Mourners pay tribute to Glen Hansard’s ‘generous spirit’ at public wake

By Claudia Savage, Press Association

Thousands of people have turned out to commemorate the “generous spirit” of “trailblazer” musician Glen Hansard.

Mourners queued to file into the Baroque Chapel at the Irish Museum of Modern Art at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, to see the coffin of the Oscar-winning songwriter and pay their respects.

Trad musicians played under the stained glass window in the chapel, where Hansard’s wicker coffin was laid on a table adorned with greenery and apples.

Two of his guitars were at the foot of the coffin, on which some laid their hands as they passed.

Others left flowers, cards and notes as a tribute to him.

The frontman of Irish band The Frames was killed in a motorcycle crash on the outskirts of Dublin, hours after taking part in a trad session at The Wren’s Nest pub.

He had featured in celebrated film The Commitments, and won an Oscar for best original song for Falling Slowly in 2008, which he co-wrote with Marketa Irglova for the movie Once.

He began an annual Christmas Eve charity busk outside the Gaiety Theatre 16 years ago, drawing members of the public to see famous Irish musicians perform in aid of the homeless in the city.

DJ Sinead Ni Mhorda, who was among the first in line on Monday, said Hansard had “a raw talent that is joyous and all-consuming and life-changing”.

“I fell in love with the music of the Frames when I was 18, when I was in college, and just followed him over the years, I’ve been to see him countless number of times,” she said.

She added: “I interviewed him at the Choice Music Prize in Vicar Street when he was up for the Choice Music Prize for the Swell Season album, and he was just so lovely, so humble.

“He was really gracious with where he’d got to with his success, and I asked him about what has been the biggest moment for you, where you thought, ‘wow, this, I can’t believe this is actually happening’, so I think he said when Bruce Springsteen reached out to him and complimented him.

“He’s done so much for Irish music. He really was a trailblazer for a lot of singer-songwriters, he brought people under his wing.

“He had such a generous spirit, and he always was the Pied Piper, I guess that’s how I would have known him, in terms of getting together sessions and things like that.

“He was a really warm, lovely man.”

Dave Ashe said Hansard’s death was a “shock” and described him as a “cultural node” for the music community in Ireland.

“His inputs of busking on the street, and then being the guitarist, the frontman, and then being the Oscar-winner, and being the storyteller, and then the trad session musician – to have that removed from the culture, I think it’s jarring for people,” he said.

Songwriter Barra Donovan said Hansard was a “hero” of his and described meeting Hansard in Dublin last month.

“Who walks in but Glen?” he said.

“So naturally, I had to go up and say hello, and he was very approachable and very kind. We had a lovely conversation.

“For about 30 minutes, we were just chatting, and he kept coming back and asking me questions about my music, had all the time in the world, and I walked away that night – I should say stumbled away – with a big grin on my face and a very happy story to tell the next day.”

He added: “I was so shocked at Glen’s passing, and the only thing I could think to do is, I have to come down, pay my respects to an absolute giant in the music community and around the world, really.

“Glen helped build people up all the time, he was a giant is the only word for it.”

Singer-songwriter Zoe Hayter met Hansard when she was 10.

“I never, ever thought someone could change your life in the best way possible,” she said.

“He introduced me into a world that was the most magical thing you could ever be a part of, and there was no-one else like him that could ever do that for anybody else, and he’s done it for me, and he’s done it for everybody in the whole world.

“The whole world is crying, and there’ll never be anyone like that, and I’ll never stop loving him and I know no-one else will.”

Maureen Doyle and Richard Thorpe travelled from Co Kilkenny to pay their respects to Hansard.

Doyle said he was a “good person” and they expressed their condolences to his wife and young son, Christy.