars, and she sometimes DJs at events twice a month.

"It's amazing how much people love to sing," she said. "It's always a good crowd."

The most popular karaoke songs in Fort Smith are classic rock and country.

"We do have some popular songs, like some up-to-date songs," Poitras said. "But it's a lot of the old."

She has books listing more than 3,000 songs on CDs.

"So you look through the book, pick your song, write it on the ticket and bring it up to me, and I find your song and I put it on," she explained. "And when it's your turn, I call you up and you sing it."

Poitras said she hears all kinds of singers, noting some are really good while joking that others might not sing for long if there was a gong.

"But it's there for fun. Everybody just has fun," she said. "You don't really judge anybody. You have a good laugh with your friends."

As a karaoke DJ, Poitras encourages people to get up and sing, however that is something she won't do herself.

"I never sing. I don't even sing in the shower. I don't sing karaoke," she said. "If no one is in the bar, my friend and I will sing. But other than that, as soon as people come in, I don't."

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