Udo Dahmen

Udo Dahmen (* July 12, 1951 in Aachen, Germany) studied classical percussion at the Musikhochschule Rheinland in Aachen and Cologne. He completed accompanying studies in Paris with Dante Agostini. After graduating, Dahmen was first a freelance musician in Aachen (Rufus Zuphall) and drummer in the jazz rock group Out with Theo Jörgensmann, Hendrik Schaper and Micki Meuser, later in Cologne and from 1980 in Hamburg. During this time, he was involved in numerous record releases and concert tours (Kraan, Lake, Eberhard Schoener feat. Sting, Gianna Nannini, Nina Hagen, Jack Bruce, Gary Brooker, Sarah Brightman, among others).

Dahmen has been and continues to have a determining influence on the development of education and training within popular music, as well as in the field of percussion. From 1983 to 2003, he was a lecturer for popular music at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre (HfMT). From 1994 on, he was the spokesman as well as the director of the study program and had a formative influence on its development. At the same time, from 1988 on, he was head of the Yamaha Music Station and from 1994 to 2003 spokesman for the Popkurs, a contact course for popular music at the HfMT. From 1994 to 2003, he established the Rock, Pop, Jazz course at the Berufsfachschule für Musik, Dinkelsbühl.

The development of the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg – University for Music Business, Creative Industries and Popular Music in Mannheim, which emerged from the Baden-Württemberg rock foundation, was significantly shaped and influenced by Dahmen. In 2003, Dahmen became artistic director, managing director and professor of the Pop Academy as well as vice president of the German Music Council. Since 2013, he has been explaining a well-known pop song of the last decades on Saturdays in the cultural program SWR2 within the column »Erklär mir Pop« (Explain pop to me). From 1995 to 2015, he was president of the German Percussionists' Association, Percussion Creativ. He has been honorary president there since December 2015.