Minyo Crusaders

Minyo Crusaders are a Japanese ten-piece band that rework historic Japanese folk songs (min'yō) with Latin, African, Caribbean, and Asian rhythms. Their debut album "Echoes of Japan" blends min'yō vocals with cumbia, Ethiopian jazz, Thai pop, Afro funk, and reggae. Band-leader Katsumi Tanaka, inspired after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, discovered mid-20th century artists who mixed min'yō with Latin and jazz. He explains that min'yō, though considered highbrow, were originally songs for working, d...Read more