The couple, Emily and Charles Looker (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua, Ngāti Mutunga), have released two albums, two EPs and numerous singles including Te Karanga just last month. Last year they won the Waiata Māori Music Award for Best Pop Album (2024) for their latest album He Rākau, He Ngārara and were longlist finalists for the APRA Silver Scrolls for the second year (2023 & 2024). They were also finalists for Best Māori Group at the Waiata Māori Music Awards (2022); the APRA Best Children’s Song Award (2020) and the Silver Scrolls Maioha Award (2019). But it was after the arrival of their second child that they felt inspired to rent out their home in Pukekohe, to travel across Aotearoa in a caravan -writing music, running songwriting workshops, and doing gigs.

“We travel a lot with our music already,” says Emily. “We just thought - wouldn't it be cool to have a home on wheels, that we can take with us where we go, rather than constantly setting up in Airbnbs. It would be a fun time with our tamariki to experience a bit of travel along with the music.”

As if life on the road with two preschoolers isn’t busy enough, the couple have been writing their songs inspired by Aotearoa – its stories and nature. They’re also running songwriting workshops for school students interested in te ao Māori and songwriting, which create a musical heritage for their kura. “The students use a story from their local whenua or the local iwi, and we work with them, and guide it, and by the end of every workshop, every school's written a song out of it, and it's been beautiful.”

There have been so many school workshops since they designed them last year that Emily’s lost count, but she thinks the one at Wakatipu High School this month, will be about the twentieth. “We're trying to get into the off-the-beaten-track places where there aren’t as many artists travelling through,” says Emily.

There will also be a songwriting workshop at Te Atamira for all ages and abilities. It’s very different to the school workshops but still aims to inspire people to pick up pen and paper and craft their own song. And always accompanying them (with a whānau member to help) are Olive, who is four and one-year-old Teaumarino, Emily says they help break the ice, wherever they go.

There are two gigs in the Whakatipu with An Evening with Aro at Te Atamira and the Headwaters in Glenorchy. “Definitely expect a very special, intimate show. It's going to be a musical experience of harmonies, storytelling and our bicultural lifestyle. Hopefully a whole lot of love and enjoyment can be had and felt by the listeners when they come along to the show. We’re also planning a more creative way to make sure people know what we’re singing about, with less of the actual speaking between the songs.”

The duo may debut a song that’s been written on this tour - inspired by the places they’ve been, things they’ve seen and most of all - their change of lifestyle.

“Back home, Charles was working another job, and there were lots of days where I'd be off with kids doing a million things, and now it's all of us doing it all together. That's probably why our two tamariki are loving it so much, kids just want to be with their people, don't they?”

So far the Aro tour has been to Hamilton, the Bay of Plenty, West Coast, Dunedin, and when the Arthur’s Pass proved too steep for caravans – an unexpected detour through the Haast Pass and a stop in Wānaka as well.

“Definitely some things we’re going to get better at - in terms of making it work! One of them will be slowing down a bit and not booking too many things in different towns day after day. Moving constantly can take its toll on us. And then just learning how to best work in a space like this, two adults, being in a small space with our kids, spending 24/7 together which we haven't done before - especially with our two very different personalities.”

There have been quite a few adjustments to make. Writing music has always been something that happens once the kids are asleep, but more and more, they’re becoming part of the process.

“Our next album is definitely going to be heavily inspired by the magic of life that we're getting to witness at the moment with two little people and seeing the things that their eyes are open to as we travel, helping us to slow down and notice the little things as well. Especially Olive, every now and then she'll just start singing a little tune, and we've called it the ‘oriori jams’, and maybe a couple of these ideas will make it onto the new album.”

Emily laughs: “We'll be putting a little royalties account together for the kids, for anything that they've created. We’re glad to be here, and with our music as our income, it’s awesome that we get to do this.”

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