MUSICAL ENVIRONMENT
Elins parents were very much into classical music as well as Swedish folk music by, for instance, Evert Taube and Sven Bertil Taube. Elin’s grandfather was a church choir singer all his life and others in the family sang also in choirs. Her uncle Svenn Brimheim was a reknown guitarist. The family’s music was very much part of Elin’s daily life through all of her childhood and has off course had a great influence.
Here Elin is at 4 years old singing with her uncle, Svenn Brimheim, her mother Maud Heinesen, her father Jens Pauli Heinesen, and her great-aunt Anna Arnesen:
But also the very lively song tradition on the Faroe Islands where Elin grew up, has influenced her. Faroese people love to party and sing together. Every small town has it’s own choir or brass band. And Tórshavn has it’s own symphony orchestra, which is quite an achievement for a small town of only around 20.000 people.
IN A PROGRAM FOR KIDS
The first time the public ever heard Elin sing was when she was only 6 years old. She sang a Faroese children’s song – “Nú fiskur er á grunninum” by Hans Andrias Djurhuus – in a children’s program on the Faroese public radio station. Unfortunately the recording has been lost.
Here Elin is at six years old with her parents. She wears the Faroese national costume:
In 1969, when she was 11 years old, Elin was interviewed again in a children’s program about her stay in Fuengirola in southern Spain, where she had been living with her parents for a year, going to Spanish school and living her life among the Andalusians. This time she sang the Spanish national anthem and a Spanish song most Spanish kids know. Also this recording has been lost.
Here Elin is in the schoolyard at the Spanish school she went to, where the children stood in line singing the national anthem every morning, before going to classes:
Here are the lyrics to the song she sang in the Faroese national radio:
El Barquito Chiquitito
Había una vez
un barquito chicqutito
Había una vez
un barquito chiquitio
que no sabía
que no sabía
que no sabía
navegar
Pasaron un, dos trés
quatro, cinco, seis semanas
Pasaron un, dos trés
quatro, cinco, seis semanas
y aquel barquito
y aquel barquito
y aquel barquito
navegó
Y si esta historia,
parece corta,
volveremos,
volveremos,
a empezar
Había una vez
un barquito chiquitito,
había una vez
un barquito chiquitito
que no sabia
que no sabía
que no sabía, navegar…..
etc
Go on to: 1970-1980
