Sweden's Sarah Assbring a.k.a. "El Perro Del Mar"
El Perro Del Mar or The Dog of the Sea is not exactly the stage name you'd expect for a Swedish musician.
But don't tell that to Sarah Assbring.
She says the name El Perro Del Mar came from a trip to Spain and her connection with a stray dog there.
These days, Assbring's creating music from Stockholm, Sweden.
She recently told us the inspiration behind her latest release, "KoKoro," came about from exploring different instruments.
Assbring highlighted one particular track for us. It's the latest single, "Breadandbutter."
She says this is one of the first songs she wrote for the album. "I actually went to a music museum with my 2-year-old son at that time, and I found some instruments that I completely fell in love with."
One of those instruments was the guzheng, which is a stringed instrument, a type of Chinese zither.
In describing the studio where the album was recorded, Assbring says, you'd find "shakuhachi flutes from Japan, different flutes from Africa, dulcimers of various sorts … just a lot of wonderful instruments that I completely, completely love."
The ultimate goal for Assbring was to create a sort of "borderless feeling that music from all places belong together."
To put it another way, she says, "I want to kind of obliterate geographical borders between music and people."
The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!