Polytropos

New Zealanders Oscar West and Rennie Pearson are celebrating ten years of playing together as the traditional music duo Polytropos. They have recently released their first album which they are touring around the country this summer. They will be bringing the music of Scotland, Ireland and Cape Breton to life.

Multi-instrumentalists West and Pearson take inspiration from their name Polytropos - an ancient Greek word meaning “many twists and turns” or “the much-wandering thing” to inform their approach to arranging music from the Celtic tradition. Their passionate, conversational playing style weaves together the tones of the wooden flute, fiddle, guitar, smallpipes, whistles, voice and mandolin to present old melodies in exciting ways that celebrate the music’s odyssey from the hills of Ireland and Scotland to the rugged, natural landscapes of New Zealand.

West and Pearson’s infectious stage presence and musicality has been a hit with audiences since their debut concert at Wellington Folk Festival in 2011 and in the intervening years they have worked extensively as professional musicians both in New Zealand and internationally.