Solve an internet mystery: what are these obscure songs?

Are you an aficionado of midcentury Japanese pop & easy-listening LPs? Taylor Jessen of Burbank has a mystery to solve:


I've got an aircheck from Firesign Theatre, a radio show from 1970, where the engineer keeps playing cuts from an LP that I think is a collection of pop instrumental versions of Japanese children's songs.

Here's a page full of MP3s. Mystery cue #1, "Chugoku-Chiho no Komoriuta" (中国地方の子守唄), is truly stunning – haunting and unforgettable.

Wow, the songs really are beautiful. Taylor has detailed his investigation here (for starters, none of the Firesign guys today know what the music is anymore). If you can help him solve the mystery, please contact him here (do not email me). (Thanks, Q-Burns Abstract Message!)