Birth and ancestry
Deeyah was born Deepika Thathaal, at Ullevål sykehus hospital in Lambertseter, Oslo, Norway to Sunni Muslim parents. The family later moved to Grønland in Sentrum, then to Tåsen. Her father hailed from the Punjab province in Pakistan while her mother was a Pashtun of part Afghan, part Iranian ancestry belonging to the Durrani tribe. Where her father had an extended family living in Norway (her grandfather being amongst the very first Pakistani immigrants to the land), her mother had no family in the country.
At the time of her pregnancy, Deeyah's mother was only 18-years old and could not speak the Norwegian language. She found a nurse in an elderly Hindu Indian woman who helped her through her pregnancy and labour. The elderly lady picked the name Deepika for the child. The nanny died long after Deeyah was born. Deeyah has a brother named Adil Thathaal.
Her grandfather was one of the most well-respected Muslim elders in the Pakistani community in Norway. Proud of his
More about Deeyah (From Wikipedia)
Birth And Ancestry
Deeyah was born Deepika Thathaal, at Ullevål sykehus hospital in Lambertseter, Oslo, Norway to Sunni Muslim parents. The family later moved to Grønland in Sentrum, then to read more...
Early Musical Training
Deeyah's father was a music enthusiast and with his musical organisation well under way, he invited classical musical maestros from South Asia to teach music to young kids. He ensured read more...
Initial Career
Although she had been singing for national television for quite some time charting a couple of hit singles, her talent was finally recognised in 1992 when she sang at the opening read more...
Success And Controversies
She appeared in her first solo concert the same year at Vossa Jazz. Following the success of her first album, she came out with another in September 1995 under contract with BMG/Arista. read more...
Channeling Her Rage
Riddled with death threats and foul comments, the singer decided to travel to Los Angeles, United States of American.[citation needed] Once she reached America, she worked on more read more...
Sisterhood
To further protest against involvement of women of Muslims origins in music, Deeyah came back to the UK and collaborated with some of the rising Muslim stars, all of them women. read more...
As A Women's Right Activist
Celebrating her success and recent works for women against the norms of Muslim tradition, she was asked to contribute more of her music to the cause of women's rights. When she came read more...
Achievements
Deeyah is now considered amongst the very few female students to train under the classical Pakistani music maestro Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Sultan Khan. The former called read more...
Recent Times
In the recent history, Deeyah travelled back to the USA to collaborate with some other musicians on her next album title Ataraxis. Having scrapped all previous material, she worked read more...
Deeyah, born Deepika Thathaal (August 7, 1977 in Oslo, Norway), is a Pakistani-Norwegian singer, composer and human rights activist of Punjabi and Pashtun descent. Born to Sunni read more...