Imarhan and Dirty Three to Oslo World 2026!
This year's first artist release! An an Australian cult trio fronted by Warren Ellis, and one of the most distinct bands in modern Tuareg music.
The Australian cult trio Dirty Three, led by The Bad Seeds member and composer Warren Ellis, is coming to Cosmopolite on October 30! Later the same evening, Imarhan, one of the most vital bands in the new wave of Tuareg music, will perform. If you like the desert blues of Tinariwen or Bombino, this band is for you.
Tickets go on sale Friday, with the option to buy a double ticket for the whole evening at Cosmopolite. Follow our newsletter for more announcements and access to presales. We’re excited to reveal many more artists in the weeks to come.
"You are never alone with Dirty Three", Warren Ellis said to a London concert crowd in December 2025. The wait was over – many years after their last visit to Europe, the inimitable instrumental cult trio was back, following the release of their 2024 album Love Changes Everything. This year, Warren Ellis, Mick Turner and Jim White will visit Oslo World.
There’s really nothing like them. Dirty Three was formed in Melbourne in 1992 and built a devoted international following with their instrumental rock, which blends post-rock, folk, and free-jazz influences. 90s records like Horse Stories and Ocean Songs got many accolades – but their most recent releases show a band digging even deeper. Through improvisation and interplay, they seek the emotional, raw core of this music, creating a truly special bond with their devoted audience.
Through his inimitable presence in Nick Cave's band, Ellis will surely be the most well known member, but both Turner and White are essential figures of the Australian underground scene, with a global reach (White visited Oslo World a while ago, as part of the duo Xylouris White).
When Imarhan released their self-titled debut album in 2016, they stepped into a genre flooded with talent, but they still managed to rise to the top and were heralded as the “new wave Of Tuareg music“ by Fact Magazine and The Guardian.
Imarhan are sometimes called the little brothers of Tinariwen – and although the bands are quite different in many ways, there is something to it: Imarhans front figure, Iyad Moussa Ben Abderahmane (aka Sadam), is a cousin of Tinariwen bass player Eyadou Ag Leche, and at early stages in their career, Imarhan got guidance from the modern Tuareg legends.
They have also created a world of their own. On their albums, Imarhan have sought to expand their pallet of sounds, drawing on funk, fuzz, disco and rock, playing ever more raucous, ecstatic live shows, while pushing their studio sound into new territories. Their 2026 album Essam is a bubbling and playful affair, expanding on the band's nimble acoustic sounds with subtle use of electronics and effects. .
