Musical Influences ...

Marketa Irglova: Czech Star of Once

Thanks to the movie, Once, many of us Americans were introduced to the Czech star Marketa Irglova. It is terrible that we (Americans) usually miss out on being introduced to great Czech, Polish or Slovakian movie stars or musicians until they make it big, or win an Oscar. Nevertheless, Marketa’s voice and role in the movie are very impressive—and instills a sort of proud-ness for Czech Americans.

I saw both Marketa and Glen Hansard (together as The Swell Season) in concert at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas in 2008. The concert was fantastic by the way! I was also impressed by the sincere relationship Glen and Marketa had with the audience. Glen and Marketa had a way of making the concertgoers feel very appreciated. As the concert ended, they could not leave in front of the audience. Instead, they had the audience walk out while snapping to their last tune, all the while, Glen and Marketa then disappeared. As a concertgoer, this was completely new to me but at the same time—I loved it!

In the movie Once, Glen and Marketa made their music come alive in front of us. Many call the movie an indie fairytale, however, the movie approaches love from a realistic view—which makes it beautiful and truer to life than a “fairytale”. When we encounter friendships and/or relationships with such great chemistry in our daily lives, our lives are very beautiful. The Oscar-winning song “Falling Slowly” is very descriptive of the story in Once—their voices - the melody - and the lyrics have a way to engage our emotions. It is definitely a very beautiful story!