Released on September 15th, ‘Bring Minyo Back!’ is a captivating music documentary that chronicles the Minyo Crusaders’ journey since 2017. In this article, we delve into the film’s exploration of the past and present of traditional music, intertwined with the band’s vibrant activities.
INDEX
Fusing folk traditions with a global beat: the Minyo Crusaders’ musical alchemy
A music documentary film documenting the activities of the Minyo Crusaders over the past five years, “Bring Minyo Back! was released in theaters.
Based in Fussa, Tokyo, the Minyo Crusaders are a band that fuses folk songs from around Japan with the world music, including cumbia, Latin and Afrobeat. The band’s unique sound transcends genres and generations, attracting a large audience; their first album, “Echoes of Japan,” was released in 2017 to much acclaim, including praise from Peter Barakan and Ry Cooder. Since then, he has expanded his activities, performing at large festivals and in prominent national and international media outlets, with a successful world tour in 2019 that will take him to Colombia, various European countries, and more.
Director Yuji Moriwaki has been filming Minyo Crusaders since 2017 and accompanied them on their world tour. He has closely followed the band as they reconstruct folk songs and bring them to modern audiences. The film was screened at Peter Barakan’s Music Film Festival 2022, a music film festival supervised by Peter Barakan, and received high acclaim. This time, the film will be shown in its entirety, including footage from the 2022 European tour.

INDEX
Reshaping tradition: navigating the world of folk songs
This film can be divided into two parts. The first half explores the significance of the Minyo Crusaders and “what is minyo? The second half of the film is about their world tour, including recording in Colombia.
The first half of the film shows the Minyo Crusaders performing in Japan and introduces min’yo from various regions of Japan, interspersed with footage of records and festivals. In doing so, the film unravels a multifaceted study of minyo through interviews with artists such as Motochitose and Makoto Kubota, critics such as Peter Barakan, Yuichi Kishino, and Hajime Oishi, and DJs in the Riso Yoku Mountains.
Characteristically, rhythm is emphasized. After the discussion of rhythm, the camera showing festivals in various regions focuses on the clapping and clattering clogs as well as the people dancing. The loud clapping gradually makes the folk songs sound like groovy dance music.
In this way, the activities of the Minyo Crusaders are positioned in the history of min’yo as it is reinterpreted from a variety of perspectives. After a discussion of the history of the fusion of min’yo and popular music, particularly the relationship between Latin and Japanese min’yo, a video of a concert featuring the Minyo Crusaders and the Tokyo Cuban Boys, one of Japan’s leading Latin big bands, is shown.
It is impressive that the film does not use live footage in a way that overly emphasizes the charisma of the artists, although it is not limited to this joint performance scene. In particular, the first half of the film, as soon as a live performance is shown, it is immediately mixed with footage of interviews and records. In recent years, there have been documentaries on popular artists that are more like direct promotions of new releases or lack journalism. This film stands apart from such works, and as mentioned above, it connects folk music with the Minyo Crusaders while exploring folk music itself in depth.

INDEX
Performing with Frente Cumbiero in Colombia
The second half of the film shows a record of the world tour that began in 2019 and traveled to various countries. The emphasis is on the days spent in Colombia. The encounter with Frente Cumbiero in Colombia is probably the highlight of the entire film.

Frente Cumbiero is a band based in Bogota, Colombia, that brings traditional cumbia music to the modern age. They just performed together at Shibuya WWW at the end of August this year.
The scene of them recording “Folk Song Cumbielo” in Colombia is breathtaking. They rehearse while sharing ideas with each other. The resulting music and performance resonate with the images of the Colombian cityscape. The animation and the visuals are overwhelming.
It seems miraculous that two bands revitalizing the traditional music of Japan and Colombia should meet and create a joint work, but it is clear from the interview with Mario Galeano of Frente that this is no outlandish feat. The recordings in Colombia show that the vision and activities of the Minyo Crusaders, who present traditional music in a new way, can be connected to the scene not only in Japan but also in other countries around the world.
In Colombia, the film is impressive not only in the way they perform, but also in the way it shows a small club that plays cumbia records. The small gestures and expressions of the local people dancing there and the members of the Minyo Crusaders show the depth of time the filmmakers spent with the musicians, as well as their understanding and love of the music itself. This attitude can be seen throughout the film.
Of course, the main character is the Minyo Crusaders, but it is a film that makes us imagine the past and present of folk songs and traditional music, and the expansion of such music.
BRING MINYO BACK!

Producer / Director / Cinematographer / Editor: Yuji Moriwaki
Cast: Minyo Crusaders, Frente Cumbiero, Peter Barakan, Makoto Kubota, Yuichi Kishino, Hajime Oishi, Moto Chitose, Rhythm Mountain Range, Tokyo Cuban Boys, Kodelanny
2022/Japan/90 min/16:9/color/stereo
Distributor: ALFAZBET
Official website: https://www.bringminyoback.com
Opening in theaters nationwide on September 15 (Fri.) at Human Trust Cinema Shibuya and other venues.
Opening Event
9/16 (Sat.) 18:30 Mini-Live after the screening (Live & Bon Dance)
Live: Minyo Crusaders (Special Unplugged Set) with Bon Dance)
9/17 (Sun) 18:30 Post-screening Talk Show
Speakers:Katsumi Tanaka(Minyo Crusaders), Hajime Oishi, Yuji Moriwaki(Director of the film)
9/25 (Mon) 18:30 Post-screening
Speakers: Peter Barakan, Freddy Tsukamoto (Minyo Crusaders), Katsumi Tanaka (Minyo Crusaders)
Tanaka Katsumi (Minyo Crusaders), Moriwaki Yuji (director of the same film)