Bio
Born in Oslo, Norway to a family of musicians, 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 moved to Beirut in 2014 and went on to study Arabic music performance at Lebanon’s Université Antonine (2016-2019).
While living in Beirut, she 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. In 2016-17 she also taught violin, orchestra and ensemble playing with Beit Atfal Assomoud in Bourj El Shemali camp in south 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, she released her debut album “North South East West” (2022) 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.
Following projects “Maouzoun” (2024) with oud player Shble Saleem explore more traditional forms of Arabic instrumental music, while “Spove” (2025) with folk singers Nawara Alnaddaf and Silje Risdal Liahagen along with double bassist Adrian Myhr weave together Norwegian and Arabic folk songs, showcasing similarities in tonality and expression. Her 2025 solo album “To long, longing, I have longed for so long // Saltwater Songs” explores themes of grief, belonging and yearning. Recorded on cassette tapes on a 90s portastudio, the release tour included concerts in South Lebanon and Damascus, making her the first Western artist to perform in post-Assad Syria. “Maybe I don’t believe in this anymore” (2026), in duo with Lebanese musician Ziad Moukarzel (under the moniker Late-Stage) was recorded in tandem with the duo’s performance at the Irtijal festival for improvised music in 2024. With Sharqi Ensemble (Shble Saleem, Michaela Antalová) she performs concerts for children.
Inger plays 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 “Løvsanger”. She plays on a 1862 violin by Justin Derazey and a 2024 bow by Stephane Thomachot, and a Salve Håkedal hardanger fiddle on loan from Dextra Musica. She lives between Oslo and Beirut.
Photo: Geir Strande Syrrist