Artist: Ida Elina
Hometown: Helsinki, Finland
Song: “When I Was 10”
Album: Capital Letters
Release Date: September 19, 2022
Label: Hello World Records
In Their Words: “When growing up my best friend and I would do almost everything together. We became friends in elementary school and it really felt so comfortable to have a really good friend. I still remember that one summer when she no longer wanted to be my best friend. We were finished with elementary school and junior high was just about to begin. I felt so lost. I had never thought there would be a time I wouldn’t have my best friend by my side and now I was facing my worst fear — to be left alone. And alone I felt for the next three years in junior high. In this song I travel back to the happy days of summer when we were still best friends but how things in life rarely stay the same. I felt a bit nostalgic writing this but also saddened by the events as I carried the wounds of what had happened far into my adult life.
“The instrument is the national instrument of Finland. It’s quite common that if a child (oftentimes a girl) plays the kantele, they started their hobby as a child. Well, I didn’t. I started to play the kantele when I was 13 and my main reason for the sudden interest towards the instrument was just to tease my little sister who at that time was very much into the instrument. I quickly fell in love with the instrument myself as well (I initially thought the kantele was the most boring instrument in the world).” — Ida Elina
Photo Credit: Hannu Ali-Löytty
