Pacific Curls

With its world-ribbed sounds, precise arrangements and a catalogue of songs that link the Pacific’s primal myths to Scotland’s mysticism, Pacific Curls – one Rotuman, one Maori, and a Scot – make music that is both worldly and enthralling. Over the five years they’ve played together, the three members have accumulated an impressive instrumental collection featuring the ukulele, cajon, fiddle, taonga puoro - traditional Maori instruments, guitar, stomp box, kalimba, various percussive instruments and vocals with lyrics in Te Reo Maori, Rotuman and English.

Kim Halliday (Rotuman/NZ Scottish), Sarah Beattie (Scottish) and Ora Barlow (Te Whanau-a-Apanui/English) perform music with depth and originality that touches the inner essence of their musicality. With a cornerstone of backbeat Pacific rhythms, vivacious fiddle playing evoking the Scottish highlands and evocative Maori instrumentation and lyrics, Pacific Curls have pioneered a fusion sound that seamlessly blend their indigenous roots. Classifying their sound is a challenge. Their use of jazz chordal transitions, traditional Scottish tunes, expressive vocals, political and moving lyrics in Maori and English, their use of world instruments with Pacific style beats and moods, shakes and bakes it all into a contemporary intriguing edginess.

With an international audience rapidly growing, particularly after appearances at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games celebrations, WOMAD NZ, Vancouver Island Music Festival, Winnipeg Music Festival, Ulsan World Music Festival (South Korea) and extensive touring throughout Canada, Australia, South Korea, New Caledonia, Europe and Aotearoa (New Zealand), this is a band that creates a window into the global sounds of the Pacific and Scotland. ‘Music is universal, and to discover the music of a culture is to discover the culture as a whole.’ So if you want to put your finger on the pulse of a global sound, check out the Pacific Curls experience.