• Ainu Song Collection 1 (Collection 1)
  • 78-rpm record 26 discs
  • Record Number: PR152-177
  • Recorded: 1947
  • Produced: 1948
  • Recording locations: Asahikawa, Obihiro, Biratori, Noboribetsu, Kushiro
• Ainu Song Collection 2 (Collection 2)
  • 78-rpm record 15 discs
  • Record Number: PR360-374
  • Recorded and produced: 1948
  • Recording locations: Bihoro, Akkeshi, Nayoro, Oshamambe
• (Series Untitled)
  • 78-rpm record 4 discs
  • Record Number: PR485-488
  • Recorded and produced: 1949
  • * Recorded by NHK when about 20 Ainu performers from Shiraoi, Hokkaido came to Tokyo for an Ainu entertainment performance in 1949.
• "Sakhalin Ainu Koyo" (hereafter, "Koyo" [Traditional Folk Songs])
  (Traditional Folk Songs of the Sakhalin Ainu People)
  • "Viny-cord disc"( [vinyl + record] Binikodo-ban) (A semi-long play 78-rpm record NHK developed which consisted of an aluminum disc coated in vinyl paint) 21discs
  • Record Number: VC17-37
  • Recorded: 1951
  • Produced: 1952
  • * This is a recording of performing arts tradition of the Ainu population indigenous to Karafuto (currently recognized as Sakhalin) who were forced to settle in Hokkaido after World War II.

The Style of the Chorus

The ukouk is representative of the special features of Ainu music. This is a type of musical canon or round in which a melody is sung so that one or more singers starting several beats behind can catch up to it. This results in a polyphonic sound. Aside from the ukouk style, there is a style in which multiple melodies are sung at the same time; a responsorial singing style in which after a lead singer sings one phrase, the rest of the singers repeat the phrase; and a style in which the chorus sings in unison.

Vocalization and Tone

"The Historical Recordings Collection" allows users to listen to a variety of vocal performances employing traditional techniques contemporary to their recording. Rich tonal changes themselves are an important element comprising Ainu melodies. Examples of these include alternating quickly and continually between falsetto and natural voices; singing in a strong, deep, guttural voice; trilling in a high pitch with the tongue, and mixing breathing sounds with vocal sounds.

Sitting Songs

These "sitting songs" are called upopo or rok upopo, depending on the region.
The lid of a lacquerware container, known as a sintoko, is placed in the center of the floor and is surrounded by a number of people sitting in a circle. The singers then tap the lid with their hands in rhythm as they sing. While predominately canonical polyphonic ukouk style songs are performed, responsorial singing and unison style songs may also be performed, depending on the region.

• →Listen to Sitting Songs

Circle Dances (Circle Dance Songs)

Circle dance songs are known variously as rimse, rimse upopo, upopo, horippa, or heciri, depending on the region.

Everyone faces the center and forms a circle, singing and dancing while clapping as they move clockwise. Circle dances songs usually consist of short vocalizations with no inherent meaning sung in short melodies that are repeated back in a responsorial singing style.

• →Listen to Circle Dances (Circle Dance Songs)

Words of Prayer and Formal Salutations

Traditionally, ceremonial prayers and formal salutations are handled by male elders, who recite the words in a melody.

• →Listen to Words of Prayer and Formal Salutations

Lullabies

Depending on the regions, Ainu lullabies may be called ihunke, ihumke, iyonnokka, or iyonruyka, among other names.

Caregivers sing these Ainu lullabies to babies to put them to sleep as they carry them on their backs or in cradles called sinta. In contrast to the lullabies sung in Collection 1 and Collection 2, which contain the continual "r" sound made by trilling the tip of the tongue "hororse," or which are sung with the idiomatic lyrics such as, "Sleepy rocking cradle, go down to sleep, down to sleep," in the Ainu language, the lullabies in Traditional Folk Songs are sung exclusively with vowels, and vary depending on the region.

• →Listen to Ainu Lullabies

Ainu Lyrical Songs

Ainu "lyrical songs" may be called yaysama or sinotca, among other names, depending on the region. Each performer sings with phrasing and accentuation that reflect their own life experiences and emotions. Songs of falling in love and tender emotions are called yaykatekar while songs of grief and sorrow are called iyohay’ocis.

Both genres of lyrical song repeat vocalizations with no inherent meaning such as "yaysamanena" and "ayororope" and include Ainu idiomatic lyrics such as, "I want to be a bird! I want to become the wind!" While there are anecdotes of people singing those songs by themselves to forget their troubles, there are also songs for gatherings with friends with improvised dances and hand-clapping. This demonstrates the vast array of themes and tones for these songs.

• →Listen to Ainu Lyrical Songs

The Ainu Oral Storytelling Tradition

There are three main types of traditional Ainu oral literature (storytelling) and the names vary depending on the region.

• 1. Mythic epics (kamuy-yukar, oyna, menokoyukar, etc.)
• 2. Epic songs (yukar, sakorpe, yayerap, hawki, etc.)
• 3. Ainu prose tales (uwepeker, tuytak, tuytah, etc.)

Ainu mythic epics (1) and Ainu epic songs (2) are sung and spoken to a melody. In Ainu mythic epics (1), set refrains are repeatedly interjected for each story, and the story progresses with the narrator voicing the gods delivering their own monologues. In the epic songs (2) that include the brave tales of young heroes, a wooden stick called a repni is used to beat a rhythm as the story is told. The listeners surrounding the reciter interject with hand-clapping and responsorial chanting during breaks and climaxes of the story. Ainu prose tales (3) do not include the kinds of melodies found in Ainu mythic tales (1) and Ainu epic songs (2); listeners also contribute appropriate verbal responses in keeping with the flow of the story. You can listen to actual examples of this through the National Diet Library’s Historical Recordings Collection.

• →Listen to 1. Ainu mythic epics (kamuy-yukar, oyna, menokoyukar, etc.)
• →Listen to 2. Ainu epic songs (yukar, sakorpe, yayerap, hawki, etc.)
• →Listen to 3. Ainu prose tales (uwepeker, tuytak, tuytah, etc.)

Rekukkara (Rekuhkara)

Rekukkara is a game of the Sakhalin Ainu in which two people form a megaphone-shaped resonance tunnel between their mouths using both hands and reverberate breaths and vocalizations between them to create any number of sounds and melodies. Similar games and use of sound can be found in indigenous peoples like the Inuit in Canada and the Chukchi people in far eastern Siberia. Records of rekukkara are extremely scarce, so the "Rekukkara" track in Koyo [Traditional Folk Songs]) is a rare source recording in which one can actually listen to two people performing the rekukkara between them.

• →Listen to rekukkara

The Tonkori

The Ainu tonkori is a zither-type stringed instrument. Most tonkori are five-stringed and they are fretless and played with open strings. While it is believed to be an instrument of the Sakhalin Ainu, these days it played in a wide variety of areas independent of its area of origin. Of all the Ainu instruments, there are often many opportunities these days for the tonkori to be played alongside the mukkuri (mouth harp).

Ainu instruments are primarily played by themselves, but in Sakhalin, the tonkori has also been known to be played by performers while singing and dancing. The "Tonkori Heciri" track on Traditional Folk Songs is one example of this.

• →Listen to tonkori