Press releases

Were part of the Tandem Project: Ember Tales & Auckland

Popakademie initiates "Tandem" project

31. March 2022

The Popakademie-Baden Württemberg has initiated the project "Tandem" last year, the videos of the project are now published. The Popakademie acts Ember Tales, Jesse Tellem, Baris Kadem and Tayfun Ates, Vido, Cris Cosmo and Auckland from Bandsupport Mannheim are involved.

This includes a lot of healthy vocal technique, because each style requires different techniques "With the support of the state, we were able to offer musicians a stage through the Tandem project and bring artists of different genres together musically. Due to the still limited performance possibilities for artists, it was important to us to support them in a targeted manner," says Prof. Udo Dahmen, Artistic Director and Managing Director of the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg.

In Tandem, two bands play together: Jesse Tellem and Baris Kadem with Tayfun Ates at the National Theater Mannheim, Vido and Cris Cosmo at Spinelli and Auckland, and Ember Tales at the Popakademie's end-of-semester concert on the Kulturtragflächen.

Vido is a four-piece band from Mannheim, Germany, that expresses life in the squares through music in four languages. Members are Lisa Biggel (Popular Music M.A., vocals), Felix Burtscher (Pop Music Design B.A., drums), Lars Quincke (Popular Music M.A., keys) and Hannah Wiese (Popular Music M.A., electric bass). Pop Academy graduate Cris Cosmo can look back on a successful career, including an Echo nomination and 12th place at the Bundesvision Song Contest.

The five-piece band Ember Tales consists of Popakademie students Luisa Wenderoth (Popular Music M.A., vocals), Simon Schneid (Popular Music M.A., guitar), Michael Goldmann (Popular Music M.A., electric bass), Benedikt Weiß (Popular Music M.A., drums) and Quentin Vogel (Pop Music Design B.A., keys). Auckland is an indie rock band from Heidelberg, Germany. The three-piece formation consisting of Jan Rohnacher (vocals, electric bass), Jonas Schmitt (drums) and Tim Rohnacher (guitar) is sponsored by Bandsupport Mannheim.

Pop Academy graduate Jesse Safferling mixes pop and R&B with hip-hop, rock, punk and world music influences in his solo project "Jesse Tellem". Baris Kadem studies world music B.A. (Baglama) at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg. Tayfun Ates was also a student (World Music B.A.) at the Pop Academy.

The project is funded in the impulse program "Art despite distance" of the Ministry of Science, Research and Art Baden-Württemberg.

All videos of the project can be found here on our YouTube channel.