The Ainu multi-instrumentalist shares a video for his interpretation of a Hokkaido folk song written for bear ceremonies
“The original version of this song was recorded in 1962 and performed by Ume Nishihira (Ainu name Suka),” says indigenous Ainu musician Oki Kano, aka OKI, over email. “The song represents a bear moving around in a cage while making clawing sounds. It would have been sung at bear-sending rituals in eastern Hokkaido.” On “Iso Kaaari Irehte (Bear Trap Rhythm)” OKI plays the tonkori – a five-stringed instrument thought to have arrived in the main Ainu community of Hokkaido from the island of Sakhalin, after the latter was annexed by Russia after the Second World War.
“Ume was born in Otasan, Sakhalin Island in 1901,” OKI continues, “and from Otasan village there lived a number of tonkori masters. There is a record that there was a tonkori master named Onowanku around 1860. When the Soviet Union occupied southern Sakhalin in 1945, Ume, like many Sakhalin Ainu, moved to Hokkaido.”
This song is featured on a new 11 track compilation of performances by OKI, released by Mais Um Discos. Called Tonkori In The Moonlight, the album features mostly traditional songs, but also forms part of OKI's ongoing experiments in blending folk with international influences, such as dub, reggae and African drumming.
“Ume was born in Otasan, Sakhalin Island in 1901,” OKI continues, “and from Otasan village there lived a number of tonkori masters. There is a record that there was a tonkori master named Onowanku around 1860. When the Soviet Union occupied southern Sakhalin in 1945, Ume, like many Sakhalin Ainu, moved to Hokkaido.”
This song is featured on a new 11 track compilation of performances by OKI, released by Mais Um Discos. Called Tonkori In The Moonlight, the album features mostly traditional songs, but also forms part of OKI's ongoing experiments in blending folk with international influences, such as dub, reggae and African drumming.
The video shows OKI playing his tonkori alongside singers Rekpo, Kapiw and Apappo, and a shadow performance by Koheisai Kawamura, shadow puppet performer and musician.
Wire subscribers can read a 2005 interview with OKI in The Wire 252 via the digital archive. Read Neil Kulkarni's review of OKI's Tonkori In The Moonlight in The Wire 456.
