Back to the Irish preparations... Do you know singer/songwriter Glen Hansard? Watching him perform is always a powerful experience - he really goes for it, like he's aiming for full-on shared cathartic meltdown. Actually this first clip is a bit more subdued than usual, a lockdown song of tentative hope... (Love the "OK, stop" at the end ;))
He famously started out busking in Dublin (and made the wonderful movie 'Once' all about it) - however far he might have come since then, it seems he's always drawn back to the streets, they're what made him...
This is maybe my favourite scene from 'Once' - Glen and Marketa are basically playing themselves, it's a beautiful depiction of realising you've met a musical soulmate. Great song too - "raise your hopeful voice..."
Finally, it's well-known that Glen has one of the fastest strums in the west (see the condition of his guitar!). This clip is fast, passionate and oh-so-funny, I've watched it many times - enjoy! https://youtu.be/SofqwSeSZsQ
Video 1: glad it’s more subdued because my little housemate really doesn’t allow for me to have full-on meltdowns:D I enjoyed the goofy folk art piano as much as the music
video 3: not available in my country. When I looked it up, I realized the rating means we won’t be watching it (watching anything on my own means I subtract from my available time to sleep) but it looks good... but...it would probably bring on the full-on meltdown. I think I’ll add it to my “watch in about ten years“ list :)
last video: the Paganini of our times?
Falling Slowing is beautiful, I may have heard that before-or certainly hearing it today for the 2nd time it sounded familiar.
I have now!. I spent a couple of hours on spotify and YouTube listening and reading a little background history. Wonderful,thanks for the introduction.
He's getting his money's worth out of that guitar too!