Did You Know? Before Karaoke, Beitou Had Nakashi — Live Bands That Followed Any Song

Picture a hot spring inn in Beitou on a cool autumn night. Dinner is on the table, the windows are fogged with steam, and someone at your table wants to sing. In the decades before karaoke, nobody reached for a remote. You called the band.

That band was called nakashi (那卡西), and it’s one of the most charming bits of Taipei nightlife history you’ve probably never heard of.

A Name That Means “Flowing”

“Nakashi” is the Taiwanese take on the Japanese word nagashi (流し), which means “to flow.” The name describes how the musicians worked. They didn’t hold a residency on a stage. They drifted from inn to inn and room to room, carrying their instruments and a thick book of songs, and played wherever a guest wanted music.

Beitou’s hot spring tourism took off during the Japanese era, and roving entertainers came with the guests. After the war the sound changed. Accordions, guitars, saxophones and bass joined the lineup, and Taiwanese ballads, Japanese enka and Mandarin pop all went into the songbook.

The Original Human Karaoke Machine

The thing nakashi musicians were famous for was their ears. A guest could start humming a tune the band had never played, and after a few bars they’d be backing it. They could also move a song up or down to suit whoever was singing, which a karaoke track still can’t do for you.

At its height, Beitou’s inns competed for more than 100 nakashi bands, according to accounts from both Taiwan News and Chinese-language histories of the scene. A big hotel might keep several on call for a single night.

Then Came the Machines

Karaoke, and then KTV, ended the golden age. Once a box in the corner could play thousands of backing tracks with lyrics on screen, the strolling band became a luxury, and most of them drifted away.

Nakashi hasn’t completely disappeared, though. It still turns up as a nostalgic act at Beitou festivals and in heritage events at the old hot spring hotels, usually played by veteran musicians who learned the trade decades ago. If you hear an accordion floating out of a Beitou inn, stop and listen. You’re hearing what a night out sounded like for your grandparents’ generation.

Plan Your Own Beitou Night

Autumn is when Taipei’s hot spring season really gets going, so this is a good time to go. Start with our Beitou hot spring guide for where to soak. Our guide to Beitou beyond the hot springs covers the museums, the library and Thermal Valley. If you’re wondering why the island has so many springs in the first place, this quick explainer has you covered.

The takeaway: before karaoke, Taiwan had nakashi, live bands who could follow any song you threw at them. Next time you grab a KTV mic, give a little nod to the accordion players who did it by ear.

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