special guest: Markéta Irglová
The world's most famous busker, Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard returns to Prague on the occasion of the release of his second solo album.
It’s been a long haul for Hansard. He began his career as a street musician, busking on the streets of Dublin in the mid-80s before securing a record deal, forming The Frames, and scoring a part in Alan Parker’s film The Commitments. Over the next decade he and his band fought for every inch of ground they gained, touring incessantly and releasing albums on bare-bones budgets. The work paid off. By 2003 they were a platinum-selling, stadium-headlining act in their home country.
Ever restless, Glen took time out from the band to form the Swell Season with Czech musician Markéta Irglová, releasing their self-titled debut album in 2006. The same year, former Frames bassist turned filmmaker John Carney cast both musicians in his low-budget film Once, its script based on Hansard’s busking stories. You know the rest. The film became a sleeper indie smash, Hansard and Irglová’s ‘Falling Slowly’ won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the Broadway adaptation, Once, The Musical, won eight Tony Awards. A second Swell Season album, Strict Joy, followed in 2009, reaching number 15 on the Billboard charts. For two decades Hansard had defined himself as a battler, but now he no longer had to struggle to be heard. He’d found his audience, selling out venues like Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, and making regular appearances on Leno and Letterman.
support: Markéta Irglová
presented by Menhir Music
