RIP Glen Hansard - 'Make art, make art!'
The Irish troubadour and Oscar winner has died aged 56 in a motorcycle accident. He left his mark on music and musicals, and delivered one of the warmest and best Oscars acceptance speeches.
I had a moment of adverse serendipity this week. I’d just added Glen Hansard’s beautiful and joyful Best Song Oscars acceptance speech from 2008 to Speakola library, and just one day later the terrible news of his death broke. Hansard was the lead singer of Irish band The Frames, and he won international fame as the co-creator of the hit musical Once, and won a Best Original Song Academy Award for ‘Falling Slowly’ (shared with co writer Marketa Irglova).
Hansard’s acceptance speech for that Oscar was terrific - rapid fire, excited, and with all those lovely lyrical Irish ts. ‘Make art! Make art!’ is it’s enduring message.
Listen to that beautiful song, an absolute tearjerker at the best of times, and revisit Hansard’s speech.
I’ll post the Oscars speech transcript below.
Best wishes
Tony Wilson
Speakola curator and host
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Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova: ‘Make art! Make art’, Oscar for Best Original Song - 2008
24 February 2008, Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles, USA
Thanks! Go raibh míle, míle, maith agat. This is amazing. What are we doing here? This is mad. We made this film two years ago. We shot it on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we’d ever come into a room like this and be in front of you people. It’s been an amazing thing. And thanks for taking this film seriously, all of you. It means a lot to us. Thanks to the Academy. Thanks to all the people who’ve helped us. They know who they are, we don’t need to say them. This is amazing. Make art. Make art. Thanks.
World cup adventures
Speakola newsletters have been a little scarce on the ground while I was away in Canada and USA for World Cup 2026. If you want to read any of my posts from that tournament, visit Good one, Wilson!
Speakola is also encouraging people to follow Adam Spencer and Nerd News. Great newsletter. Today’s post is about ‘Bongs before bedtime’. There is also a brain buster puzzle each Friday (tomorrow).
