Profiles in Sound: Oki Dub
This is Oki Dub Ainu Band, fronted by singer and tonkori player, Kano Oki, or simply Oki when he’s performing, whom I’ll be profiling later. Oki Dub mixes the sounds of traditional Ainu songs with rock, world and Afrobeat, reggae, blues... it’s a very international sound, but still distinctly Ainu. A lot of their songs, if not all of them, are sung in the Ainu language.
The members of Oki Dub are
Oki - singer/tonkori/guitar
Futoshi Ikabe - tonkori/singer
Takashi Numazawa - drums
Takashi Nakajyo - base
Naoyuki Uchida - dub mix
Oki Dub has also been performing with the members of Marewrew, a female vocal group specializing in the Upopo, a type of traditional Ainu music. They are
Rekpo
Hisae Kawamura
Rimrim
Mayunkiki
Their discography is pretty extensive, and a lot of it I’ve found a little difficult to track down, however their records Oki Dub Ainu Band, Sakhalin Rock, Utarhythm, and Himalayan Dub are available on iTunes. You can find some of their songs and live performances on youtube, so give it a listen!
Their website: http://www.tonkori.com/ (Japanese)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/okidubainu/ (Japanese)
