Bio

Ingrid Ekdahl was born and raised in New Plymouth. her ancestory includes swedish, danish, english, scottish and maori lineage. her Iwi is Te Atiawa.

During her seventh form year she completed grade 8 performance in Piano and Bursary before moving to Dunedin in 1989 to begin a BA in Maori Studies which she completed over the following years.

During this time she performed with the 3-piece all-girl group Piki Riwai who had a track included on the 'Shrewd' compilation. The band performed regularly and toured the South Island twice during the time they were together.

During 1994 she changed her name by Deed Poll to Sola Monday, a move she describes as being "anti-name" in intent and essentially symbolic, sola-sun, monday-moon. these pagan/enochian themes are ever present in her music and are further developed in the imagery created for the swing festival.

Sola made an application to the (then) QE2 Arts Council New Recording Artists Scheme. Her application was succesful. a decision was made to record a full length album and work laying down basic instrument and voice tracks began in december 1994 with Bryan Spittle.

During the 94/95 New Year festivities at the entrain dance event near Nelson, Sola experienced her first "psychotic episode". She was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and travelled to the UK and spent most of 1995 living there with her mother.

Upon her return work resumed and 23 basic tracks were layed down over the following 3 years. two demo versions of 'Fume' and 'Swallow' were completed during this time and both spent considerable time at the top of the radio one top 11 and the latter appeared on the first Arc compilation CD.

During 1998 overdubbing began in earnest. the bulk of tracking was completed during December 98 and January 99. many musicians and instrumentalists from all over New Zealand contributed to the recordings, at last count 22. Then began the editing process and cdrs were despatched off to Dale Cotton in auckland to begin final edits and mixdown. dale subsequently moved to Dunedin during early spring '99 and Ed McWilliams and Craig Monk were flown down for another four days of tracking during September 99.

Dale and Bryan then completed final edits and mixdown over the ensuing 6 months.

During this time Sola began a Diploma in Social Work and is currently employed as a Mental Health Support Worker. Sola is a pro-active and fervent supporter of mental health issues and her local profile with her work and music undoubtedly led to the local like minds committee contributing $1500 dollars to 'The Swing Festival' project in 1999.

Sola has continued to perform solo during recent years and with a band on a handful of occasions. She has been rehearsing with drummer Heath Te Au and bassist Robin Murphy during 2001 in preparation for the release of her album and the subsequent national tour.

Band Members:
Ingrid Ekdahl