Minidoka Swing Band 

April 4 | 7:30 pm | $15 advance / $18 day of show 

Imagine yourself as a young adult born in America, knowing only the U.S. as your home. Now, picture the country of your birth rounding up you and your family to be imprisoned because your ancestors legally immigrated from a country currently at war with the U.S. How would you deal with this upheaval in your life? 

The Minidoka Swing Band dives into this topic, taking you on a journey detailing the experiences of the Japanese Americans during World War 2 as they were forced into internment camps in the U.S. Seeking to create as normal a life as possible, people in the camps formed sports teams, Boy Scout troops, and often held Saturday night dances for young adults and teens, with music by bands formed in the camps. 

The Minidoka Swing Band performs swing tunes from the Big Band era—music of the 1930s and 1940s popular in the internment camps of WW2—paying tribute to the resilience of the Americans unjustly imprisoned by the only country they ever knew. This evening will also include a presentation about these troubling events from United States history.

This performance, supported by a City of Hillsboro Performance Series Grant, directly supports the Minidoka Swing Band, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting The Immigrant Story.

More About Minidoka Swing Band

Formed in 2007 as a youth band, the Minidoka Swing Band teaches about the internment camps imprisoning Japanese Americans from the west coast during World War II.

The band’s name comes from the Minidoka Internment Camp near Twin Falls, Idaho (one of ten major camps in the U.S.) where many from Oregon and Washington were imprisoned. Now consisting of adult volunteers, the band seeks to entertain and teach about the internment through big band music. Many of the band members are descendants of internees.

The band has performed at festivals, schools, senior living centers, and special events across Oregon, Washington, and California, while also performing in Japan in 2015 during a tour of Tokyo, Yokohama, Iwaki-City, Minamisoma, and Gotemba. It has been featured in many publications, including on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.