# Oscar-winning Irish folk musician Glen Hansard has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [July 29, 2026, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997 "2026-07-29T11:51:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/1 "2026-07-29T11:51:53Z")
[BBC reports](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ekn9d37qvo) it was a motorcycle crash outside of Dublin. He was only 56. Incredibly sad; I loved his music. What a loss. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/2 "2026-07-29T12:50:14Z")
Wow, what a bummer. If you’ve not seen the movie [“Once”](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0907657/), you owe it to yourself to check it out (or at least listen to the soundtrack). mmm ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/3 "2026-07-29T13:21:39Z")
_Falling Slowly_ is his most famous song (for which he won the Oscar), recorded with Marketa Irglova and featured in _Once_, referenced above by Mean Mr. Mustard. IMO, it’s one of the most beautiful songs ever written, and if you’ve never heard it, you owe it to yourself to listen to [this live version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv_bi5vWEps), which captures both its delicateness and its majesty with a fully engaged crowd. I’ve heard it hundreds of times and I still get chills. Truly a masterwork. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/4 "2026-07-29T14:34:20Z")
I knew I recognized his name - he was in **The Committments**. Apparently he was a renowned artist apart from that, but that’s how I knew him. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/5 "2026-07-30T15:58:31Z")
I’m honestly surprised by how little traction this thread has gotten. I guess he was more niche than I thought. So that seems like a good excuse to post more links to great Glen Hansard songs and performances, like this one: > **[Glen Hansard-Bird Of Sorrow Live(EPIC PERFORMANCE)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwGrtG1TCis%2F)** > > Unforgettable live performance from Glen!Enjoy!(I do not own anything!) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/6 "2026-07-30T16:02:36Z")
I rarely care about the Oscar for best original song, but I remember super cheering for Falling Slowly and when it won, I cheered. I was glad for them so much. Sad news. So sudden and tragic, he has a small child at home. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/7 "2026-07-30T19:33:00Z")
I loved _The Commitments_, and played that soundtrack album so much. I’ll have to cue it up here this afternoon. Godspeed, Glen. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/8 "2026-07-30T23:52:33Z")
Everyone who seems to have mentioned this (including friends on facebook), only ever seem to reference his solo work, his band, **The Frames** was quite successful in Ireland, but not so much elsewhere but was excellent. We saw him in a small gig in Birmingham, and I was barely six feet from him performing. This is the opening song in one of the classic albums from them: [Perfect Opening LIne](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THXCu7DPfe4), I got into them when I lived in Cork. What remains sad is so few people have heard of them. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/9 "2026-07-31T12:32:18Z")
I got into him after hearing an interview with him on the radio. Funny, engaging and intelligent. Then he sang a few songs. Beautiful Irish tenor voice. Loved his version of Into the Mystic. He became close friends with Eddie Vedder and opened often for Pearl Jam. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/I1PAlG4Af6c/maxresdefault.jpg "Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová - Into The Mystic (Studio Version)(@MarketaIrglova)(@glen\_hansard)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1PAlG4Af6c) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/10 "2026-08-03T18:16:51Z")
Eh. I liked the movie and bits of the music, but his relationship to the very young Markéta Irglová always skeeved me out, and it’s unsurprising to read Neko Case [ranting](https://nekocase.substack.com/p/in-what-fucking-universe) about him. (the Frames opened for New Pornographers in 2002) ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/11 "2026-08-03T18:42:58Z")
Yeah, I just saw a link to Neko’s post in a reddit thread, including the claim that Reddit admins have been agressively deleting threads pointing out his long history of problematic behavior. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/12 "2026-08-03T19:22:37Z")
You know, I was going to write a post in defense of the man, because I’ve seen a LOT of social media posts describing all the good things he’s done in his life and career, but what do I know? Maybe he was terrible. I do know that Markéta Irglová herself had no problems with him and had a decades-long collaboration with him that resulted in some beautiful music. So I’ll still listen and enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-winning-irish-folk-musician-glen-hansard-has-died/1031997/13 "2026-08-03T21:42:56Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Eh. I liked the movie and bits of the music, but his relationship to the very young Markéta Irglová always skeeved me out, I always remember that film as two people who seemed to have partners (inferred), kind of wanting to be together and it would never work for multiple reasons. But it’s been a while, so might be misremembering. However, I didn’t know she was 12 when he met her until now… The allegations against him is also news to me though, don’t know who Neko Case is either, so was unlikely to know. Sometimes some people with talent aren’t as famous because of their own behaviour…