An organ grinder in Vienna, with barrel organ

Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles. People engaging in this practice are called street performers, buskers, street musicians, minstrels, or troubadours.

Street performance dates back to antiquity, and occurs all over the world.

Performances can be just about anything that people find entertaining. Performers may do acrobatics, animal tricks, balloon twisting, card tricks, caricatures, clowning, comedy, contortions and escapes, dance, singing, fire eating, fire breathing, fortune-telling, juggling, magic, mime and a mime variation where the artist performs as a living statue, musical performance, puppeteering, snake charming, storytelling or recite poetry or prose as a bard, street art such as sketching and painting, street theatre, sword swallowing, and even put on a flea circus.

History[link]

An organ grinder with a Capuchin monkey, photographed in 1892.

There have been performances in public places for gratuities in every major culture in the world, dating back to antiquity. This art form was the most common means of employment for entertainers before the advent of recording and personal electronics.^[1] Prior to that, a person had to produce any music or entertainment, save for a few mechanical devices such as the barrel organ, the music box, and the piano roll. Organ grinders were commonly found busking in the old days.

The term "busking" was first noted in the English language around the middle 1860s in Great Britain. Up until the 20th century buskers were commonly called minstrels in America, Europe and other English-speaking lands.

The word "busk" comes from the Spanish root word "buscar", meaning "to seek" – buskers are literally seeking fame and fortune.^[2][3] The Spanish word "buscar" in turn evolved from the Indo-European word *"bhudh-skō" (to win, conquer) via the Celtic word "boudi-" (victory).^[4]

Busking is common among some Gypsies, also known as the Romani people. Romantic mention of Gypsy music, dancers and fortune tellers are found in all forms of song poetry, prose and lore. The Roma brought the word busking to England by way of their travels along the Mediterranean coast to Spain and the Atlantic ocean and then up north to England and the rest of Europe.

In medieval France buskers were known by the terms troubadours and jongleurs. In northern France they were known as trouveres. In old German buskers were known as Minnesingers and Spielleute. In obsolete French it evolved to busquer for "seek, prowl" and was generally used to describe prostitutes. In Italian it evolved to buscare which meant "procure, gain" and in Italy buskers are called buscarsi or, more simply, Buskers (see loan word). In Russia buskers are called skomorokh and their first recorded history appears around the 11th century.

Mariachis are Mexican street bands that play a specific style of music by the same name.^[5] Mariachis frequently wear ornate costumes with intricate embroidery and beaded designs, large brimmed sombreros and the short charro jackets. Mariachi groups busk when they perform while traveling through streets and plazas, as well as in restaurants and bars.

Around the middle 19th century Japanese Chindonya started to be seen using their skills for advertising, and these street performers are still occasionally seen in Japan.

1855 painting of a street musician, O Pobre Rabequista (The Poor Rebec Player), by José Rodrigues

In the United States, medicine shows proliferated in the 19th century. They were traveling vendors selling elixirs and potions to improve the health. They would often employ entertainment acts as a way of making the clients feel better. The people would often associate this feeling of well-being with the products sold. After these performances they would "pass the hat".

One man bands are buskers who perform a variety of instruments simultaneously. One man bands proliferated in urban areas in the 19th century and early 20th century, but they continue to exist in the first decade of the 21st century. A typical first decade of the 21st century-era one man band set-up is a singer who plays acoustic guitar, while also playing a harmonica (attached to his neck with a rack) and tapping a tambourine with his or her foot. Many new one man bands are using karaoke recordings on CD or sequenced MIDI recordings for backup.

Folk music has always been an important part of the busking scene. Cafe, restaurant, bar and pub busking is a mainstay of this art form. Two of the more famous folk singers are Woody Guthrie and Joan Baez. The delta bluesmen were mostly itinerant musicians emanating from the Mississippi Delta region of the USA around the early 1940s and on. B.B. King is one famous example who came from these roots.

The counterculture of the hippies of the 1960s occasionally staged "be-ins", which resembled some present-day busker festivals. Bands and performers would gather at public places and perform for free, passing the hat to make money. The San Francisco Bay Area was at the epicenter of this movement – be-ins were staged at Golden Gate Park and San Jose's Bee Stadium and other venues. Some of the bands that performed in this manner were Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe and the Fish, Moby Grape and Jimi Hendrix.

Christmas caroling can also be a form of busking, as wassailing included singing for alms, wassail or some other form of refreshment such as figgy pudding. In Ireland the traditional Wren Boys and in England Morris Dancing can be considered part of the busking tradition.

