Arwen Arabella Hardy, known professionally as Bella Hardy, is an English contemporary folk musician, singer and songwriter from Edale in Derbyshire. She performed in various line-ups as a teenager, including The Pack and Ola, and reached the final of the BBC Young Folk Awards in 2004, but it was the release of her debut solo album Night Visiting in 2007 which garnered her recognition at the forefront of modern folk music.
As a child she was always singing. Read Full BioArwen Arabella Hardy, known professionally as Bella Hardy, is an English contemporary folk musician, singer and songwriter from Edale in Derbyshire. She performed in various line-ups as a teenager, including The Pack and Ola, and reached the final of the BBC Young Folk Awards in 2004, but it was the release of her debut solo album Night Visiting in 2007 which garnered her recognition at the forefront of modern folk music.
As a child she was always singing. Edale, in Derbyshire, was the ideal place to nurture this natural ability, with an abundance of communal song. Having played the fiddle a small amount at school, Bella attended a Folkworks Youth Summer School in Durham age 13. Motivated by the number of young people playing folk music, she was inspired to begin working on folk fiddle. She also met many of her great friends and musical companions.
Some of these new friends arranged to meet up again, and on New Year's Day a year later The Pack was formed. Initially The Pack was a way for this group of people to get free tickets to festivals. The spirited performances and complex arrangements of the 12 piece band proved a resounding success, and they went on to play many of the scene's greatest stages, including Cambridge Folk Festival main stage in 2003. In 2002, the only Pack album 12 Little Devils was released, with fRoots calling it "... a genuine feel good album. Get yours now!".
Hardy released her debut solo album Night Visiting in 2007, to critical acclaim. Mojo gave her a 4* 'Brilliant' rating, fRoots wrote "Bella Hardy is more than a new generation folk revivalist... Her potential is massive", and Taplas Magazine noted "...her debut CD solo album is a piece of wondrous beauty and inventive incisiveness". In 2008 she was nominated for the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. She was also nominated for Best Original Song the same year with Three Black Feathers, which Jim Moray went on to record on his 2008 album Low Culture.
Hardy released her second solo album In The Shadow of Mountains in 2009 at the Cambridge Folk Festival. Again it gained critical acclaim. English Dance and Song Magazine wrote "It's astounding and somewhat daunting to realise this is only Bella's second album... Surely no-one has any right to be writing songs with the sophistication of 'Sylvie Sovay', so early in their career..."
As a child she was always singing. Read Full BioArwen Arabella Hardy, known professionally as Bella Hardy, is an English contemporary folk musician, singer and songwriter from Edale in Derbyshire. She performed in various line-ups as a teenager, including The Pack and Ola, and reached the final of the BBC Young Folk Awards in 2004, but it was the release of her debut solo album Night Visiting in 2007 which garnered her recognition at the forefront of modern folk music.
As a child she was always singing. Edale, in Derbyshire, was the ideal place to nurture this natural ability, with an abundance of communal song. Having played the fiddle a small amount at school, Bella attended a Folkworks Youth Summer School in Durham age 13. Motivated by the number of young people playing folk music, she was inspired to begin working on folk fiddle. She also met many of her great friends and musical companions.
Some of these new friends arranged to meet up again, and on New Year's Day a year later The Pack was formed. Initially The Pack was a way for this group of people to get free tickets to festivals. The spirited performances and complex arrangements of the 12 piece band proved a resounding success, and they went on to play many of the scene's greatest stages, including Cambridge Folk Festival main stage in 2003. In 2002, the only Pack album 12 Little Devils was released, with fRoots calling it "... a genuine feel good album. Get yours now!".
Hardy released her debut solo album Night Visiting in 2007, to critical acclaim. Mojo gave her a 4* 'Brilliant' rating, fRoots wrote "Bella Hardy is more than a new generation folk revivalist... Her potential is massive", and Taplas Magazine noted "...her debut CD solo album is a piece of wondrous beauty and inventive incisiveness". In 2008 she was nominated for the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. She was also nominated for Best Original Song the same year with Three Black Feathers, which Jim Moray went on to record on his 2008 album Low Culture.
Hardy released her second solo album In The Shadow of Mountains in 2009 at the Cambridge Folk Festival. Again it gained critical acclaim. English Dance and Song Magazine wrote "It's astounding and somewhat daunting to realise this is only Bella's second album... Surely no-one has any right to be writing songs with the sophistication of 'Sylvie Sovay', so early in their career..."
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Three Black Feathers
Bella Hardy Lyrics
The moon is ever, ever watching
She watches us o’er field and fen
For this is only one man’s story
Within a tale of many men
Sally at her bedroom window
Stands where she’s stood for three years past
“I fear my true love, is lost in battle.
I’m wondering how long love can last”
The church bell tolls to tell of midnight
With three bold knocks at Sally’s door
And quickly she has risen upright
Saying “Who’s this calls at such late an hour?”
And there is stood her own true lover
Raven sharp eyes shining through
Saying “Smile on me love, and I’ll not deny thee,
I have returned this night to you”
“What did I promise when I departed,
I said that when the bullets flew
That I would rise just like the blackbird
Safe back to share my life with you”
He’s led her up to her bed chamber
And bending knelt down where she lay
“Oh rest here in my arms forever
And lie here by my side till day.”
And so she sleeps, and dreams she sees him
By her window lit by the moon
Saying “I must be gone ere the rise of the sun love
I fear you’ve loved and you've lost to soon”
Sally startled has awoken
Raven sharp eyes shining through
And the bright morn so crisp and new
The moon is ever, ever watching
She watches us o’er field and fen
For this is only one man’s story
Within a tale of many men
Contributed by Savannah F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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