After its successful premier at last year’s Prismatic Arts Festival, we are pleased to announce that Broken English Karaoke is back again! Festival goers are invited to end each night with us either on the stage or in the audience. This interactive performance installation takes the karaoke we all love or hate, and evens out the playing field by replacing the lyrics of popular American hits with broken English translations. With the help of online translators, lyrics have been translated to other languages, switched back to English, and then edited into new sing-along videos.

In North America though karaoke is mostly confined to aspiring celebrities and drinking culture, with Broken English Karaoke it doesn’t matter which camp you belong to, it’s all about sharing your experience as you step up to the mic. All within the length of a song, each opportunity challenges the participant to navigate the boundaries between the familiar and unfamiliar. The end result allows for a fun experience that not only exposes the complexities of language, but social anxieties as well. Come for a drink and have a good time as we delve into and explore the lively state of being lost and found in translation.

Stephanie Yee is a visual artist and cultural worker originally from Barrie, Ontario, now based in Halifax. Though beginning her academic career in theater, she graduated with a BFA from NSCAD in 2012. Her practice interrogates concepts of communication and identity. Primarily using performance, video, sculpture, and installation, her works employ familiar imagery, processes, and materials as a means of exploring preconceived notions. She has exhibited as an artist and curator in artist-run-centers, festivals and galleries both locally and internationally at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, HERMES, Struts Gallery, The Khyber Centre for the Arts, La Mama Galleria and Family Business Gallery.