In India and Pakistan's Gujarati region Bhavai is a form of street art where there are plays enacted in the village, the barot or the village singer also is part of the local entertainment scene.

In the first decade of the 21st century, some performers have begun "Cyber Busking". Artists post work or performances on the Internet for people to download or "stream" and if people like it they make a donation using PayPal.

Forms[link]

German street performers play for pedestrians

There are three basic forms of street performance.

"Circle shows" are shows that tend to gather a crowd around them. They usually have a distinct beginning and end. Usually these are done in conjunction with street theater, puppeteering, magicians, comedians, acrobats, jugglers and sometimes musicians. Circle shows can be the most lucrative. Some time the crowds attracted can be huge. A good busker will control the crowd so the patrons do not obstruct foot traffic.

"Walk-by acts" are typically with the busker providing a musical or entertaining ambiance. There is no distinct beginning or end and the crowds do not particularly stop to watch. Sometimes an intended walk by act will spontaneously turn into a circle show.

"Café busking" is done mostly in restaurants, pubs, bars and cafes. Musicians can frequently be found using this venue with the performers doing a show in return for tips and gratuities offered. Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez all used this venue early on in their careers. Making a living on the piano bar principle (i.e. for tips) is done in a range of genres, including jazz, rock, and even "light" classical style. Diverse artists like Jimmy Durante and Andrea Bocelli have used this venue. Perhaps one of the most famous of these is Billy Joel, who rose to fame from working in piano bars. His hit song "Piano Man" was written about a six month stint he did in 1972 at the "Executive Room" piano bar in Los Angeles.

Toss juggling street performance in Denmark

Most buskers will use their instrument cases or a special can or box to collect the tips. A bottler is a British term that describes the person with the job of collecting the money. A bottler may also be called the "hat man" or "pitch man". The term bottler came from a device old world performers used for collecting money. It was made from the top half of a glass bottle. It had a leather flap inserted in the bottle neck and a leather pouch attached. It was designed to allow coins in but not allow them to be removed easily without being noticed by the jingling of the coins against the glass. The first use of such contrivances was recorded by the famous Punch and Judy troupe of puppeteers in early Victorian times.^[6] Bottling itself can be an art form, and the difference between a good and a bad bottler can be crucial to the amount of money earned on a pitch. A good bottler is able to encourage audience members to give money. A bottler usually gets a cut of the money made on the pitch. Prior to the 20th century, it was common for buskers to use a trained monkey as a bottler. That practice has diminished due to animal control laws, but as tribute to the monkey's service there is a device known as monkey stick which buskers use to get attention. A monkey stick is a long stick with bottle caps or small cymbals attached such that they make an attention getting noise when shaken.

Pitches[link]

A street performance trio on their pitch outside Prague Castle

The place where a performance occurs is called a "pitch". A good pitch can be the key to success as a busker. An act that might make money at one place and time may not work at all in another setting. Popular pitches tend to be public places with large volumes of pedestrian traffic, high visibility, low background noise and as few elements of interference as possible. Good locations may include tourist spots, popular parks, entertainment districts including lots of restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs and theaters, subways and bus stops, outside the entrances to large concerts and sporting events, almost any plaza or town square as well as zócalos in Latin America and piazzas in other regions. Other places include shopping malls, strip malls, and outside of supermarkets, although permission is usually required from management for these.

In her book, Underground Harmonies: Music and Politics in the Subways of New York, Susie J. Tanenbaum examined how the adage "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast" plays out in regards to busking. Her sociological studies showed that in areas where buskers regularly perform, crime rates tended to go down, and that those with higher education tended to appreciate and support buskers more than those of lesser learning.^[7] Some cities are encouraging buskers because they can be a tonic to the stresses of shopping and commuting, and can be an influence which is entertaining and beneficial for all.^[8] Some cities give preference to "approved" buskers in certain areas and even publish schedules of performances.^[9]

Mother and son busking in Lhasa, Tibet

In the United States there has been a rebirth of this art form as the new millennium has started. Buskers are found at many locations like Mallory Square in Key West, in New Orleans, in New York around Central Park, Washington Square, and the subway systems, in San Francisco, in Washington DC around the transit centers, in Los Angeles around Venice Beach, the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade, and the Hollywood area, in Chicago on Maxwell Street, in the Delmar Loop district of St. Louis, and many other locations throughout the US. Busking is still quite common in Scotland, Ireland, and England with musicians and other street performers of varying talent levels.

