Warriors of the Rainbow

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Warriors of the Rainbow was a fusion rock/jazz band headed by Benny Yee (keyboards) and Nobuko Miyamoto (vocals). Other band members included at various times Russel Baba, Kenny Endo, Bobby Farlice, Alan Furutani, and others.

Nobuko writes:

Benny Yee and I started a band called Warriors of the Rainbow in LA in 1974. Benny was a pianist with a driving soulful style. We were both determined to make songs and sound that expressed who we were as Asian Americans but also would include other musicians of color. Warriors of the Rainbow was a Native American prophesy that said there would be 5,000 years of evil, followed by 5,000 years of good. And that change would come when warriors all colors of the rainbow got together. It became a song written by Chris Iijima. I sang it with him on our album, A GRAIN OF SAND, produced in 1973 in NYC. Making the band Warriors in LA, was a way of continuing that prophecy through music.
- Nobuko

Recordings

Warriors of the Rainbow did not release an album, but they recorded four songs at the renowned Cherokee Studio in September 1977: "Beckoning," "New Moon," "West to East," and an extended improvisation titled "From the Belly of a Monster."

Television Appearances

Archival television footage of Warriors of the Rainbow on the show Rice and Roses at the Center for Labor Education and Research, University of Hawai`i, Manoa (1980, 30 minutes) has been transferred from 3/4 inch videotape to digital hi-def, and may be shared here in in the future.

Media Archive

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•