2 Calgary men win silver medal in Karaoke World Championships
Posted Sep 11, 2022 9:04 pm.
Last Updated Sep 12, 2022 7:59 pm.
John Wiest and Mike Smoroden are Canadian karaoke kings after coming home to Calgary with a silver medal in the duet category from the Karaoke World Championships held in Norway this year.
“I think we definitely felt t like it was within the realms of possibility … especially when you get to the worlds level, I mean the competition is very stiff there and so it’s not something you’re ever holding your breath for,” said Wiest.
This is the second time Wiest and Smoroden have made it to the world championship and they met about seven years ago and never expected that karaoke could get them paid trips to Europe.
“And we kind of hung out and started singing and going to karaoke just to like relieve stress and talk about our weeks and you know just kind of let it all go away. So, it’s been great,” said Smoroden.
The duo sang a few songs together for the competition and saved their best for last, choosing humour as the ticket to clinch their silver medal win.
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“There are so many duets that are guy girl duets, and they tend to be a lot of love songy type things, and we don’t always stick to that realm,” said Wiest. “I mean even the serious duets we do are not your typical love songs and there not even usually duets. We just like to add harmony to things and sound pretty.”
And the world championship does seem to highlight the universal language of karaoke.
“The other thing that I thought was quite amazing is that it doesn’t matter where you go in the world, everybody that sings karaoke, you’re gonna hear the same songs. You’re gonna hear Journey Don’t Stop Believing or the Dixie Chicks Goodbye Earl,” Smoroden said.
