Simin Tander – voc, comp
Harpreet Bansal – vl
Björn Meyer – b, fx
Samuel Rohrer – dr
“With Swedish bassist Björn Meyer, Swiss drummer Samuel Rohrer and Indian violinist Harpreet Bansal, Tander has achieved a great musical feat. (…) It’s still a little early to call it album of the year, but THE WIND will be remembered.”
FAZ, 06/2025
“Melancholic freedom: THE WIND” – Album tip SWR Kultur 04.04.2025
Release date album THE WIND: 21.03.2025
The German-Afghan, internationally acclaimed singer and composer enchants with her “unmistakable sound” (DIE ZEIT). After two highly acclaimed solo albums, she received the “Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” for her ECM album with Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen. She was recently nominated for the “German Jazz Award 2024” in the “vocal” category. No wonder, her
expressive, simultaneously delicate and powerful timbre touches the audience with high emotional intensity and her
improvisations, which are infused with passionate freedom, are unique.
Simin has been performing at various renowned festivals around the world for 20 years, sings for UNESCO and UN Women and appears in exciting, international crossover and film music projects with Michel Godard, Jan Bang, TATORT, WDR Rundfunkchor, among others.
On her new, internationally acclaimed album THE WIND (Jazzland Recordings), she fascinates in Pashto, English, Spanish, Fantastic and Neapolitan together with three internationally renowned musicians – the Swedish bassist Björn Meyer, the Swiss drummer Samuel
Rohrer and the Indian-born violinist Harpreet Bansal, who lives in Oslo. Together, the quartet creates a world-encompassing sound cosmos with not-from-this-world sounds, in which Simin feels at home due to her father’s Afghan origins and the associated “half-and-half-ness”.
In addition to their captivating original compositions, the musical origins of the songs draw on folklore and poetry, above all from Afghanistan, but also from Spain, Italy, England and Norway. They find their symbolic equivalent in the title The Wind. The eternal wind blowing through epochs and cultures, which succeeds in inseparably uniting these very different traditions.
The new tracks are permeated by a strong dynamic, which is sometimes gently flowing, sometimes energetic, often danceable and always highly spiritual. Despite their diverse roots, all the songs on the album
are linked by the themes of devotion and longing and explore the lighter spheres as well as the darker ones – in all their spectrums: from light-footed to gripping. An international project on all levels, in which Simin Tander and her musicians create something that lasts.
“THE WIND stands as another haunting work of dark lyricism and sweet melancholy from an exceptional artist.” – ALL ABOUT JAZZ
