Aro at the Sunday Sit Down

Aro are a New Zealand jazz-pop, husband and wife duo made up of Charles (Ng?puhi, Te Rarawa, Waikato, Te Ati Awa) and Emily Looker (nee Rice). The pair have packed up their life into a van and are on an Aotearoa-wide tour.

See them at Blue Smoke’s ‘The Sunday Sit Down Get Down’ folk club event.

Our doors open at 3pm and the music always starts at 4pm so make sure you come early to get settled in.

There is a suggested ‘Koha’ entry for this event we encourage you to support the musicians and pay what you can afford.

Last July, Aro released their debut ‘Aro EP’, four tracks that talk about their newly-wed love for each other and of their life together.

Since then, the pair have ditched their full time jobs to live in a van and pursue music. They came up with the idea to call their duo ‘Aro’ because of the conversation they feel sharing music brings. “Aro” is to face and to be faced. They’re all about connecting with people, sharing stories and hearing stories, and all done in love. “Aro mai, Aro atu, Aroha”.

Their first summer was spent on the road playing from campground to campground, gig to gig around the north island completing their debut campground tour; where the couple exchanged music for a few nights accommodation at some of the most buzzing kiwi campgrounds, bringing people together around songs and stories.??

The nationwide tour begins at Leigh Sawmill on Friday 9th of April where they’ll be joined by local band “The Low Low”. With over 25 gig’s booked, the van-dwelling duo are taking their music all over Aotearoa, venturing as far south as Stewart Island and back to the top.

As well as working on an album due to release in Summer 2018/2019, Aro are creating their ‘Van Jams’ EP; quirky videos recorded live from their van (Jamba).