9 Degrees North

– A musical powerhouse

Energetic, progressive and catchy are just some of the synonyms that can be used to describe the music and concerts of 9 degrees north . The Tamil folk rock band consists of sisters Mira and Dipha Thiruchelvam, Jakob Sisselson Hamre and Jakob Sønnesyn, and together they have created a powerful and distinctive musical style inspired by, among other things, Carnatic music, baila and Tamil folk music.

In the 1980s, Mira and Dipha's parents fled the civil war in Sri Lanka, and their dedication to preserving Tamil cultural heritage has also become a driving force for the band. They have released two critically acclaimed albums; their debut album "Jaffna" and the follow-up album "Yalpanam", for which they won the Spellemann Prize in the "Open Class" category in 2023. Both titles refer to their parents' hometown in Sri Lanka: Jaffna is what the city was called after British colonization, while Yalpanam is the old, original name for the city.

9 degrees north have been concert and festival favorites all over Norway for a few years now and we are looking forward to finally seeing them on Oslo Mela's main stage.