At the age of 12, Saara Aalto recorded a song that woke up to its new heyday 20 years later.
Saara Aalto is involved in a charity campaign. Antti Kokkola
Saara Aalto released a song on June 16 that he originally composed and composed at the age of only 12. Now Aalto recorded This World together with children who speak several different languages as their mother tongue.
In the song, Aalto is heard both as an adult and as a 12-year-old child. The song serves as an opening for a charity project whose proceeds will be channeled entirely through Save the Children to children in war, crisis and conflict.
With the corona break, Aalto went through his own archives and found a song recorded in 1999 with all its soundtracks. During the war in Ukraine, he understood how topical This World is right now. At the same time, there was a strong desire to help.
Aalto recorded the song again and wanted to give a voice to all the children growing up in unstable conditions around the world. Therefore, it was important that the new version include children from different backgrounds, in different mother tongues.
Ten children were invited to sing in French, Estonian, Tamil, Swahili, Chinese, Czech, Swedish, Dutch, Spanish, Finnish and English as a children’s choir.
– I hope that This World could be a similar turning point in people’s life as it was for me when I composed and recorded it when I was 12 years old, Saara Aalto adds.
Saara and Aini singing in the song. Antti Kokkola
The new single quickly grew into a charity campaign, the proceeds of which will be channeled through Save the Children’s Finnish and UK offices to humanitarian work to help children affected by wars and crises.
– It is important for me personally to help children suffering from wars, because my own grandparents got into the middle of wars in the 40’s. My grandfather had to leave his home in Vyborg and go on evacuation because of the bombing, and my grandmother was sent to Sweden with the help of Save the Children. My grandparents ’experiences are a big part of my story too, she describes.
Save the Children is one of the world’s largest humanitarian NGOs. With the help of donors Save the Children delivers emergency aid to the most challenging and dangerous places in the world. With the support of donors, children and families receive food, clean water, toiletries, emergency shelters and medicines, among other things. Save the Children reached 43 million children in need in 2021.