Minyo Crusaders
Minyo Crusaders (Japanese: 民謡クルセイダーズ) is a Japanese musical group that reworks traditional Japanese folk songs (min'yō) with arrangements inspired by various international music genres, including Caribbean, Latin and African music. The group was co-founded by Katsumi Tanaka and Freddie Tsukamoto, with the goal of reviving min'yō as a "music for the people".
The pair played casually around Fussa for a number of years, with an assortment of musicians dropping in and out and eventually including Fussa "drumming legend" Sono. The turning point came when Tokyo roots scene veteran DADDY U joined the band as bass player and provided connections to a varied pool of musicians working across Tokyo. Through him, the rest of the band was introduced.
They released their first album, Echoes of Japan, in 2017 on P-Vine Records. In the album, the Minyo Crusaders attempt to bring Min'yo back to its 'common man' origins, going against the recent trend that Min'yo at-large had of appealing to the upper classes despite its working class roots. The album was later reissued on Mais Um in 2019.
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