Legislation[link]

The first recorded instance of laws affecting buskers were in ancient Rome in 462 BC. The Law of the Twelve Tables made it a crime to sing about or make parodies of the government or its officials in public places; the penalty was death.^[10][11] Louis the Pious "excluded histriones and scurrae, which included all entertainers without noble protection, from the privilege of justice".^[12] In 1530 Henry VIII ordered the licensing of minstrels and players, fortune-tellers, pardoners and fencers, as well as beggars who could not work. If they did not obey they could be whipped on two consecutive days.^[13]

In the United States under Constitutional Law and most European common law, the protection of artistic free speech extends to busking. In the USA and most places, the designated places for free speech behavior are the public parks, streets, sidewalks, thoroughfares and town squares or plazas. Under certain circumstances even private property may be open to buskers, particularly if it is open to the general public and busking does not interfere with its function and management allows it or other forms of free speech behaviors or has a history of doing so.^[14]

While there is no universal code of conduct for buskers, there are common law practices which buskers must conform to. Most jurisdictions have corresponding statutory law. In Great Britain free speech and busking can be regulated. Some towns in the British Isles limit the licenses issued to bagpipers because of the volume and difficulty of the instrument.^{[citation needed]} In Great Britain places requiring licenses for buskers may also require auditions of anyone applying for a busking license.^{[citation needed]} Some venues that do not regulate busking may still ask performers to abide by voluntary rules. Some places require a special permit to use electronically amplified sound and may have limits on the volume of sound produced.^[15] It is common law that buskers or others should not impede pedestrian traffic flow, block or otherwise obstruct entrances or exits, or do things that endanger the public. It is common law that any disturbing or noisy behaviors may not be conducted after certain hours in the night. These curfew limitations vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. It is common law that "performing blue" (i.e. using material that is sexually explicit or any vulgar or obscene remarks or gestures) is generally prohibited unless performing for an adults-only environment such as in a bar or pub.

In London, busking is prohibited in the entire borough of the City of London. The London Underground provides busking permits in tube stations, and many London boroughs allow busking by permit. The only borough in London permitting busking without a permit is Camden.^[16]

Buskers may find themselves targeted by thieves due to the very open and public nature of their craft. Buskers may have their earnings, instruments or props stolen. One particular technique that thieves use against buskers is to pretend to make a donation while actually taking money out instead, a practice known as "dipping" or "skimming". George Burns described his days as a youthful busker this way:^[17]

Sometimes the customers threw something in the hats. Sometimes they took something out of the hats. Sometimes they took the hats.

Celebrity anecdotes[link]

Classical fiddler in Arles, France

• Joshua Bell In a stunt organised by The Washington Post, the classical violinist played as an incognito street busker at the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station in Washington, D.C. on 12 January 2007. Of the 1,097 people who passed by, only one recognized him and only a couple more were drawn to his music. For his nearly 45 minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 (not counting $20 from the passerby who recognized him). He did this using a Stradivarius violin valued at around $2,000,000.^[18]
• Kristyna Myles Myles won the BBC Radio 5 Live Busker of the Year competition in 2005 and has gone on to sign a recording contract with Decca. Her debut album is due for release in September 2012.
• Bon Jovi has been known to take to the streets from time to time. Among the most famous Bon Jovi busks were those at London's Covent Garden and Moscow's Red Square.^[19]
• John Butler, a well known Australian artist, has been known to busk and started his career busking.
• Tom Jones On 18 November 2008, the singer went outside London's Royal Festival Hall and busked for charity. He raised £500 for cancer research while doing a twenty minute set.^[20]
• Tracy Chapman began her career busking in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Benjamin Franklin, the American inventor and statesman, was a street performer. He composed songs, poetry and prose about the current events and went out in public and performed them. He would then sell printed copies of them to the public. He was dissuaded from busking by his father who convinced him the stigmas that some people attach to busking were not worth it. It was this experience that helped form his beliefs in free speech, which he wrote about in his journals.^[1]
• Newton Faulkner has been known to busk and video footage of him busking has been made available on YouTube, including a full acoustic cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".^{[citation needed]}
• Shannon Hoon, former singer for Blind Melon, was known to busk all over the U.S.^{[citation needed]}
• Guy Laliberté was a street performer when he founded the Cirque du Soleil theatrical company in 1984.^[21]
• Paul McCartney of The Beatles donned a disguise to be filmed busking for Give My Regards To Broad Street in 1984:

"They just made me up and dropped me off. [...] So I was standin' there plunkin' chords, doing this silly version of the song, and no one noticed it was me. No one wants to look a busker (street singer) in the eye, of course, 'cus then they get his life story. So they'd toss coins and I'd be going 'Yesterday, all my troubles – thank you, sir – seemed so far away.' [...] After we did it, I made sure the money was donated to the Seaman's Mission."^[22]

