GLEN HANSARD

Glen Hansard went a long way to get where he is now internationally: at the forefront of sincere singer-songwriters with individuality, heart and unwavering passion - as can be seen again and again in his incomparably intense live shows. On his sold-out tours, the Irishman enchanted with over two and a half hour shows between folk, rock, soul, jazz and the most intense moments of great intimacy. Extended jam sessions with his nine-piece live band as well as collective singing orgies with the entire audience made every evening an unforgettable highlight. Now, after the cancellation of his European tour for this year, which became necessary due to family reasons, the GRAMMY winner announced his next Germany concerts: In addition to the already confirmed open air show on August 4, 2023 in Hamburg's Stadtpark, Glen Hansard will come to Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich for three concerts between November 5 and 8, and on November 17 and 18 he will make a guest appearance in Berlin for two more shows.

As soon as Glen Hansard writes songs, he reveals his unrestricted love for an incredibly deep emotionality and intimacy. This is also due to the hard school he went through - that of a street musician in Dublin. There, in the pedestrian zone, his career began over three decades ago. In 1990, he founded the rock band The Frames, with which he released seven albums until 2006. When his bandmate John Carney decided to move into film with the romantic drama "Once," he asked Hansard and his then-girlfriend Markéta Irglová to write the film score. In the end, he convinced the two of them to take on the leading roles as well. After "Once" won an Oscar for Best Film Score in 2008, Hansard was suddenly well-known. Both his band The Swell Season, which he ran with Irglová until 2012, and his subsequent solo albums " Rhythm and Repose" (2012), "Didn't He Ramble" (2015) and "Between Two Shores" (2018) advanced to worldwide success.

In 2019, the next step followed: his album "This Wild Willing" was recorded in Paris with more than 20 musicians, including the classically trained Iranian brothers Khoshravesh, longtime Hansard collaborator Joe Doyle, and Dublin electronic musicians Deasy and Dunk Murphy(Sunken Foal). The songs grew out of improvisations. In them, Hansard's vocals interweave with restrained orchestral arrangements, dissonant waves of sound, soft electronics as well as dark melodies to create small wonders of intimacy and vulnerability. No less intimate and yet completely different turned out the soundtrack of the film "Flag Day", released in August 2021, on which the Irishman collaborates with his close friend, Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder - as well as his daughter Olivia for the first time - in addition to the wonderful Cat Power. This terrific work is also convincing with artistic free spirit and craftsmanship grandeur in equal parts - and is also off the film a piece of music that you can not hear often enough, or much more live through.

"You can't second-guess your creativity, you just have to do it, keep fleshing it out and also put a point in the right place," Hansard explains of his general approach. "You end up with something that may surprise yourself, but is far more honest than anything that would come out of thinking about what you want to do next." It is precisely this unconditional honesty that makes Glen Hansard such an extraordinary artist - again evident in his latest song "Take Heart," which he recorded in support of the organization "Ukrainian Action" together with Markéta Irglová as well as three Ukrainian female musicians. About "Take Heart" he says: "This song is a single flower placed at the foot of all this devastation, a candle lit among the millions standing helplessly in front of embassy doors or burning in windows" - a candle he will surely bring to his newly confirmed shows this coming November.