Ria Hall is a Māori recording artist and presenter on Maori TV's ''AIA Marae DIY'' in 2012-13.

Life and career

Hall was born in 1982 or 1983 and is of Ngāi Te Rangi/Ngāti Ranginui ancestry, and has three older sisters. She grew up in

Maungatapu Maungatapu is a mountain in New Zealand located on the border of the Nelson, New Zealand and Marlborough Regions. It lies in the Bryant Range. The mountain is 1014 metres high. ''Maungatapu'' is Māori for "sacred mountain". The mountain was t ...

and attended Maungatapu School,

Tauranga Intermediate Tauranga Intermediate is an Intermediate school situated in Tauranga, New Zealand. It is the largest in the country, with over 1,300 students in 45 classrooms. Houses Tauranga Intermediate, since the early days of the school, has had house grou ...

and Tauranga Girls' College. At secondary school she became interested in singing through

kapa haka Kapa haka is the term for Māori action songs and the groups who perform them. It literally means 'group' () and 'dance' (). Kapa haka is an important avenue for Māori people to express and showcase their heritage and cultural Polynesian identi ...

and later joined the kapa haka group Waka Huia. In

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

in 2006 Hall created a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

band called Hope Road. She sang at the opening ceremony for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and released her debut self-titled EP in 2011, which won Best Māori Album at the 2012 New Zealand Music Awards. In 2013 Hall featured as a

guest vocalist In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

Stan Walker Stan Walker (born 23 October 1990) is an Australian-born New Zealand singer, actor, and television personality. In 2009, Walker was the winner of the seventh and last season of ''Australian Idol''. He subsequently signed a recording contract ...

's single "

Like It's Over "Like It's Over" is a song by New Zealand-Australian recording artist Stan Walker from his fourth studio album '' Inventing Myself''. It was released as the fourth single from the album and features fellow New Zealand recording artist Ria Hall. ...

Musical style and influences

Hall classifies her music as mainly roots and reggae, with influences of

ragga Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Smi ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

and hip hop music. She grew up listening to reggae, soul, hip hop and R&B, and her mother listened to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Guest appearances

Notes

References

External links

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AudioCulture profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Ria New Zealand Māori women singers New Zealand reggae musicians 21st-century New Zealand women singers 1980s births Living people Pacific reggae Māori-language singers