Markéta Irglová

Markéta Irglová
Irglová performing in 2014
Irglová performing in 2014
Background information
Born (1988-02-28) 28 February 1988 (age 34)
Valašské Meziříčí, Czechoslovakia
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • actress
Instrument(s)
Years active2006–present
LabelsANTI-
Websitemarketairglovamusic.com

Markéta Irglová (Czech pronunciation: [ˈmarkɛːta ˈɪrɡlovaː]) (born 28 February 1988) is a Czech-Icelandic singer-songwriter, musician and actress, who starred in the film Once, which earned her a number of major awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly", with co-writer and co-star Glen Hansard.

Early life

Irglová began taking piano lessons at age 7 and began playing the guitar at age 8.

Career

Irglová is a member of the band The Swell Season with Glen Hansard. The band released its eponymous album on Overcoat Recordings in 2006. In 2007, Irglová co-starred in the indie film Once. Irglová co-wrote many of the songs for the film including "Falling Slowly", which received an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The film won the World Cinema Audience Award for a dramatic film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Irglová appeared on the 2007 I'm Not There soundtrack with the Swell Season's version of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere".

While accepting the Academy Award she and Hansard were played off before she could begin her acceptance speech. Later in the evening comedian Jon Stewart stopped the show to bring her back on stage to complete her speech. She ended it by wishing "fair play to those who dare to dream."

The 2012 Broadway stage adaption of Once (musical) won eight Tony awards and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

In 2022, Irglová was announced as one of the participants in Söngvakeppnin 2022, the Icelandic national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, where she is competing with the song "Mögulegt" / "Possible".

In March 2022, Irglová, as part of The Swell Season, embarked on a six-city US tour.

Personal life

Irglová with Hansard performing in Derry, Northern Ireland in a 2006 concert

Irglová met Glen Hansard in 2001 when she was 13 years old. Her parents organized a music festival in the Czech Republic and booked The Frames. Hansard played a large part not only in her development as an artist and songwriter but also in launching her career. Although they met years earlier, her romantic relationship with Hansard began during the making of the film Once and ended in 2009.

In 2012, Irglová moved to Reykjavík, Iceland where she met Icelandic music producer Sturla Míó Þórisson (Sturla Mio Thorisson) while recording her first solo album, Anar. They later married and now have three children together. Irglová speaks fluent Icelandic and is a dual citizen of the Czech Republic and Iceland.

Discography

With The Swell Season (2006-2009)

Solo

Anar (2011)

Irglova's first full-length solo album was titled Anar. Citing references ranging from Otis Redding, to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, to the soundtrack from Jesus Christ Super Star, Irglova pulled from numerous influences to create a delicate balance of ethereal vocals and expanding instrumentals on her 12-track debut, including the R&B influenced “Go Back” and heart-felt song “Crossroads.” Cover illustration by Nahid Hagigat.

MUNA (2014)

Muna is an album that takes the Oscar-winning singer’s music further into the realm of the ethereal. If her debut ANAR explored the dynamic of intimate personal relationships, the new record is a document of spiritual searching. Written over the course of a year, and recorded in six months with producer/engineer Sturla Mio Thorisson, it utilises full choral, string and percussion sections, plus guests Rob Bochnik (The Frames), Iranian daf player and vocalist Aida Shahghasemi, and Marketa’s own sister Zuzi on backing vocals. All told, the album’s cast-list runs to some 27 players.

Muna means “to remember” in Icelandic. Remembering that which has been forgotten is a recurring theme throughout this record. “I had been to Iceland for the first time with the Swell Season,” Marketa says. “I fell in love with it then and was sad to leave, although I knew someday something would bring me back. I am inspired by the open space, the wilderness of the nature, the strong energy coming from the land. There is a harmony, a balance, something that allows for a freer flow of creativity. It is easier to be one with oneself and one with everything and everyone around. This makes for better art, in my opinion.”

In keeping with the choral textures, MUNA is an album of saints, angels and psalms (the Lord’s Prayer makes an appearance in ‘Without A Map’). The songs were, admits Marketa, partly inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s and Tim Rice’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar.

Overall, MUNA’s musical and lyrical themes take solace from the smallness of individual concerns when contrasted with the scale of the universe. It is the result, Marketa says, of a process of growing up, of “going through difficult times and getting lost and feeling left alone to find my way back. Turning to something – or someone – bigger than me to make some sense of things that did not make sense at all. Feeling encouraged to zoom out and widen the lens through which I look at the world – from personal to worldwide to eventually universal. It is much easier to feel victimized when living in the micro-cosmos of our personal dramas. But once we open our minds to the macro-cosmos that we are part of, the issues that seemed so big start to seem small, and that is the beginning of us rising above them and changing our lives for the better.”

Cover illustration by Nahid Hagigat.

LILA (2022)

Lila is the third in a trilogy of solo albums, presenting a dreamlike collection of songs on the theme of Love, in all its guises: False love. Vulnerable love. Imagined love. Filial love. Childlike love. Parental love. Sensual love. Young love. Past love. True love. Purest love. Confusing love. Romantic love. Unitive love. Eternal love.

With its confessional-like nature, the record offers insight into Irglova’s journey and how she has managed to find balance in her career as an artist, wife and mother, while embracing the full paradox of love, which softens even as it provides strength.

The central premise of LILA’s nine-song journey is one of LOVE. It finds Irglova living her dream life offering insight into the healing power of love and being at peace with that which you cannot control. As Irglova states: “Simply sitting with things I can’t change, rather than trying to solve them or run away from them, has brought me into a deeper place in my heart and I am grateful for that.”

The record comes after a 8 year long hiatus, during which Irglova married, had three children, and built a studio, all while working on music near constantly in the intermitting years.

Films

Television

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

  • Grammy Award 2008 (50th Annual Grammy Awards) Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media – "Falling Slowly" from Once
  • Grammy Award 2008 (50th Annual Grammy Awards) Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media – Once

Footnotes

  1. ^ "About Marketa Irglova". Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  2. ^ "WorldFilm.com". Worldfilm.about.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  3. ^ "Vedder, Sonic Youth, Tweedy Do Dylan For Soundtrack". Billboard. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  4. ^ ""Falling Slowly" winning Best Original Song Oscar®". YouTube. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  5. ^ "Once Tony Awards Info". www.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  6. ^ "steve-kazee/3769". www.grammy.com.[dead link]
  7. ^ "Iceland: 'Söngvakeppnin' 2022 songs revealed 🇮🇸". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 5 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  8. ^ "theswellseason.com". The Swell Season. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  9. ^ Jamie diamond. "Life Imitating Film". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  10. ^ "Markéta Irglová and Marek Irgl: Daughter and father on her Oscar success and much more". Radio Prague. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  11. ^ "'Once' a Hero". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  12. ^ Jamie diamond (24 February 2008). "Life imitating art". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
  13. ^ Bray, Allison (26 January 2009). "falling slowly ... out of love". Irish Independent. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  14. ^ "Markéta Irglová porodila na Islandu holčičku, jméno neprozradila" [Markéta Irglová gave birth to a baby girl in Iceland, she did not reveal the name]. iDnes.cz. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  15. ^ Hallur Már Hallsson (10 February 2020). "Hinn íslenski Óskarshafinn" [The Icelandic Oscar winner]. Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  16. ^ Kristjáns, Kristin (5 February 2022). "Iceland: Söngvakeppnin 2022 artists and songs revealed". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 16 October 2022.

External links


This page was last updated at 2023-01-16 08:17 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari