Minyo Crusaders JP
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They breathe new life into traditional Japanese folk songs, blending them with their signature humour and genres like cumbia, reggae, boogaloo, afrobeat, and ethio-jazz. One of the most original bands of today, Japan’s Minyo Crusaders, will be performing at Pohoda 2025.
The Japanese group Minyo Crusaders mix historic folk songs min’yō with Latin American, African, Caribbean, and Asian rhythms. This unlikely fusion of musical styles has won them fans not just in their native Japan but all over the world, including music critics and global stars like Iggy Pop and Jamie Cullum.
Their debut album Echoes of Japan from 2019 took them to major festivals such as Trans Musicales, Le Guess Who, Oslo World Music, Überjazz, and WOMAD New Zealand. They have also appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. Visually, they are a group of smiling, charismatic performers dressed in historical kimonos, tropical shirts, and Edo-period masks—straight out of a Wes Anderson film.
American guitarist Ry Cooder called them “the best band I’ve heard in many years,” while BBC Radio 6 presenter and DJ Gilles Peterson called their performance after their debut concert in the UK “fascinating” and added that he highly recommends them. The Times wrote: “Minyo Crusaders played with such verve and good cheer that most of the Jazz Café was dancing by the first song… a concert quite like any other.” We’re looking forward to experiencing it for ourselves this July at Trenčín Airport.
"When you mix Japanese work songs with Latin jazz and cumbia, you get an incredibly catchy blend of music that just makes you want to dance. That’s exactly what Minyo Crusaders are—peaceful musical crusaders from Tokyo," says Vladimír "Potkan" Potančok, host of Hudba sveta_FM on Rádio_FM, about his favourite band.