The Ainu people of northern Japan have an autonomous musical tradition. The Ainu (pronounced , eye-noo, アイヌ / aynu) are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaido, the northern part of Honshu in Northern Japan, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. ...
Genres include the oldest, yukar (mimicry), which is a form of epic poetry, and upopo, in which "the second contrapuntal voice had to imitate the musical formula in the first contrapuntal voice (not heard until the last moment), at an interval much shorter than that in our western canons, since the second voice attacks the preceding musical formula before the first voice has finished it." (Nattiez 1990, p.71) Yukar are Ainu sagas that form a long, rich tradition of oral literature. ...
The most famous contemporary performer of Ainu music appears to be the revivalist Oki. Oki (隠岐国; -no kuni) was an old province of Japan which consisted of Oki Islands in the Sea of Japan, located off the coast of Izumo and Hoki provinces. ...
Japan Times: Ainu group brings to U.S. musical message of peace By Carolyn Nardiello - Requires login
Source
Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale et sémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). ISBN 0691027145.
Proof that music is a world wide language, Kila and Oki are a convergence of traditional Celtic and northern Japanese sounds marking a wonderful and magical experience, a collection of music that transcends barriers like language and race.
Oki plays the traditional Ainu instrument, the Tonkori, a 4/6 stringed instrument, and like Kila uses the traditional music of the Ainu to form the foundation of his music.
Kila has been making music for 15 years and the band continue to push the boundaries in ever widening directions and this new collaborative effort with Oki is just one more twist.
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