{"id":1750,"date":"2026-08-01T12:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2026-08-01T12:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:12:08","slug":"a-street-musician-at-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1750","title":{"rendered":"A Street Musician at Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In one of my favorite videos of the singer-songwriter Glen Hansard, who died this week at the age of 56, he is standing in a small backyard in Cologne. It\u2019s 2015, and he\u2019s playing \u201cSay It to Me Now,\u201d which he performs in the opening scene of the breakout 2007 indie film Once<\/i>; it\u2019s a raw, wrenching plea of a song that explodes in its second half. In his guitar is a gaping hole: Hansard\u2019s trusty cedar-topped Takamine\u2014nicknamed \u201cthe Horse,\u201d for its endurance\u2014had been with him through many years of busking in Hansard\u2019s hometown of Dublin, where he\u2019d strummed it with sufficient force to cut through the din of the street.<\/p>\n

Read more America\u2019s Most Divided State Loves Its Extremes<\/a><\/p>\n

Like its owner, the guitar had little varnish\u2014hence the gash, which exposed its interior. Just as the performance begins to take off\u2014mid\u2013raspy belt, mid\u2013resolute strum\u2014the Horse\u2019s G string snaps, and knocks some of its neighbors out of tune. Hansard coolly flings the limp string to the side, adjusts the tuning pegs with a grin, and sings on.<\/p>\n

The sum of the video\u2019s parts\u2014the unassuming backyard, the battered Horse, the mishap taken in stride\u2014tells you everything you need to know about Hansard. Many people might know him only as \u201cthe guy from Once<\/i>,\u201d which won him and Mark\u00e9ta Irglov\u00e1, his co-star and musical collaborator, the Oscar for Best Original Song. But in this stripped-down performance, we witness the mastery and lack of artifice that defined his music and his life.<\/p>\n

The simple scene also harkens to his origins as a street musician. Hansard said time and again that this vulnerable and often trying vocation, which he left school at 13 to pursue, turned him into the artist he was. Busking made him egoless, unflappable\u2014the people\u2019s troubadour.<\/p>\n

The tributes to Hansard from every corner of the music industry show the profound mark he left over his four-decade career. Songwriters cited his influence on them; collaborators recounted his generosity; his fellow Irishman Bono hailed him as the \u201cvoice of the streets.\u201d Other artists recalled how he\u2019d made time for everyone: He\u2019d befriended legends, paid tribute to peers that had passed, mentored those coming up behind him. He gathered his fellow musicians, and they gathered around him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no coincidence that Hansard shot to fame in the United States with Once<\/i>: He starred as an Irish busker who falls for a Czech pianist, played by Irglov\u00e1. The film begins with an unbroken shot of Hansard on a dark, nearly deserted street, guitar case propped open at his feet, singing \u201cSay It to Me Now.\u201d It\u2019s a vocal tour de force, by turns tender and volcanic, that immediately establishes him as a rugged bard roiling with emotion. When he was invited, with Irglov\u00e1, to perform their poignant, Oscar-winning ballad, \u201cFalling Slowly,\u201d at the following year\u2019s Academy Awards, he put on a nice suit\u2014but still played his beat-up old Horse.<\/p>\n

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Hansard\u2019s brush with Hollywood was relatively brief. He had many other pursuits: He was the front man of the Frames, one of Ireland\u2019s most successful rock bands, and one-half of the heart-on-its-sleeve folk duo the Swell Season, with Irglov\u00e1; he also put out a number of solo records. He was recording new music up until the end of his life, and had been busking for decades. His final, two-volume album, a career-spanning retrospective, was called Don\u2019t Settle<\/i>. He never did. He had just finished work on another record, which he\u2019d hoped to release next spring. Knowing the amount of music he still had in him\u2014that he was nowhere near done\u2014makes his sudden death all the more devastating.<\/p>\n

Even as his profile grew, he remained a street musician at heart. He toured with Eddie Vedder, performed with Bruce Springsteen, and earned four Grammy nods, but he appeared to have no interest in hoarding the spotlight; after all, in the parks and streets he had long frequented, there was <\/i>no spotlight. Music, he believed, was a communal experience, something to be shared and reveled in. \u201cThe thing with busking,\u201d he once said, \u201cis, it has to be inclusive\u2014it has to be an open act.\u201d<\/p>\n

His life\u2019s work, it seems, was to bridge the distance between performer and spectator. He often played surprise or impromptu sets in bars, clubs, or the street. At concerts, he could make a large venue feel as intimate as a pub; the amps, lights, and stage were all accoutrements. He invited friends to join him onstage, often doing a number with the opening act or local artists. The audience became his drinking buddies as he regaled them with stories and entrusted them with what felt like secrets. He often encouraged them to join him, and one another, in song; many of his shows included an a cappella sing-along of the Irish folk ballad \u201cThe Auld Triangle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone who knew Hansard\u2014and most of his fans didfeel that they knew him\u2014has their own story that captures his big-tent ethos. I have many. This is one of them: In August 2023, Hansard and Irglov\u00e1 took the stage at Manhattan\u2019s Radio City Music Hall, a stop on a reunion tour celebrating the 15th anniversary of Once<\/i>. Toward the end of the night, Glen appeared onstage solo and said that the night before, he had met a young musician named Gabriel busking on the streets of Boston, and had invited him to tonight\u2019s show. \u201cCome up and sing with me!\u201d he shouted into the orchestra.<\/p>\n

Gabriel emerged from the darkness; Hansard threw a reassuring arm around him and handed him a guitar. They stepped away from the microphones, their instruments unplugged; the two men were buskers again. They played \u201cSay It to Me Now.\u201d Strumming in unison, they traded beaming smiles, assuring glances. It was clear that Hansard believed that they both had an equal right to be on that hallowed stage\u2014professional, amateur, old, young, educated, uneducated, it made no difference. It was the music that bound them to each other, and Hansard to those who loved him.<\/p>\n

Read more How the Reflecting Pool Vandalism Case Fell Apart<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oscar-winning performer Glen Hansard, who died this week, never forgot his busking roots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nA Street Musician at Heart - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1750\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Street Musician at Heart - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Oscar-winning performer Glen Hansard, who died this week, never forgot his busking roots.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1750\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-01T12:12:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1750#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1750\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"headline\":\"A Street Musician at Heart\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T12:12:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1750\"},\"wordCount\":1060,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1750#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/b82f20c1f0c4dbe6bc7d8fb5756f8d65.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1750#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1750\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=1750\",\"name\":\"A Street Musician at Heart - 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