Japan’s min’yo is an example of how vibrant folk music can ossify into formal ritual, transformed from its original role as workers’ songs, there for distraction and complaint, into art music performed mainly by divas in fancy kimonos. It’s as if Scarborough Fair and Seven Gypsies were reserved for operatic soloists. The mission of the Minyo Crusaders, a 10-piece big band, is to rescue min’yo from its highbrow status and return it to everyday life by setting its songs to assorted world styles. This debut opens with a blast of loping Colombian cumbia before moving on to Afrobeat, reggae, salsa and more. It’s an unlikely fusion, but the Crusaders come armed with a precision horn section drawn from assorted ska and jazz bands, and the often wistful melodies are skilfully woven into upbeat moods. Akita Nikata Bushi, a slow lament, is wound into a sinuous Ethiopian rhythm, with added surf guitar from group founder Katsumi Tanaka, who came to min’yo after discovering 20th-century hybrids such as the Tokyo Cuban Boys. The vocals are unwaveringly authentic, as a brace of untreated songs prove, but the focus is on great grooves and fine playing. A festival band to seek out.
