Ria Hall has been singing since she was a teenager. Now at the age of 28, she is ready to taker her musical career to a new level. The Daily Post entertainment reporter Kristin Macfarlane talks to the talented woman about her music, the Bay of Plenty and her future.
Ria Hall is young, beautiful and amazingly talented.
Even though she isn't a household name yet, her face is recognised not only throughout New Zealand, but all over the world.
The Bay of Plenty woman _ who was born and raised in Tauranga and has Te Arawa links through her father _ released her self-titled EP on Monday.
It features all original tracks and Ria (Ngai Te Rangi, Ngati Ranginui, Te Whanau a Apanui, Ngati Porou, Ngati Tuwharetoa and te Arawa), who wrote every song, describes it as ``different''.
She finds it hard to categorise her music, calling it a mix of roots and reggae with a bit of ragga, soul, old skool, hip hop and 90s sounds. Her lyrics are written in both Maori and English. But it seems whatever she is doing, she is doing right _ her EP debuted at Number six on the iTunes Top Albums list and at Number one on the Top R&B/Soul album list.
``I think a lot of people expect to hear the status quo,'' Ria says.
The songstress has had the help of ``some awesome people'' to get where she is, including Kiwi musicians Rikki Gooch and Eru Dangerspiel.
While releasing her first EP is a significant milestone in her music career, Ria's biggest gig to date was performing at the opening ceremony of Rugby World Cup 2011 at Auckland's Eden Park. There, she took centre stage and shared her talents with millions of rugby fans around the world.
Despite having such a major audience, Ria was surprisingly calm.
``When I can't see people's faces, I'm fine,'' she says.
There was a moment when she started getting nervous during the performance, which brought with it a feeling of relief _ relief that she was ``actually human''.
Ria was hunted down to audition for the prime spot and scored the gig she describes as ``amazing''.
``I actually didn't anticipate it at all. I almost started to cry.''
She had to keep her lips sealed about the major gig, signing a confidentiality agreement about her role. When she took the stage during the ceremony many people across New Zealand were happily surprised to see the Tauranga woman there.
More than a third of the population watched television coverage of the opening night of the Rugby World Cup and almost 1.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the All Blacks take on Tonga
``The feedback, it's been [positive], I'm still getting it now,'' Ria says.
``My phone's been blowing up since I got off the stage.''
It's not surprising Ria did so well in the widely televised performance. She is no stranger to performing. As a teenager, she started singing and performing in her school kapa haka group at Tauranga Girls' College, which gave her an appreciation for music.
``I sort of found myself in another head space.''
Before that, she was more focused on sport, playing netball, volleyball, touch and basketball and was considering pursuing a career in politics.
But she couldn't stay away from the music.
``I found that I wasn't too bad at this performing arts thing and I wasn't too bad at singing,'' she says modestly.
She later joined the world-class kapa haka group Waka Huia, of which she remains a member.
Her voice became her job and Ria performed in New Zealand and Sydney, Australia but it wasn't until 2006 in Wellington that she started taking her music seriously and co-formed reggae band Hope Road.
She's never looked back and felt now was the right time to release her EP.
``I have no regrets,'' she says. ``I just want to thank everyone that helped me, everyone that has helped me along my 11-year journey, no matter how big or small.''
She has shared the stage with fellow Tauranga boy-turned Australian idol winner and music star Stan Walker and only recently finished working to focus on her music. That means we can expect to hear and see a lot more of Ria in the near future.
``If I don't give it a good crack now, then I'm going to have regrets when I'm older.''
She hopes to tour New Zealand including Tauranga and Rotorua, Whangarei, Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
And as she pursues musical success, she plans to continue working towards becoming a fluent speaker of te reo Maori.
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