A BAND that is being hailed as one of Celtic music's fastest rising stars will perform in Otley next month.

Imar, whose lineup features members and former members of some of the county's biggest folk and roots groups, will take the stage at the Courthouse on Friday, May 11.

Based in Glasgow, the band plays mainly Irish music using bouzouki, fiddle, concertina, pipes and bodhran.

Its members come from all around the UK - with bodhran player Adam Brown hailing from Suffolk while fiddler Tomas Callister and bouzouki star Adam Rhodes both come from the Isle of Man.

Uillean piper Ryan Murphy, meanwhile, was born in Cork, Ireland and concertina player Mohsen Amini is a native of Glasgow.

They originally all met as teenagers through Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eirann, the Irish traditional music network.

Though still young the band has already racked up numerous awards at Fleadh competitions, with nine All-Ireland and eight All-Britain titles between them.

Amini also won the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award with Talisk, while Brown scooped Live Act of the Year at the 2015 Scots Trad Music Awards with RURA.

But they say that it is when playing together as a group that they really excel.

Adam Brown said: "As soon as we all sat down to play properly, it just worked.

"We were a bit stunned, to be honest; all looking around at everyone else thinking 'is it just me or was that really good?'"

Imar's Otley Courthouse show starts at 8pm and tickets cost £12.50.

They can be booked by visiting www.otleycourthouse.org.uk, calling (01943) 467466 or popping into the Courthouse, on Courthouse Street, Otley.