With the release of her debut album Red Umbrella, Astrid introduces a genuine fusion of Bossa/Pop/Jazz and Chill, and reveals herself as an artist with a style and sound of her own. 'This album is very important to me. It's my debut album and three of the compositions are remixes of recordings I did about five years ago, they never really made it out into the world at that time. They were important to me so we did a remix of them and added them to the more recent songs. One of the remixes is an instrumental composition Eyes of Abraham which I composed for my dad.' Red Umbrella was produced by Kerry Galloway and co-produced by Astrid. Born and raised in the Netherlands, Astrid developed her musical sensibilities early with the support of her father, well known conductor Wim Sars. He played organ and conducted Gregorian masses in cathedrals, and at a young age Astrid sang in her father's church choirs along with her two sisters. Listening to jazz and Brazilian music with her parents at home also profoundly influenced her style. Over the years Astrid has built on her musical background, successfully creating a unique sound. She is a charismatic vocalist and versatile, skilled performer playing alto sax and flute. She has performed and collaborated with many great Canadian and European musicians, and some of her music has been featured in film, documentaries and dance productions. In 2000 Astrid co-founded The Ironworks, a production space in a beautiful heritage building in Vancouver, Canada. There she has organized multiple events: spoken word shows, singer-songwriter events, and several music series featuring local, national and international artists. Astrid contributes to ongoing art exhibits at The Ironworks, which is also a favored shooting location by the film industry. Besides having just finished her debut CD Red Umbrella and performing with her band, Astrid also performs with New York poet Leanne Averbach in Vancouver, Toronto and New York. 'Her music is filled with passion, her stage presence exciting...really quite something to watch.' ~Alfie Zappacosta.