Simin Tander

Balancing contemporary jazz with her Afghan roots, Simin Tander crafts concerts of great intensity: a luminous timbre, poetic lyrics, and vocal improvisation as her signature. In 2026/27 she will be touring with The Wind, the latest chapter in her recorded work.

 

Singing mainly in English and in Pashto/Afghan, Simin Tander is one of the most striking voices in contemporary European jazz. Her music stands out for its warm tone and poetic lyrics connected to her Afghan heritage and to lived female experience, weaving together tradition, improvisation, and a strong authorial identity.

 

After Wagma (2011), she gained international recognition with Where Water Travels Home (2014). In 2016, she signed with ECM Records and released What Was Said, a trio album with Tord Gustavsen and Jarle Vespestad, which received the German Record Critics’ Prize. Unfading (2020) further deepened her rich, immersive sound, earning widespread critical acclaim.

 

In 2024, she unveiled the single “Remembering,” ahead of the album The Wind (2025), which was very well received by critics. The European tour has been a success, highlighting her singular approach to vocal improvisation. She has performed at festivals such as the London Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival, consolidating a strong international presence.

 

In September 2025, she made her debut in Portugal at the Auditório Municipal Ruy de Carvalho (Oeiras), in a mesmerizing concert. Simin Tander continues touring her latest work in 2026/27, and Portugal will certainly be among her destinations.

 

 

PRESS QUOTES 

«The Wind stands as another haunting work of dark lyricism and sweet melancholy from an exceptional artist.»
ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)

 

«The unique German/Afghan singer Simin Tander’s The Wind (Jazzland Recordings), a mix of originals and Pashto and European traditionals, draws on her tender ballad delivery, wild, wordless improv and percussive exhalations, while Norwegian-Indian violinist Harpreet Bansal and electric bass and drums often kick up hard-grooving storms.»
THE GUARDIAN (UK)

 

«Simin Tander mines her family heritage on THE WIND. (…) keening like the wind (…) slow and deep (…) from low howles to a thundering climax.»
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️FINANCIAL TIMES (UK)

 

«The strikingly pliant vocals of German-Afghan singer (..) from breathy tenderness to sudden, tremulous passion accompanied by violinist Harpreet Bansal, percussionist Samuel Rohrer and bassist Björn Meyer. (…).astonishing.»
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ THE SCOTSMAN (UK)

 

«Ethereal, haunting music (…) divine.»
JAZZWISE Magazine (UK)

 

«Simin Tander has delivered a work of high artistic integrity and executional rigor. THE WIND doesn’t just float; it carries. (…) a multilingual, multi-modal exploration of jazz vocalism at the intersection of European jazz and world music. Tander’s vocal phrasing is expressive and improvisational (…) strength through subtlety (…) raw, committed, and technically nuanced.»
STACCATOFLY (USA)

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