Minyo Crusaders () is a Japanese musical group that reworks traditional Japanese folk songs (

min'yō , ''Nihon min'yō'', Japanese ''min'yō'' or Japanese folk music is a genre of traditional Music of Japan, Japanese music. Characteristics Styles Many ''min'yō'' are connected to forms of work or to specific trades and were originally su ...

) with arrangements inspired by various international music genres, including

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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 back 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.

Members

The band's official Facebook page announced on 27 December 2019 that DADDY U was having difficulty touring and had played his last concert with the Minyo Crusaders. On December 11, 2023, Meg announced via twitter that she would be leaving the Minyo Crusaders.

Support Members

Several musicians play and tour with the band regularly, some for several years, but are credited as "support members". These include: Midori Takenoko (vo, musical accompaniment), Toshio ‘Digi’ Fujino (bass), Yusuke Noguchi (trumpet), Kayoko Yuasa (trombone), Madokorona Oya (congas).

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

References

Japanese world music groups Musical groups established in 2017 {{Japan-band-stub