Oki (musician)

Oki Kano (加納 沖), known professionally as OKI, is a Japanese musician of mixed Japanese Ainu ancestry.

Early life and education
Oki was born in Hokkaido in 1957, and grew up in Kanagawa Prefecture. He studied industrial arts at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. His father, Bikki Sunazawa, was a renowned wood sculptor. Oki grew up with his Japanese mother, and did not know of his Ainu heritage or meet his father until he was an adult.

Career
From 1987 to 1992 Oki lived in New York City working as a special effects technician for movies. Back in Japan in 1993, a cousin gave him a tonkori, an Ainu stringed instrument, and he slowly taught himself how to play it. He uses it in his performances and mixes traditional Ainu music with reggae, dub and other styles of world music. He also plays guitar and traditional Ainu percussion instruments.

Oki performs frequently in Japan, and he has also taken part in a number of folk music festivals in other countries. In 2006, he released the album Kíla & Oki with the Irish band, Kíla. His earlier solo albums include collaborations with the female Ainu singing group Marewrew, who sometimes appear in his live show as well. As of 2022, he played with his own Oki Dub Ainu Band, which plays mostly traditional Ainu songs in an electric style which mixes dub rhythms with tonkori playing. During live concerts, he either plays with the Dub Ainu Band or as a solo acoustic act, singing and playing the tonkori. He also plays tonkori in the collaborative group Amamiaynu.

Works

 * Albums, singles
 * Hankapuy (feat. Umeko Ando)　March 20, 1999
 * Kamuy Kor Nupurpe May 27, 2001
 * No-One'S Land　June 2, 2002
 * Dub Ainu　October 17, 2004
 * Tonkori　May 12, 2005
 * "Tóg É Go Bog É" (Single)　February 17, 2006 (Kíla and OKI)
 * "Kíla & Oki"(album), 2006 (Kíla and OKI)
 * Kuma Shutsubotsu (熊出没), Greatest hits　- February 17, 2006
 * Dub Ainu Deluxe　July 16, 2006
 * Oki Dub Ainu Band December 3, 2006
 * "Eternal Dub Serenade" May 30, 2007
 * Sakhalin Rock July 14, 2010
 * Himalayan Dub April 16, 2011
 * Tonkori in the Moonlight February 4, 2022
 * Collaborations
 * IHUNKE　- Umeko Ando　- May 20, 2001
 * UPOPO SANKE　- Umeko Ando　- December 14, 2003
 * Kita to Minami (北と南) - OKI meets Misako Oshiro - March 14, 2012


 * Picture book
 * Kanna Kamui to Musume (カンナカムイと娘)
 * Story - Ito Oda (小田イト),　Illustrations - OKI


 * Television
 * Opening narration for K-tai Investigator 7