Minyo Crusaders
Event held
Katsumi Tanaka (guitar), Moe (keyboard), Freddy Tsukamoto (vocals), Koichiro Osawa (saxophone), Mutsumi Kobayashi (bongo drums), Sonoo (kettledrums), Naoya Madokoro (conga drums), Yusuke "Peach" Noguchi (trombone), Toshio "Digi" Fujino (bass)
Started in 2012 by guitarist Katsumi Tanaka and singer Freddie Tsukamoto, the core aim of the band is to revitalise “min’yo”, historical Japanese popular songs, a form of Japanese folklore music that has been in decline for decades, which they combine with Latino, African, Caribbean and Asian rhythms. Originally sung hundreds of years ago by the Japanese working classes - fishermen, coalminers, sumo wrestlers – these min’yo songs have fallen into oblivion, though they are still firmly rooted, as Katsumi Tanaka says, in the DNA of all Japanese.
Their first record, Echoes of Japan (2017), was well received in Japan and internationally distributed in 2019. Following that, came a European debut tour, which included several festivals. Since 2022, they have performed in over 20 countries and have established themselves as the most dynamic representative of the Japanese music scene the world over.
Minyo Crusaders are a very interesting group to see on stage; their concerts are entertaining and full of contagious energy. Japanese use min’yo as a vehicle to explore and fuse different musical traditions of the world, taking Japanese folklore to new audiences, showing how music can transcend borders and generations.
