Hannah Rarity is a Scottish singer and songwriter from

Dechmont Dechmont (Gaelic: ''Deagh Mhonadh'') is a small village located near Uphall, West Lothian in Scotland. Bangour Village Hospital is located to the west of Dechmont. It has an approximate population of 989 people. Its postal code is EH52. An allege ...

, West Lothian. In 2018, she was the winner of the

BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician The BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician competition has run annually since 2001. It exists to encourage young musicians to keep their tradition alive and to provide performance opportunities, tools and advice to help contestants make ...

award, and her debut album ''Neath the Gloaming Star'' was nominated for Album of the Year at the

Scots Trad Music Awards The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media an ...

in 2019.

Biography

Rarity was raised in

, West Lothian. She joined the National Youth Choir of Scotland at the age of eight, where she developed a favouring of traditional music. She studied film and television at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

for two years before switching to the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

in 2012, studying Scottish music. In 2015, she was invited by Phil Cunningham, the artistic director of the traditional music department at the Royal Conservatoire, and Joanie Madden, to tour with

Cherish the Ladies Cherish the Ladies is an American female super group that plays Celtic music. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985. It was the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in Ameri ...

, touring internationally with them for two years while completing her studies. In 2015, 2017 and 2021, she had a solo performance on BBC Scotland's

Hogmanay Live ''BBC Scotland's Hogmanay'' is BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English R ...

. In 2016, she released a six-track EP titled ''Beginnings''. Her debut album, ''Neath the Gloaming Star'', was crowdfunded and released independently in 2018. The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2019

. The album was self-published due to the lack of publishing labels in Scotland and the prevalence of musicians having success with crowdfunding. In 2018, she won the

award. In 2021, she was co-musical director of the Opening Concert 'Neath the Gloaming Star' at

Celtic Connections The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of tra ...

festival in Glasgow.

References

External links

* * 21st-century Scottish women singers Scottish songwriters Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Living people People from Dechmont Year of birth missing (living people) {{Scotland-musician-stub