BIRMINGHAM: Kitchen Garden Cafe

Thursday 28th November, 2024

7:30pm

Event information

Multiple Folk Award winning artist Bella Hardy started as a self-taught “fiddle singer”, performing at Cambridge and Sidmouth festivals from the age of 13. Her debut album Night Visiting established her reputation as a songwriter when her first original composition Three Black Feathers earned a BBC Folk Award nomination.

Bella has since become a regular on radio and television, notably singing solo in a sold-out Albert Hall at the Proms. She’s written and recorded with everyone from Beautiful South founder David Rotheray to folk luminary Eliza Carthy, and performed with the great Mary Chapin Carpenter on her UK tours.

Her seven-week residency in the Chinese city of Kunming was arranged by the British Council and the PRS For Music Foundation and resulted in the 2017 recording and release of Eternal Spring – an album of songs and poetry made in collaboration with Chinese singers and musicians.

“ Many young musicians can sing and play beautifully, few are as adventurous and intriguing as Hardy” (Songlines Magazine)

“ Her uncompromising, June Taboresque alto and imaginative, original material —from ye olde narrative ballads to modern love songs — are enduringly seductive” (The Telegraph).

“Ultimately, what Hardy has done here is make a folk album for people who don’t normally like folk music. In doing so, it’s both a credit to her and the genre.” (Q Magazine).

“…the lovelorn lines of “The Only Thing To Do” tumble out over the loveliest melody imaginable.” (The Financial Times).

“She has created nothing short of a masterpiece” (The Sunday Times).

“Bravely personal diary of a touring folk singer… never since Paul Simon’s Homeward Bound has the life of a touring folk singer sounded quite so angst-ridden” (The Guardian).