Street musician playing drums, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Loreena Mckennitt, developing a passion for Celtic music, learned to play the Celtic harp and began busking at various places, including St. Lawrence Market in Toronto in order to earn money to record her first album.
• Natalia Paruz who can be seen in movies such as 'Dummy' and heard on many movie soundtracks has been playing the musical saw in the New York City subway since 1994.^[23]
• Peter Mulvey, the singer-songwriter, recorded an entire album down in the Boston Subway, where he was a regular busker. In most cases, songs were recorded in one or two takes.^[24]
• Bruce Springsteen has been known to busk. There is a famous set of videos, recorded on 23 July 1988 in Copenhagen, where he plays a variety of his songs with a busker on the street.^[25]
• Rod Stewart began hanging around folk singer Wizz Jones and busking, at Leicester Square and other London spots in 1962.^[26] On several trips over the next 18 months Jones and Stewart took their act to Brighton and then to Paris, sleeping under bridges over the River Seine, and then finally to Barcelona.^[26] Finally this resulted in Stewart being rounded up and deported from Spain for vagrancy during 1963.^[26][27]
• Sting has also donned a disguise and gone out busking. He reportedly made £40. "He pulled a hat down over his eyes, but one woman said: 'It's Sting.' The man behind her said: 'You silly cow. It's not him. He's a multi-millionaire.'"^[28]
• KT Tunstall, a popular Scottish singer, has been recorded busking in Glasgow.
• Violent Femmes were discovered by James Honeyman-Scott (of The Pretenders) on August 23, 1981, when the band was busking on a street corner in front of the Oriental Theatre, the Milwaukee venue that The Pretenders would be playing later that night. Chrissie Hynde invited them to play a brief acoustic set after the opening act.
• Hayley Westenra at one time busked on the streets of Christchurch, New Zealand.^[29]

See also[link]

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Busking or Street music

Look up busker in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Press

• Striving to make music under the NYC streets. Daniel Strieff and Jon Sweeney. August 24, 2004. MSNBC.
• What the ailing record industry can learn from a successful subway musician. Nicholas Thompson. December, 2003. Washington Monthly.
• The Real Piano Man Steven Kurutz, August 30, 2008. The New York Times.

Other

• McKay, George (2007). "'A soundtrack to the insurrection': street music, marching bands and popular protest". Parallax 13 (1): 20–31. http://salford.academia.edu/GeorgeMcKay/Papers/117976/-A-soundtrack-to-the-insurrection---street-music--marching-bands-and-popular-protest. 

Aloe Blacc
Blacc at Festival Mundial in Tilburg on June 19, 2011
Background information
Birth name	Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III
Born	January 8, 1979
Origin	Orange County, California, United States
Genres	Soul, R&B, jazz, hip hop
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Stones Throw Records, Goontrax
Associated acts	Emanon, Exile, Lena Meyer-Landrut, Sherif
Website	Aloe Blacc.com

Aloe Blacc (born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III; January 7, 1979^[1][2]) is an American soul singer, rapper and musician. He is married to Australian rapper Maya Jupiter.

[edit] Early career and Shine Through (1995–2009)

Blacc was born in Orange County, California to Panamanian parents.^[3] He began his music career in 1995 as a rapper in the hip hop duo Emanon with producer Exile.

By the late 1990s, Blacc was part of the duo Emanon and joined the group Lootpack on tour in Europe. The duo released six albums. This led to Blacc working with the French Jazz group Jazz Liberatorz. He released an album at the end of the 1990s.^[4]

In 2003, Blacc signed with Stones Throw Records and began a solo career. On July 11, 2006, he released his first LP album, Shine Through, on CD, vinyl record and online (on the Stones Throw website).

He then toured across Europe and the U.S. with Emanon, while working on his second solo album.

In 2009, Blacc collaborated with the Japanese hip hop producer Cradle. They called themselves Bee.

[edit] Mainstream success and Good Things (2010–present)

In 2010, Blacc released his second album, Good Things, on Stones Throw records. The album was produced by Jeff Dynamite and Leon Michels for Truth & Soul Productions.

