Скачать или смотреть Soran Bushi - traditional Hokkaido (Otaru) - Sansay Music, 2020

Vocals - Merv Maruyama, Marisa Kosugi, Takako Uemura. Shamisen - Loryce Hashimoto. Piano - Scott Nagatani. Bass - Dane Matsumura. Drum and Japanese percussion computer programming - Danny Yamamoto. Recorded and produced in August, 2020. Sansay Music, 2020.

Soran Bushi is a music video exploring the origins of the Hokkaido herring industry, which was a touchstone to what modern Hokkaido is today. Overfishing caused the collapse of the industry by the early 1950's. The industry peak was in the late 1800's. The center of the industry was the port of Otaru.

The indigenous people of Hokkaido were the Ainu, and the chorus lyrics are of Israeli origin. This is a minyo sea shanty, a worksong of the fishermen, who would alter the lyrics. The lyrics recorded here are sanitized. Susukino (in Sapporo) is now Japan's #1 redlight district. The annual ice sculpture festival is on the main street of Susukino.

The dance (bushi) acts by acting ocean waves, fishermen dragging nets, pulling ropes and lifting luggage over their shoulders. This dance is taught in many schools across Japan as part of the curriculum.

During regular intervals of the dance, the words "DOKKOISHO! DOKKOISHO!" and "SORAN! SORAN!" are called. Those words were used in the past to encourage the fisherman during their work.

The Ainu people, who live on select islands in the Japanese archipelago, call the bear “kamuy” in their language, which translates to mean "god". While many other animals are considered to be gods in the Ainu culture, the bear is the head of the gods.