Amamiaynu

“Let us unravel the ancient songs of Amami and Aynu and sew them together. Let us go adrift in the whirl of the sea as we row our squid fishing boat.” Amamiaynu is a project that was initiated by Ikue Asazaki, who has been on the frontlines of Amami music for decades. Members of this project include; Ikue Asazaki, Oki, a Tonkori player (a traditional stringed instrument developed by the native Ainu people), Rekpo, the vocalist and leader for the female vocal group Marewrew, Kapiw & Apappo, who are a sister unit that sing Upopo music from Akan Lake in Ainu Kotan.

Once the album Amamiaynu was released in 2019, it went viral, and in October of 2019, they went on the radio show Peter Brakan’s Live Magic! 2019 hosted by Peter Brakan, and in January of 2020, they held their first concert at Shibuya Densho Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo. They are broadening their outreach every year, and in November of 2021, a documentary feature about Amamiaynu was aired on NHK, a national broadcasting channel in Japan. This will be the first analog LP of their album, and in this edition, the third song on side B, Miturasanmae kamuy samada, has been newly recorded in a different version from the CD.