ACTOR-MUSICIANS GLEN HANSARD AND MARKETA IRGLOVA

From the ONCE MySpace page on Glen and Marketa:

"After being singer-songwriter for the Frames for almost two decades, a few years ago Glen Hansard decided to leave Ireland and find a new inspiration in the Czech Republic. There he met the classically trained, very talented multi-instrumentalist Marketa Irglova and they started to play together in small venues across the country. After Jan Hrebejk, a Czech director asked them to contribute with a few songs to his film BEAUTY IN TROUBLE, they ended up leaving the studio with a whole album. 'The Swell Season' was released last April and keeps going strong ever since. Even though Hansard was busy with the completion of the new Frames album, 'The Cost,' he found time to bring 'The Swell Season' live to audiences in Europe and the U.S."

Marketa: "We have been working together for the past six years. We met in the Czech Republic, where I am from, when The Frames were over to play a few gigs."

"Glen got me up for a song and I started playing piano and then we started to write songs. It was very slow and very natural process. Then we recorded an album a year ago."

Glen: "It was released around the same time as we started to work on the film. When I met Marketa it was immediately obvious how remarkable she was, and so for me, there was a whole new breath of creative life to be working with someone who could give so much to the music. I am very lucky with my band, they are incredibly creative, but when I met Mar it added a whole new area, a whole new voice, a whole new contrast to what I did. I think John [Carney, ONCE director] caught sight of that."

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