Aro is a tangata-tiriti* based duo made up of Charles Looker (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Te Ata, Ngāti Mutunga) and Emily Looker, blending reo Māori with soul, folk, and RnB through rich harmonies, heartfelt storytelling, and bilingual waiata inspired by whānau, whenua, and te ao Māori.

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Formed in 2017, the pair have built a devoted following across Aotearoa, touring extensively and releasing five studio projects alongside numerous singles, many of which have landed on the Official Aotearoa Music Charts. They are also recipients of Best Pop Album at the Waiata Māori Music Awards.​ Their most recent album, Tāwauwau (2026), explores themes of fantasy, faith, beauty, and longing. It's standout waiata, Puna Ora, plays on the richness of the word "puna" as it flows through mokopuna and tūpuna.

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The year 2026 marked a career high: Aro became the first act in the history of the APRA Maioha category to place two waiata on the shortlist in the same year.​ At the 61st annual APRA Silver Scroll Awards this year, they took home the Tohu Maioha for Puna Ora, receiving the most votes from their peers in the peer-voted award that, in its 24th year, honours kaitito waiata contemporising te reo Māori. ​​

Aro's music takes listeners back to a simpler, more elemental world — where calling pipes open gentle chords, voices intertwine like kauri roots, and the boundary between spoken waiata and song dissolves entirely. Their songs are built on stories — ancestral narratives of native trees, guardian whales, and the natural world — transformed through deep research and wānanga with iwi into waiata that carry messages of hope, love, and connection 

 

With Charles' kapa haka background and Emily's jazz roots, their sound carries a rare alchemy: the grounded strength of Māori performance tradition meeting the fluid elegance of jazz and soul . Their harmonies have been described as something greater than the sum of their parts, so much so that listeners say the live performance is the true highlight, where two voices and a single guitar become something vast and alive

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*tangata titiri - treaty, referring to the Te Titiri o Waitangi , Treaty of Waitangi of Aotearoa.