TOKYO GIG PICK: OKI DUB AINU BAND (MAY)

What do you think traditional Ainu music would sound like? you wouldn't be far wrong if you assumed it to be a shamanistic caterwauling kind of thing, made up of chants and hypnotic ethereal sounds, more suited to mysterious goings-on in bear-haunted Northern glades than a concert situation. This is where OKI DUB AINU BAND come in with their agenda of beefing up this sylvian strain with a bit of dub, reggae, rock, and Afrobeat. Now celebrating their 20th year, the band features two "half-Ainus" (the 100% variety are increasingly rare) and some "Ainu-appreciative" Japanese. The band jams the kind of groove that would have happened if Hokkaido had been a lot nearer the Atlantic slave routes, in the process creating an otherworldly but soulful sound that is driven by cyclical rhythms and highlighted by the ghostly plucking of the tonkori, a traditional five-stringed Ainu lyre. The only real drawback is that this kind of "roots" music is sure to pull in the New Age and Hippie brigades, so get your love beads, ganja, and rasta wigs ready. 
16th May. Club Quattro, Shibuya. Price: ¥5000 (Ticket info). 

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