I was so sorry to read yesterday of the Oscar-winning Irish singer/songwriter Glen Hansard's death. He died in a motorcycle crash, as tragic and poetic an ending as one can imagine.
Hansard starred opposite his Czech counterpart Marketa Irglova in John Carney's Once (2007). The two musicians played buskers who meet in Dublin, merge their artistry and fall in love, sort of. The link to the video for Hansard's Oscar-winning song is below.
Once is a beautiful, bittersweet story about creative spirits and tough choices. I loved it and Carney's similarly themed follow-up Begin Again (2013), with Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo; it also has a terrific soundtrack.
Hansard, a philanthropist and activist who was well-loved by fellow musicians and the citizens of Dublin, was wonderfully affecting in his role as "Guy" in Once. (Irglova was "Girl.") He was disarmingly genuine in his melodies and voicings, his energy and passion put me in mind of early Cat Stevens, which is pretty high praise.
I remember trying to master the guitar chords of the film's "When Your Mind's Made Up" back in the day. That song sums up the duo's dilemma, the frustration and then release that comes from deciding which of two roads to take. Who hasn't been at those crossroads?
Hansard died in a single-vehicle wreck early Wednesday morning. He's survived by a wife and 3-year-old son.
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