With their world-ribbed sounds, precise arrangements and a catalogue of songs, Pacific Curls make music that is both worldly and enthralling.
The three members, who will perform this Saturday in the Comox Valley, 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, Ora Barlow and Jessica Hindin perform music with depth and originality that touches the inner essence of their musicality. With a cornerstone of backbeat Pacific rhythms, vivacious fiddle playing 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 fiddle 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 2010, WOMAD UK 2011, WOMAD Earth Station 2011, City of London Festival, Borneo Rainforest World Music Festival, 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 beyond.
For more about the group, visit www.pacificcurls.com.
They perform this Saturday at Coastal Trek Resort (8100 Forbidden Plateau Rd.). Doors open at 5 p.m., dinner is at 6 and the show is at 7:30. Tickets cost $40 and include dinner.
Call 1-800-577-0157 for more details.
— Coastal Trek Resort