Ainu singers Mayunkiki and Tomoe Yahata from Hokkaidō share the stage with Haida singer Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson to perform an evening of remarkable music. They’ll be joined by Terri-Lynn’s band members: Bill Henderson, Claire Lawrence, Jodi Proznick, Saffron Henderson and Camille Henderson.

The Ainu peoples are Indigenous to the Hokkaidō island of Japan and the Sakhalin and Kuril Islands of Russia.

This event is organized in conjunction with the Hokkaidō 150: Settler Colonialism and Indigeneity in Modern Japan and Beyond workshop by the Centre for Japanese Research at UBC to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1869 incorporation of the island of Hokkaidō, or Ainu Moshir.

Hokkaidō 150 is made possible through the generous financial support of the Consulate-General of Japan in Vancouver and the Japan Foundation, Toronto; the Centre for Japanese Research, the Department of History, the Faculty of Arts, the Department of Asian Studies and the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia; and the David Lam Centre for International Communication at Simon Fraser University.

Photo credit: Hiroshi Ikeda