Zaar’s Playground: A Danish Artist Who Creates New Instruments

Sara Flindt is a 22-year-old singer-songwriter-producer born in Silkeborg, Denmark. She moved to Aarhus to study music when she was 18, and has spent the past year studying music at FÍH music school in Reykjavík. Her recent work—created as alter-ego ZAAR—has been heard at festivals such as Roskilde (Denmark), G! Festival (Faroe Islands), Iceland Airwaves and, most recently, at an intimate church concert at LungA festival in East-Iceland.

Support from people

For Sara, music came quite naturally from a young age. “I’ve never had to push making music. I just do it because it feels good, and I’ve had supportive people around,“ she says. “I grew up with my great grandmother’s out of tune piano, a broken trumpet, a harmonica, and my mom’s age-old experience singing in choirs.”

Sara has found that her biggest inspiration in music comes from her environment. “I live in Árbær, where I usually fall asleep to the sound of a river,” she says. “You can see Snæfellsjökull glacier through the windows when its not cloudy. It’s hard to find words to describe this place, and its best experienced live and in the present.”

No rules

Through ZAAR, another of Sara’s childhood dreams—to become an inventor—has now become a reality. “My current setup consists of a number of effect pedals, a loop station and a drum machine,” she says. “The pedals are my playground and my way to create my own instruments and escape the classical expectations of vocals. There are no rules on my playground, and everyone is welcome to join me.”

Sara will continue to work as Zaar with numerous creatives she has teamed up with like ceramicist Antonía Bergþórsdóttir, violinist Rakel Sigurðardóttir, singer Salóme Katrín and textile designer Ása Bríet Bratta. Last month saw the release of her single “Our Love Is Dead”—the first from her upcoming EP ‘Lost My Sense Of Humour’. “Tied-in with the release,” she finishes, “I will play some shows with my band in Denmark, which is very exciting!”

Listen to ZAAR’s most recent music on Spotify. Go to facebook.com/ZAAR.DK for her upcoming events and follow her on Instagram via @zaar.music. Read more about music here.