by Sean Westergaard
Hoahio began in 1997, when Haco began performing with koto player Yagi Michiyo and sampler manipulator Sachiko M. They took their name from a misspelling of "ohayo," which means "good morning" in Japanese, and released their first album on Sachiko M's Amoebic label. Their second album, Ohayo! Hoahio!, was released in 2000 on John Zorn's Tzadik label, after which Sachiko M left the group. Haco and Michiyo continued performing as a duo until 2002, when percussionist Mari Era joined the fold. As a trio again, Hoahio released Peek-Ara-Boo in 2003, again on Tzadik.