CityLife

Bella Hardy - Edale folk fiddler with a great future

Bella Hardy

A FIVE hundred year old cottage at the foot of wild and rugged hills, an orchard outside providing the fruit for the chutney standing in carefully collected jam jars in the kitchen.

A roaring fire, folk music on the stereo, less than savoury weather conditions outside. Without wanting to conform to stereotypes, it would be the ideal place to find a young folk singer.

And it is here that I was made welcome by Edale born and raised fiddle-singer, Bella Hardy.
 

Though a romantic setting for the young folk star, who has recently made an appearance at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Folk Proms, Edale was not quite the place for an illustrious education in folk music as one might think.

School ceilidh band
 

‘I went to Hope Valley College which was the secondary school where all the local kids went and there was a school ceilidh band where I met a few fiddlers and guitarists.

‘That’s what started things off really, and a few of the band, including me, decided one year, when  I was 13, to go to a folk summer school,’ Bella enthuses.

‘Edale’s a great place for community song. I had a teacher at primary school who would get us to sing all the time, so I finished thinking that’s what normal primary school education was like.

‘I’ve always sang with the choirs in the area and Castleton has a great carol tradition, but there’s not much else going on for the rest of the year.’
 

Critically acclaimed

Since looking for new material for her second album, follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed Night Visiting, however, Bella has become intrigued by The Songs and Ballads of Derbyshire, published in 1857.
 

‘It’s got so many local songs from around here, it’s absolutely amazing. I’m definitely going to work on those and find some tunes for them, as there aren’t many tunes written down in the collection,’ Bella explains.

‘There’s one where it’s Lord Peveril actually sitting on Lord’s Peak, watching the hunt go by. And that’s the hill just here.’
 

Knuckling down

And having recently been touring the UK, some solo gigs and some in her trio with two very old friends, it’s now a case of knuckling down in preparation for recording in early Spring – well, after the December tour of Spain, that is.

‘I don’t even know where I’m going in Spain yet! All I know is I’m back on 19th and then it’s Christmas! But yes, the new album’s pretty much ready. It’s all written, and there’s more songwriting on the new one which is quite exciting.

‘The last one had two of mine on it, which was terrifying as it’s all very well performing traditional songs that other people have sung for centuries, but when you put your own writing out there, it’s something else you might be knocked back on,’ she reasons.

‘But they seemed to go down well, which has encouraged me to do more. I think this new one is going to be about 50/50, half traditional songs and half my own.

Bundled together

‘I’ve never understood really why folk musicians don’t tend to mix songwriting with traditional music, but perhaps it’s because traditional music can often tie in so well with itself.

‘I hope mine ties together well and doesn’t sound disjointed. There’s nothing worse than an album sounding like a collection of songs bundled together.’
 

And like Night Visiting, Bella will release the new album on her own label, Noe Records, named after the river that runs past her garden in Edale. ‘

Nobody came up to me and offered to produce my album, so I thought I’d better do it myself!’ Bella jokes.

Utter modesty

‘But seriously, people think I’m a really confident person but I can be quite backward in coming forward and I’ve been very lucky with the way things have panned out for me.

‘I am always winging it though, always winging it. I suppose I shouldn’t tell people that because one day someone is going to work out I have no idea what I’m doing!’
 

This is pure and utter modesty though, as Bella has spent so much of her life learning from those working in the British folk music scene – PR people and labels, teachers and musicians.

Not once does she attempt to remind me that she was nominated for two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards this year: Best Newcomer and Best Original Song for Three Black Feathers, alongside folk legends, Martin Simpson, Kate Rusby and Richard Thompson.

Can't drink

No doubt Bella will be a future recipient of a much-coveted BBC Radio 2 Folk Award, if preparations for the new album are anything to go by, and 2009 is likely to be as busy as this with tours and album launches planned.

There is one downside to all this success

‘Well, it all comes back to bite. I seriously started playing in bands so we could get to festivals for free. And we did, and it was great. And now I get paid for playing at festivals, which is even better. But now when I play, I can’t drink! Typical!’