Aro Win The 2026 APRA Maioha Award
We are so proud of our Tiriti-based duo, Aro, who took out this year’s APRA Maioha Award!
The peer-voted award is dedicated to honouring the community of kaitito waiata contemporising te reo Māori. This year the award was presented to Emily Looker and Charles Looker (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Te Ata, Ngāti Mutunga) who perform as Aro. Two of their waiata landed on the shortlist this year, a first for the Maioha category, with Puna Ora receiving the most votes by their peers. Puna Ora comes from Aro’s latest album Tāwauwau (2026) which explores fantasy, faith, beauty, and longing.
Puna Ora plays on the richness of the word puna – as it flows through mokopuna and tūpuna. Aro explain, “The song is about awakening that inner puna ora, that living spring inside us that connects us to our tūpuna, our tamariki, and to something beyond what we can see.”
Aro have been creating bilingual waiata since forming in 2017, known for their rich harmonies and heartfelt storytelling inspired by whānau, whenua, and te ao Māori. They have toured extensively across Aotearoa, released five studio projects, numerous singles in between with many landing on the Official Aotearoa Music Charts, and won Best Pop Album at the Waiata Māori Music Awards. This is Aro’s first award win at the APRA Silver Scrolls, having landed on the Maioha shortlist once before, and the Silver Scroll Top 20 twice.
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