Oki Dub Ainu Band

OKI, born to a Japanese mother and an Ainu father, is a tonkori performer, bassist and visual artist. After graduating from the Department of Crafts at Tokyo University of the Arts, he moved to New York in 1987, where he worked as a special effects artist on film productions. Upon his return to Japan in 1992, he first encountered the tonkori―a traditional stringed instrument developed by the native Ainu people of Karafuto, an island now known as Sakhalin located to the north of Japan’s northernmost prefecture, Hokkaido. Those days, the instrument was known as an unusual object that was displayed in museums but not actually played, as virtually no performers had inherited the traditional instrumentation skills.

OKI developed a technique to play this forgotten instrument, and soon began to create his own music. In 1996, he released his first album Kamuy Kor Nupurpe. Shortly thereafter, he established Chikar Studio to encourage and support Ainu artists, and promote Ainu music around the world. Chikar Studio has since released 23 albums, including titles by the traditional Ainu singer Umeko Ando and the all-female vocal ensemble Marewrew, which sings traditional dance songs called upopo with a modern sensibility. Built upon recordings from around the 1940s and ’50s collected by ethnomusicologists, his album Tonkori (2005) brought back the instrument’s sound for modern-day audiences.

While valuing both traditional Ainu music and cultural identity, OKI’s albums like OKI DUB AINU BAND (2006) and Sakhalin Rock (2010) achieve a genre-fluid music expression that infuses blues, reggae, dub and more. Oki Dub Ainu Band features the tonkori in a band setting with drums, bass, keyboard and dub mixing board. They often perform at music festivals in Japan and overseas, including in Africa, Europe and Asia.

In 2019, OKI produced the albums mikemike nociw by Marewrew and Amamiaynu, a collaboration project between Ainu musicians and musicians from Amami—an island located between Japan’s southernmost prefectures Kagoshima and Okinawa. In January 2022, OKI’s first compilation album Tonkori in the Moonlight was released from a UK label, Mais Um Discos, on both CD and LP. Immediately after its release, the album rose high on world music charts in Europe and has received significant international media attention.

Since his debut album, OKI has continued to feature Ainu lyrics and language in his works. In addition to traditional songs handed down to today, OKI has released original songs in the Ainu language, created with Kuzuno Tatsujiro (1910-2002), a respected and prominent figure in the Ainu community. Further, songs such as “Oroso Omap” and “Tawki” in Sakhalin Rock feature original Ainu lyrics written by the children of the Asahikawa Ainu Language School in Hokkaido. Additionally, OKI’s third album, No One’s Land (2002), mixes voice recordings from the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations (whose 15th session he attended in 1997) with indigenous guest artists such as singers from Chukchi (the northeastern most part of Siberia) and poets from East Timorese (Malayo-Polynesian and Papuan region). OKI received the Hokkaido Cultural Encouragement Award in 2008.

Rekpo is the leader of Marewrew, a female vocal ensemble, whose mission is to revive and preserve traditional Ainu songs called upopo. Since the release of their first mini-album Marewrew in 2010, their activities have grown rapidly. In 2011, the group began producing a festival series titled “Marewrew Festival—Let’s get 1 million people to sing Upopo together!” Guests artists who have participated in past festivals include many well-known musicians such as UA, Kicell, Oorutaichi, Haruomi Hosono and Masafumi Goto (ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION). Rekpo has performed in Japan, Asia, North America, and Europe, including at the UK’s WOMAD Festival, a leading world music festival. She and Marewrew have joined OKI DUB AINU BAND’s concerts in Japan and on international tours.

Takashi Nakajo was born in 1965 in Kanagawa, Japan. Drawn to American and British rock music around the age of 13, Nakajo started playing music himself. By 16, he had formed his first band with school friends, playing blues rock, R&B and blues. After performing with several bands, Takashi became a bassist for the funk rock band Theatre Brook in 1995. He joined OKI DUB AINU BAND in 2007 for its European tour and has been active in the band since then. His other music activities include the band blues.the-butcher-590213.

Takashi Numazawa studied drums with Joe Porcaro and Ralph Humphrey at PIT in LA. After graduating he was invited to become an instructor at the school. He lived in LA until 2000, and joined tour with artists; CHAKA KHAN, BOBBY WOMACK, AL McKAYLA ALL STARS, NED DOHENY and SHIELA E. while being a member of 13 Cats. After returning to Japan in 2000, he joined OKI DUB AINU BAND as well as performing for other artists like Nothing But the Funk, Koji Nakamura, Yuzo Kayama and others. 

Toshiki Shimizu was born in Osaka, Japan in 1967. He debuted as a member of FISHMANS in 1991. He also started working with an instrumental dub band called Little Tempo in 1994. In 2000, he changed his artist name to HAKASE-SUN and started producing solo organ Reggae music. To date, he has produced over 10 albums and 2 movie soundtrack albums. He is a keyboard arranger and producer for reggae and ska. He joined OKI DUB AINU BAND on their live in Norway in 2013 and became an official member in 2015. 

Naoyuki Uchida has worked as a recording studio assistant since learning recording techniques as  a teenager. In 1995, he joined Dry & Heavy, Japan’s pioneer band of roots rock reggae music, as a dub engineer. The band’s unique debut featured dub versions of popular ’70s tunes. Their successful debut opened the door to worldwide performances in Europe and Oceania, and subsequent album releases from BSI Records (predecessor of ZamZam Sounds) in the U.S. and the UK. After leaving the band, Naoyuki has remained active in making dub music, working for several Japanese dub bands, including Little Tempo and Oki Dub Ainu Band.

OKI – tonkori, vocals
Rekpo – vocals, tonkori
Takashi Nakajo – bass
Takashi Numazawa – drums
Toshiki Shimizu – keyboards
Naoyuki Uchida – keyboards, dub mixing

The U.S. tour of OKI DUB AINU BAND is produced and organized by Japan Society with support from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, Japan Arts Council and the Nomura Foundation.