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250secondal dissonances) are actively present in their vocal polyphony. Drone type ofpolyphony, dominating European polyphonic traditions from the most isolated mountainregions, is rather substituted by the wide use of canon among Ainus.It might look amazing, that with this feature (wide use of canon instead of drone),Ainu vocal polyphony shows interesting parallels with Lithuanian sutartines. In fact,Lithuanian sutartines is structurally closer to Ainu polyphony, than to any otherEuropean polyphonic tradition. Of course, there are plenty of differences between themas well. For example, (1) there is no use of polytonality among Ainus, (2) the number ofperformers are not so strictly limited among Ainus, as among sutartines performers, and(3) secondal dissonances are not so prevalent in Ainu singing. Despite these differences,the typological similarity between the Ainu polyphony and sutartines is much morestriking, than the differences, because the two most important structural elements of bothpolyphonic traditions - (1) wide use of canonic singing and (2) secondal dissonances arethe same.Two possible explanations that could explain these similarities are:(1) Use of canon and secondal dissonances in such a geographicallyisolated regions, as Lithuania and North Japan suggests, that in thesetwo cultures we have a unique case of survival of the earlier Europeantradition of polyphony, which must have been distributed much widerin the past, and:(2) North Japanese Ainus and Northeast European Lithuanians arrived tothe similar results of using the canonic singing and secondaldissonances independently from each other.Out of these two possibilities the model of “independent development” seems tome more plausible than the model of the “survival of archaic features”. I rest myjudgment of following premises:• The importance of drone type of polyphony for the ancient Europeanpolyphonic traditions seems to be beyond doubts, as drone is overwhelmingly representedin geographically isolated regions of the Europe and beyond (in the most isolatedmountain ranges, forests, islands).• It is very likely that the drone was also the part of Lithuanian and Ainupolyphonic traditions. Both in Lithuania and among Ainus drone was subsequently lostand the canon was introduced.• Unlike European professional polyphony where canon and imitation are of thecrucial importance, there are hardly any traditional vocal polyphonic cultures (apartfrom Lithuanian sutartines and Ainu polyphony) that are based on the wide use ofcanonic singing. There is something specific in the principle of “delayed” repetition ofthe same melody (the main principle of canonic singing) that is much closer toprofessional polyphonic composition than to the folk polyphonic composition.Therefore, Ainu traditional music confirms the unique position of Ainus in thecontext of East Asian ethnic and cultural picture. Their tradition of polyphonic singing,arguably the most isolated on our plant, point towards their westwards (European) orsouthwards (Taiwan and other southeast Asian) connections. Together with their physicalanthropological features, their tradition of vocal polyphony point more towards theEuropean connections of Ainu people. Discussing Ainus physical features and their