Santiano is a German folk/sea shanty band from the Flensburg area founded in 2011. Members: ** Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums: Hans-Timm "Timsen" Hinrichsen ** Vocals, Harp, Percussion: Axel Stosberg ** Vocals, Guitar, Bass: Björn Both ** Vocals, Guitar: Andreas Fahnert (only for recordings) ** Violin, Mandolin, Vocals, Accordion, Bouzouki, Percussion, Tin Whistle: Peter David "Pete" Sage History: The idea for Santiano came from Hartmut Krech, a composer and music producer based in Flensburg who works for the company Elephant Music, where all of the band’s albums are produced. The songs are also created under Krech’s direction. He brought the five musicians together in 2011, each of whom had previously pursued different projects. Hans-Timm Hinrichsen played blues and rock music with Jack McTiger and the New Deal from 1988 to 1994. Axel Stosberg was at times part of the ensemble of the Ohnsorg Theater. Björn Both was the frontman of the band Late September Dogs from 1990 to 2003. Andreas Fahnert had been a member of the band Rockwork in the 1980s and later composed film scores, including music for the Werner films. Pete Sage worked for many years as a backing musician for artists such as Marius Müller-Westernhagen, Mike Oldfield, the Kelly Family, and most recently Achim Reichel. In February 2012, the band released its first album, Bis ans Ende der Welt, through We Love Music, a joint label of Universal Music and ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It reached number one on the German album charts. That same year the group toured several cities in German-speaking countries and also performed at Wacken Open Air. In November 2012 a documentary of their tour was released as a live CD and DVD. In May 2013 the album Mit den Gezeiten followed, including the single “Gott muss ein Seemann sein.” Both the album and the single entered the charts. A tour through Germany, Switzerland, and Austria followed. Since 2013 the band has also established a summer open-air concert series. As part of it, two concerts are held every May at the Kalkberg Stadium in Bad Segeberg, and the series traditionally ends with two concerts in Ralswiek on the island of Rügen. Santiano also performed as the opening act on Helene Fischer’s “Das Sommer-Event 2013” tour and took part in the German national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, Unser Song für Dänemark, in March 2014. With the songs “The Fiddler on the Deck” and “Wir werden niemals untergehen,” the group reached the semifinal. Since 2012 Andreas Fahnert has suffered several sudden hearing loss episodes and, on medical advice, no longer takes part in live performances. In the 2023 television documentary Keiner geht verloren, the band revealed that Fahnert has Parkinson’s disease. His vocal parts during concerts are performed by Axel Stosberg and Hans-Timm Hinrichsen. The live lineup also includes Dirk Schlag (guitar), Arne Wiegand (keyboard), and Marco Moeller (drums), who was temporarily replaced by Timon Fenner during the Mit den Gezeiten tour. Since 2015 Manne Uhlig has taken over the drum position for live shows. In October 2014 Santiano was pranked by the television show Verstehen Sie Spaß? with a hidden-camera segment before a concert in Ralswiek on Rügen, when they were led to believe they would have to perform together with the Dutch cover band Ancora. The album Von Liebe, Tod und Freiheit was released in May 2015 and once again reached number one in the German album charts. A tour began in November 2015 and lasted until September 2017. An open-air concert at the Berlin Waldbühne was recorded and released in December 2016 as Von Liebe, Tod und Freiheit – Live on CD and DVD. In April 2017 the acoustic tour “Die Ruhe vor dem Sturm” took place. In October 2017 the band released its fourth studio album, Im Auge des Sturms. The songs “Sail Away,” “Könnt ihr mich hören,” and “Ich bring dich heim” were released in advance. In June 2019 the band recorded an MTV Unplugged performance at the Kulturwerft Gollan in Lübeck. Guest performers included Angelo Kelly, Michael Robert Rhein from In Extremo, Alexander Wesselsky from Eisbrecher, Ben Zucker, Wincent Weiss, Jennifer Haben from Beyond the Black, Oonagh, and Alligatoah. For the song “Die Sehnsucht ist mein Steuermann,” Andreas Fahnert appeared on stage. The album was released in October 2019 and was also available in a limited vinyl edition. In 2021 Santiano released the studio album Wenn die Kälte kommt, a concept album about an expedition to the polar regions. The title track had already been released in September. The album also includes, as a bonus track, the recording of “Wellerman” released with Nathan Evans in February 2021. A planned tour had to be postponed to April and May 2022 because of regulations for large events during the COVID-19 pandemic. After some concerts had taken place, the tour was canceled on May 15 when Björn Both tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. After several open-air concerts during the summer, the postponed indoor shows were rescheduled and performed in September. In October 2022, to mark the band’s tenth anniversary, the best-of album Die Sehnsucht ist mein Steuermann was released. Earlier that year the English-language version of “Santiano” with Nathan Evans had been released in August, followed in September by “Die Antwort weiß der Wind.” In October 2023 the album Doggerland was released. The title track had appeared in July, followed by “Bully in the Alley” in August and “Zu alt um jung zu sterben” in September as the final single before the album. On February 21, 2025, two days before the German federal election, the band released “Da braut sich was zusammen,” the first single from the studio album of the same name scheduled for release in October. The song refers to the political situation in Germany. Charity: The band released a T-shirt in cooperation with the marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd. For each shirt sold, Santiano donates three euros to the organization. The band has also raised funds for the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation and supports the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS). In 2024 Santiano became official ambassadors of the DGzRS. To mark the occasion, the band released the single “Retter in der Not.” As part of their involvement in the “Ocean Change” initiative, the band had the carbon footprint of their 2022 tour Wenn die Kälte kommt calculated. The analysis included emissions from the tour operations themselves (logistics, energy consumption, and catering at venues) as well as emissions caused by concertgoers traveling to and from the shows, measured through an online survey. The results were published in May 2023. In total, the tour produced around 9,300 tons of CO₂ emissions, roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of about 1,000 average German citizens. About 98 percent of these emissions were caused by the audience, mainly through travel and consumption at the venues. Only about 1 percent each came from the venues and the tour logistics. The band announced that they would offset these emissions through a donation to the Ocean Change project. Discography: Albums 2012.02.03 - Bis and Ende der Welt 2012.11.16 - Bis ans Ende der Welt (Live) 2013.05.10 - Mit den Gezeiten 2014.05.30 - Mit den Gezeiten (Live) 2015.05.29 - Von Liebe, Tod und Freiheit 2016.10.14 - Von Liebe, Tod und Freiheit (Live) 2017.10.13 - Im Auge des Sturms 2019.10.18 - MTV Unplugged 2021.10.08 - Wenn die große Kälte kommt 2021.10.08 - Wenn die große Kälte kommt (Die Saga) 2022.10.07 - Die Sehnsucht ist mein Steuermann - Das Beste aus 10 Jahren (Best of) 2023.10.06 - Doggerland 2024.10.04 - Doggerland - SOS ins Nirgendwo (Re-release) 2025.10.24 - Da braut sich was zusammen 2026.02.13 - Santiano (Amazon Music Songline) (Live) EPs 2021.02.26 - Sea Shanty Wellerman (EP) (Compilation) 2021.08.06 - Top Hits - die größten Santiano Hymnen (EP) (Compilation) 2021.09.24 - Herbst-Winter-Songs (EP) (Compilation) Homepage Facebook