Aro’s ‘Te Karanga’ A New Song For A New Season

Award-winning Aotearoa duo Aro are embracing a new season of life and releasing Te Karanga, their powerful new waiata to match. This Easter, Charles and Emily Looker (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua, Ngāti Mutunga), along with their two tamariki, packed up their Pukekohe home, moved their life into a custom-fitted Rugged Kiwi caravan, and hit the road to live a life centred around whānau, community, bicultural connection, and legacy.

It’s a bold lifestyle shift that mirrors the heart behind Te Karanga, their hopeful new waiata, released May 23rd, 2025.

"We should always find a way, when love calls — Karanga mai..."

Written in late 2024 after an unforgettable live set with TONES, Te Karanga captures a deeply personal moment for the duo — a call to respond to aroha, to move forward with hope, even when the path is uncertain. Unlike Aro’s earlier concept albums, often grounded in months of research into Te Taiao, this waiata poured out in an evening — raw, real, and deeply reflective of their lived experience.

Musically, Te Karanga weaves Aro’s signature bilingual artistry with an expansive, soulful sound, powered by the gospel energy of House of Misfits. Recorded, mixed, mastered and produced by talented Scott Seabright in Onewhero and at Auckland’s Lab Studio, it offers rich harmonies, irresistible groove, and the emotional authenticity that has earned Aro critical acclaim and public love — including most recently the, 2024 Waiata Māori Music Award for Best Pop Album.

In every way, Te Karanga is more than just a song. It’s a reflection of Aro’s kaupapa: to live with hope, to move with aroha, and to leave a legacy that calls others forward.

The song’s spirit is beautifully captured in its accompanying lyric video and its behind the scenes live recording video, with the former filmed by whanaunga Maioro Taylor (Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua) on Āwhitu Peninsula. It follows Emily and Charles walking a long road toward a small chapel — a visual metaphor for answering the call of aroha, carrying hope forward, and trusting in the journey.

The release of Te Karanga also follows a major milestone for Charles, who earlier this year stood with Muriwhenua to perform at Te Matatini 2025, reaffirming Aro’s deep commitment to uplifting te ao Māori through music, kaupapa, and action.

With their lives now woven into the land and its people in a new way, Aro are working towards their third full-length album, due for release in Autumn 2026 (supported by Te Māngai Paho), drawing inspiration from their adventures, their whānau life on the road, and their continued work delivering storytelling and songwriting workshops in kura across Aotearoa ( thanks to the NZ Music Commission).

Te Karanga is released on May 23rd, 2025, with thanks to Te Māngai Paho and NZ On Air through Waiata Takitahi.

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