What is "waiora"

Waiora is a trio of three indigenous Māori performers from New Zealand.

The three members of Waiora are - Horomona Horo, Korey Atama, and Joshua Henare Rogers. The musical performances of Waiora are centred upon the ancient cultural practices of the Maori people and their musical instruments commonly referred to as Taonga Pūoro. Their performances combine elements of traditional war dances or haka, melodic songs with lyrics written in the Maori language, and instrumental music that fuses the mystical sounds of taonga pūoro with guitar and percussive instruments from around the globe.

When the group was formed in early 2013 Waiora was originally a duo with the founding members being Horomona Horo and Joshua Henare Rogers. In March 2014 Korey Atama joined the group just before Waiora's performance at WOMAD Taranaki.

Historically the concept of Waiora was formed many years earlier in 2002 at a taonga pūoro workshop held at the Heitiki Art Gallery in Rotorua, New Zealand. Taonga pūoro expert Richard Nunns and his protegé Horomona Horo were tutoring the workshop. Classical guitarist Joshua Henare Rogers had decided to attend the workshop to learn more about the instruments to help with his composition of the seminal opus for taonga puūoro and classical guitar 'He Karanga Ki Te Ao' premiered three years later in Whakatane.