Simin Tander (born 19 October 1980) is a German

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

musician (vocals and piano) and composer.

Biography

Gustavsen-Tander-Vespestad-Vossajazz2016

Born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, Tander is the daughter of an

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pa ...

journalist father, who died when she was a child, and a German teacher mother. She was raised in Cologne and her older sister Mina Tander became an actress. As Tander finished high school, she was very close to get a board contract as pop singer. During her vocal training with an opera singer, she realized that she was more into vocal improvisation than the Classical singing. She attended piano lessons and founded her own band. From 2002, she studied

jazz singing Vocal jazz or jazz singing is an approach to jazz using the voice. Vocal jazz emerged in the early twentieth century, with its roots in Blues. Popular blues singers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey had a great deal of influence of jazz vocalis ...

at the Conservatory ArtEZ in the Netherlands. There she graduated with a Master of Music in 2008. In the following years she played in the Netherlands with trumpeter

Eric Vloeimans Eric Vloeimans (; born 24 March 1963) is a Dutch musician, songwriter, and record producer. Biography Although he studied classical music as a child, he became interested in jazz at the Rotterdam Academy of Music. After graduating in 1988, h ...

and with Bo van de Graaf's I Compani, where she made contributions for the albums ''Fellini'' (2004), ''Garbo'' and ''Extended 2013''. In Germany she can be heard on soundtracks of the

Tatort ''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by ...

series and two episodes of the ZDF film ''

Der Kriminalist ' is a German television series produced by Monaco Film Hamburg, subsidiary of Odeon Film. Directors during the first season were Sherry Hormann Sherry Hormann (born 20 April 1960) is a German-American film director. Hormann is best known for ...

''. She led her own Quartet to contributions on the Jeroen van Vliet (winners of the 2014 Boy-Edgar-Preis), Etienne Nillesen and Cord Heineking. With her Quartet she has released two albums and performed on international stages, such as the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. This is because the Statenhal where the festival wa ...

, the Bohemia Jazz Festival (Czechia), the Catania Jazz Festival (Italy), the Madrid International Jazz Festival (Spain), the OCT LOFT Festival (China), the Hong Kong Jazz Festival and the Jarasum Jazzfestival (South Korea). Simin was also invited several times from

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and foc ...

Committee to represent Germany for international events and in June 2015 interpreted the UN Women-Song ''One Woman'' during the 20'th Beijing Conference. She has collaborated with the Norwegian pianist

Tord Gustavsen Tord Gustavsen (born 5 October 1970) is a Norwegian jazz pianist and composer. He tours extensively worldwide, and he has been a bandleader for a trio, ensemble and quartet at various times, all bearing his name. Early life Gustavsen was born o ...

and drummer

Jarle Vespestad Jarle Vespestad (born 16 April 1966) is a Norwegian jazz musician (percussion), the younger brother of jazz musician Liz Tove Vespestad, and a central member of Tord Gustavsen's projects. Career Vespestad was born in Kirkenes and picked up ...

since 2014, releasing the album ''What Was Said'' (2016). They performed at the 2016

Vossajazz Vossajazz or Vossa Jazz (established 19 December 1973) is an international jazz festival in Voss, Norway, which takes place annually during the week before Easter, and which also includes concerts throughout the year. The festival has been led b ...

in Norway. In addition, she contributes regularly to other projects, such as in 2015 to the

TFF Rudolstadt TFF may stand for: Festivals * Taipei Film Festival, an annual film festival in Taipei, Taiwan * Taormina Film Fest, international film festival in Taormina * Telluride Film Festival, an annual film festival in Telluride, Colorado, USA * TFF Ru ...

with the 'Ruth ausgezeichnete Ensemble' ''Eurasians Unity'' under the direction of Caroline Thon, or Heiner Schmitz' ''Sins & Blessings''. Since 2012, she has been a lecturer in jazz singing at Institut für Musik Osnabrück. She lives in Cologne.

Discography

Solo albums

*2011: ''Wagma'' (Neuklang) *2014: ''Where Water Travels Home'' (Jazzhaus Records) *2020: ''Unfading'' (Jazzhaus Records)

Collaborations

With David Golek *2011: ''Folk Tales from Another Land'' (Kululush Records) With Hazel Leach's PLoTS *2012: ''Songs from the Edge'' (JazzHausMusik), with Tessa Zoutendijk, Esmée Olthuis, Laia Genc With

and

*2016: '' What Was Said'' (

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's ...

)

References

External links

*
Sie singt in vielen Sprachen – auch in Fantastisch

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

, 23. März 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tander, Simin German jazz singers German jazz composers Women jazz composers ECM Records artists 1980 births Living people German people of Afghan descent German women singer-songwriters Musicians from Cologne 21st-century German women singers