Mira and Dipha Thiruchelvam lead the opening concert

Mira Thiruchelvam

Mira and Dipha Thiruchelvam are the presenters and Grunde Almeland, chair of the Family and Culture Committee at the Norwegian Parliament, is responsible for the official opening of the festival.

The two sisters from Bergen have had great success with the band 9 degrees north. Mira Thiruchelvam is both a musician and a composer, and as a producer she won the Edvard Prize in 2020 for Jaffna, the debut album by 9 degrees north. Recently, she won the All Africa Music Awards in the Best African Jazz of the Year category for her song Deemi , which she composed and produced for the artist Gutu Abera. She is currently part of KARPE's major European tour.

Dipha Thiruchelvam

Dipha Thiruchelvam combines playing the flute in 9 Degrees North with her job as event and press officer for the contemporary art triennial Bergen Assembly, and as project manager for the Wild Wild West festival. - "These are ladies with a lot of experience, and we're really pleased that they find time to host events in between everything," says director Sølvi Lien.

Official opening at Almeland

Grunde Almeland kjem til Førde for å stå for den offisielle opninga, og vil også halde opningsinnlegget på Førdekonferansen – Draumar vi ber på. Almeland er stortingspolitikar, vald inn som leiar av Venstre sitt fylkeslag i Oslo.

Andreas Ljones is in charge of directing the grand opening concert production. He is currently a producer at Riksscenen in Oslo.