Tromsø World 2025 closing event

Tromsø World 2025 closing event:

 

PUMPEGRIS (Norway)

LEYLA McCALLA(Haiti / USA)

MIE BERGH (Norway)

 

Young female voices: A celebration of power and diversity

Tromsø World 2025 closes the festival with an inspiring and powerful evening presenting young female voices from different corners of the world. Join us on Saturday, 1. November for an unforgettable night at Hovedscenen, Kulturhuset, featuring Mie Bergh, Leyla McCalla, and Pumpegris—each bringing their unique voice, culture, and creativity to the stage.

The evening will begin with Mie Bergh, a Tromsø-based musician and composer, blending vibraphone, guitar, and vocals with electronic music. Mie has captivated audiences at various festivals, including Tromsø Jazz Festival and Insomnia Festival, and will present a specially crafted concert for this occasion. Her sound fuses genres and instruments in an intimate exploration of modern, experimental music rooted in northern folk traditions.

Next, the incredible Leyla McCalla, a Grammy-nominated artist and founding member of Our Native Daughters. Known for her mastery of the cello and banjo, McCalla blends Afro-diasporic rhythms, American folk, blues, and Afrobeat into a captivating sound that is deeply rooted in both history and modernity. Her new album Sun Without The Heat reflects joy, transformation, and the ongoing struggles for liberation. McCalla’s storytelling is poignant and powerful, drawing inspiration from Afrofuturism and Black feminist thinkers, bringing forth a music of both personal growth and collective unity.

Pumpegris will electrify the stage with their unique blend of Norwegian folk music, rap, shoegaze, and funk. What a mix! Their debut album Fritids merges Norwegian cultural heritage with modern sounds, blending slåtter with rap, fuzz guitars with hymn tones, and a contagious groove. Pumpegris brings an exciting and fresh perspective to Norwegian folk, showing how the old can be reinvented in vibrant, fun, and rebellious ways.

This closing event will be a celebration of young female artists who break boundaries and speak through their music with strength, creativity, and courage. From Mie Bergh’s electronic and folk fusion, to Leyla McCalla’s transformative storytelling, and Pumpegris’s energetic, genre-defying performance, this night will be one of pure musical power and inspiration.

Don’t miss this powerful evening of music, culture, and storytelling – a night that highlights the immense talent, creativity, and resilience of young female voices around the world.

Leyla Mcalla

Pumpegris

Mie Bergh

Separate text for each artist:

PUMPEGRIS (Norway)

The bold and unconventional folk revolution

Pumpegris are the sound of rebellion and freedom, where folk music is set free from its traditional boundaries and reinvented for the modern era. Their explosive blend of genres, including rap, shoegaze, and funk, is not only about breaking the rules—it’s about reimagining what Norwegian folk music can sound like today.

Led by Vera Sonne, whose voice dances between traditional kveding and bold rap flows, Pumpegris is all about pushing the envelope. They take classic Norwegian folk melodies and twist them into new, electrified forms, exploring everything from cultural appropriation to musical innovation, and injecting humour and irreverence into everything they do.

Their debut album, Fritids, is a celebration of youthful rebellion, taking folk music and reinterpreting it through the lens of modern youth culture. Their fearless approach to genre and their energetic live performances are sure to make this a night of unpredictable fun and bold experimentation.

🎶 Get ready to experience a genre-defying performance that redefines folk music in all its forms with Pumpegris.

MIE BERGH (Norway)

A visionary soundscape from our Tromsø

Mie Bergh is a young musician who is brave enough to blur the boundaries between genres and disciplines. With a rich background in both classical percussion and electronic music, Mie brings a unique sonic vision that connects past and present, acoustic and electronic, creating a deeply personal soundscape.

Her work is a fusion of technology and tradition: vibraphonist and guitarist by training, she uses laptop-based compositions to shape intricate, atmospheric layers that complement her delicate vocal style. This blurring of boundaries isn’t just a stylistic choice; it’s the very core of what makes Mie Bergh’s music stand out. By merging the organic sounds of Tromsø’s northern landscapes with electronic textures, she creates an experience that feels both timeless and futuristic, rooted in the traditions of Nordic folk but propelled forward into new musical territories.

Her ability to seamlessly meld live instruments with electronics offers a multi-layered listening experience, where every performance is an exploration of sound, emotion, and innovation.

🎶 Hug Mie Bergh for a mesmerizing journey into a world where folk meets technology, creating something entirely new.

LEYLA McCALLA (Haiti / USA)

A storyteller bridging cultures through music

Known for her multilingual voice and ability to play multiple instruments, Leyla McCalla is an artist whose music is deeply rooted in the legacy of Afro-diasporic traditions while exploring new musical landscapes. What sets McCalla apart is not only her ability to perform, but her ability to weave narratives that resonate with listeners from all walks of life.

Her influences range from Caribbean folk and blues to Afrobeat and American gospel, creating a rich and diverse sound that feels both rooted in the past and forward-looking in its exploration of social themes. Through her music, McCalla touches on themes of identity, migration, and cultural preservation, all while providing a platform for social change and unity.

As a member of the influential collective Our Native Daughters, and an alumna of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, McCalla’s collaborative spirit is at the heart of her artistry. Her performances are always a reminder of the power of storytelling through music, with a sound that is as soulful as it is powerful.

🎶 Feel Leyla McCalla’s masterful storytelling, where history, culture, and music converge in a spellbinding performance.