Minyo Crusaders is a wild fusion of Japanese folk, cumbia, salsa, Afrobeat and dancehall.
Founded in 2011 by Katsumi Tanaka and Freddie Tsukamoto, the group set out to explore min'yō, or traditional Japanese folk music, by blending it with rhythms from around the world.
"Min'yō is both the closest and most distant folk music for Japanese people," says bandleader and guitarist Katsumi Tanaka. "Its essence is deeply embedded in us, even if we don't always recognize it."
The result is a dynamic mix of familiar and unfamiliar sounds and moods, creating a one-of-a-kind musical celebration. Today, we've got a mini-concert from Minyo Crusaders, featuring songs from their latest album, From Japan With Love, released earlier this year.
This episode of World Cafe was produced by Will Loftus. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our senior producer is Kimberly Junod.
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