New Delhi: Chirag Rashmikant Patel’s childhood dream was to appear on Coke Studio in India or Pakistan. Today, the Gujarati-origin rapper, along with his partner Magdi Omar Ytreeide Abdelmaguid, is selling out shows across Norway. The ticket sales for their final concerts even crashed the ticketing platform due to high traffic.
The Gujarati-Egyptian rap duo, Karpe, is preparing for retirement in 2028.
“My dream was to play Coachella. Chirag’s childhood dream was to appear on Coke Studio in India or Pakistan,” Abdelmaguid said. In 2024, the group appeared alongside several other Norwegian-diaspora performers on Coke Studio Pakistan’s Piya Piya Calling.
From childhood dreams to a cross-cultural sound
Karpe’s rise began in the 2000s, and their popularity continued to expand over the years. In 2022, the duo sold out Norway’s largest concert venue, Oslo Spektrum, for 10 shows. What makes this notable is that they have continuously used Gujarati and Arabic cultural references in their music, making their heritage part of their artistic identity. Their lyrics have underlying themes of racism, immigration, and colonialism.
In January 2022, Karpe released Omar Sheriff, a six-song project that the duo described as “diaspora-pop.” It blends Gujarati, Arabic, Norwegian and other languages, combining Indian and Arabic melodies with hip-hop and pop.
It explores themes of family, identity and belonging, drawing on Chirag and Magdi’s multicultural backgrounds. The project also became a major success in Norway, breaking streaming records in the country.
Karpe’s popularity reaches new heights
Karpe hosted the ‘Karpe World’ festival in July, where the festival sold 105,000 tickets – about three per cent of Norway’s population. Before the festival started, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and then-Crown Prince Haakon Magnus sent the group their dream setlists. The whole festival was themed around the duo.
On September 14, the group opened ticket sales for its final shows, with 10,000 people in the digital waiting room an hour before the sale opened. The duo initially announced 21 shows at Oslo Spektrum, but later expanded the run to 27 indoor shows. When ticket sales opened, the ticketing platform Ticketmaster crashed due to high traffic.
Following the ticketing frenzy, the duo donated the profits to refugees, immigrants, and victims of war crimes.
In 2019, the duo donated the master rights to their entire catalogue to a foundation they established for refugees and immigrants, called the Patel & Abdelmaguid Foundation.
Karpe’s final tour is set to conclude with a farewell show at Oslo Spektrum in August 2028.
Edited by Maryam Hassan