Bio
Born in Oslo, Norway, Inger Hannisdal started playing violin at the age of four, and grew up playing both classical and improvised music.. While growing up in Oslo’s multicultural Eastern suburbs, she was also introduced to music from the Middle East and South Asia, and after a break from her music education where she obtained a BA in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean studies at Sciences Po Paris, she went on to study Arabic music at Lebanon’s Université Antonine.
While living in Beirut, Inger was a member of the Syrian folk music group Assa’aleek الصعاليك, who became internet sensations with their new arrangements of Syrian folk songs. She also played traditional tarab music such as qudud halebiyeh and muwashahat with a number of artists and singers in Lebanon. Moving from Beirut to Paris in 2019, she continued working with both traditional and new music, releasing the album “Dounya” with Moroccan group Gnawa Youmala in 2020.
After relocating to Oslo, Inger released her debut album “North South East West” with her ensemble, which won her praise from critics and a Norwegian Grammy for composition. The album uses shared traits and similarities between Norwegian folk music and Arabic maqam as building blocks for new compositions, focusing especially on quarter-tonal melodies. Her follow up album, the violin-only solo album “Free Folk”, takes a less melody-focused, more fragmented approach to similar musical ideas, using preparations and extended techniques to break away from expectations in tonality and pitch. The record was well-received in Norwegian and international press, including a recommendation in The Guardian’s “Contemporary Album of the Month”-column.
Inger performs frequently with her ensemble, solo, and in various collaborations ranging from ad-hoc improvised music constellations to classical Arabic and Persian music. She recently made her solo debut with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra performing her own commissioned work with the orchestra.
Photo: Geir Strande Syrrist