While Minyo Crusaders was already announced for the upcoming edition of Le Guess Who? 2019, this will not be the only European show for the 10-piece big band in Europe. Minyo Crusaders is known for reworking traditional Japanese folk songs (minyo) with Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms and announced more shows in Europe for coming November. It will be the first time for Minyo Crusaders to tour Europe.
Minyo Crusaders will start their European tour in Norway at the beginning of November. The band also added a show in December at Trans Musicales festival in France.
Minyo Crusaders rework traditional Japanese folk songs (Min’yō) with Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms to breathe new life into these catchy songs. The multi-instrumental 10 piece includes 3 percussionists, as well as a minyo singer – a stylised form of singing rarely encountered outside of a classical folk arrangement. Echoes of Japan is the title of their debut album that got released in December 2017 in Japan on CD, a year later on vinyl, both through P-Vine Records. In April of this year, the album got released in North America and Europe through Mais Um Discos.
“For Japanese people, Min’yō is both the closest, and most distant, folk music” explains band-leader Katsumi Tanaka: “We may not feel it in our daily, urban lives, yet the melodies, the style of singing and the rhythm of the taiko drums are engrained in our DNA.” Originally sung by fishermen, coal miners and sumo wrestlers, these songs deal with topics such as the returning spirits of ancestors, Japan’s smallest bird (Toichin Bushi) and a bride’s undying love for her husband’s pockmarked face, evoking nostalgia for a forgotten Japan.
Source: MAIS UM
