“An
insane
voice”
(Deutschlandfunk Kultur)
During the “Woman-Life-Freedom” revolution in Iran, Mina Richman`s solidarity song “Baba Said” went viral instantly and made her internationally famous overnight. For the queer German-Iranian, it has always been important to combine music with a clear socio-political stance. Born in Berlin but raised in the small town of Bad Salzuflen, she oscillated between the worlds available to her and discovered treasures such as Joan As Police Woman and Nina Simone in her aunt’s CD collection. Soul and blues, hip-hop culture and the revolt of the great female singer-songwriters were the inspiration for her first EP “Jaywalker” (2022), which earned her a nomination for the popNRW award for best newcomer. Raised to be a feminist by her father “by mistake” – as she once put it in a ZEIT interview – the singer, previously known as Mina Schelpmeier, used the famous Cher quote “Mom, I am a rich man” for her stage name.
Her fabulous debut album “Grown Up”, released in March 2024, proves that Mina Richman is a fantastic singer-songwriter with an “unmistakable, brilliantly controlled singing voice” (gaesteliste.de). Musically, the Bielefeld-based singer and her band inspire with a new sound of soul, indie pop, folk and hip-hop influences. Mina Richman graces the line-ups of prominent festivals and has proven at support shows for Maxim, Anna Calvi and Alice Merton that she is “already quite a power woman at the age of 25” (WDR5). In her current songs, she faces up to her childhood and youth with great honesty, dealing with quarrelling parents, cultural uprooting and the social as well as personal treatment of her body. And she also illuminates the beautiful sides of growing up …
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What the press says:
“In remarkably multi-faceted songs that touch on indie pop, soul and sometimes even blues and hip-hop, she bridges the gap between the private and the political, finding the sweet spot between self-reflection and empowerment with playful ease.” (Westzeit)
“Mina Richman lets her clever and, despite the depth of content, always wonderfully amusing thoughts flow into ultra-catchy folk-pop numbers that skilfully juggle with all kinds of set pieces and therefore sound immediately familiar, even though they are practically unreferenced, especially in this country.” (gaesteliste.de)
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Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of NRW
Mina Richman: vocals, guitar, ukulele
Friedrich Schnorr von Carolsfeld: electric guitar
Alex Mau: bass
Leon Brames: drums