Blacc was signed by Matthew Larkin for the charity album Red Hot + Rio 2, a follow-up to the 1996 Red Hot + Rio. Proceeds from the sales were donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues. In 2011, Kenneth Bager used Aloe Blacc on "The Sound of Swing, Pt. 2 (Oh Na Na)" co-written by Thomas Troelsen.^[5]

In summer 2011, Blacc performed on the main stages at major festivals such as Glastonbury and The Falls Festival in Australia with his primary touring band The Grand Scheme. "I Need a Dollar" is the opening title track on the HBO series, How To Make It In America.

Television appearances[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

With Emanon[link]

With Cradle[link]

• Bee – Open Your Mind (2009)

With The Grand Scheme[link]

• "Dark End Of The Street" from the Carhartt: Dark End Of The Street Compilation (2010)
• "Green Lights Grand Scheme Remix" from the UK Sony/Epic Single Release (2011)

With Joel Van Dijk[link]

• "I Got The Blues" Rolling Stones Cover - Mojo: Sticky Soul Fingers Compilation (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aloe Blacc

• Aloe Blacc
• Aloe Blacc at Stones Throw Records
• RBMA Radio On Demand – Melbourne Marvels – Aloe Blacc (Stones Throw)
• Short Film on Aloe Blacc
• NPR interview from October 2010
• (fr) Interview with Aloe Blacc on Soulrnb.com
• NPR interview from February 2011
• Aloe Blacc – Radio 1Xtra Live Lounge

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (September 2009)

Glen Hansard
Background information
Born	(1970-04-21) 21 April 1970 (age 42) Ballymun, Dublin Republic of Ireland
Genres	folk rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, actor
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, mandolin
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Plateau, Overcoat Recordings, Island
Associated acts	The Frames, The Swell Season, Markéta Irglová
Website	www.theframes.ie

Glen Hansard, live at Vicar Street, Dublin, 31 December 2006

Hansard and Markéta Irglová playing at Cool Discs record store, Derry, Northern Ireland, April 2006

Glen Hansard (born 21 April 1970 in Dublin, Ireland)^[1] is the Academy Award–winning principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist for Irish group The Frames and one half of folk rock duo, The Swell Season. He is also known for his acting, having appeared in the BAFTA winning film The Commitments, as well as starring in the film Once. His song, "Falling Slowly", from Once, co-written with his co-star Markéta Irglová, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2007, and earned him ten other major awards or nominations between 2007-08.^[2]

Career[link]

Hansard quit school at age 13 to begin busking on local Dublin streets.^[3] He formed The Frames in 1990, and they've been staples of the Irish music scene ever since. Their first album, Another Love Song, was released on Island Records in 1991, and their most recent, The Cost, was released in 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Hansard came to international attention as guitar player Outspan Foster in the 1991 Alan Parker film The Commitments, after attending the New York Film Academy School of Acting. He has often stated that he regretted taking the role, because he felt it distracted him from his music career. In 2003, he presented the television programme Other Voices: Songs from a Room, which showcased Irish music talent on RTÉ.

On 22 April 2006, he released his first album without The Frames, The Swell Season, on Overcoat Recordings in collaboration with Czech singer and multi-instrumentalist Markéta Irglová, Marja Tuhkanen from Finland on violin and viola, and Bertrand Galen from France on cello. Hansard also spent part of 2006 in front of the cameras for a music-infused Irish film Once, in which Hansard plays a Dublin busker, and Irglová an immigrant street vendor. The film had its American premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and received the Festival's World Cinema Audience Award. During the promotional tour, he and Irglová began dating.^[4] Said Hansard about his relationship with Irglova: "I had been falling in love with her for a long time, but I kept telling myself she's just a kid".^[5] One of the songs they wrote ("Falling Slowly") won an Oscar for Best Song in February 2008. Hansard became the first Irish-born person to win in that category. He was accompanied by his mother, Catherine Hansard.

Hansard and Irglová recorded a version of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" for the film I'm Not There in 2007. In 2009, Hansard said that he and Irglova were no longer romantically linked, and that they are now "good friends".^[6] Aside from his projects with The Frames and Irglová, Hansard also took part as a member of the band on the 2006 Oxfam charity album, The Cake Sale.

Hansard has recorded several cover songs, both alone and with band member Colm Mac Con Iomaire, for the Today FM discs Even Better than the Real Thing. Songs that he has recorded include Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1 and Britney Spears' "Everytime" on Vol. 2.

He voiced a role on an episode ("In the Name of the Grandfather") on The Simpsons as an Irish busker. A new album of original songs recorded as The Swell Season with Markéta Irglová and entitled Strict Joy was released on October 27, 2009 on the ANTI- record label.^[7]

On 14 August 2009, Hansard sang "Amazing Grace" at the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. In December 2009, he was joined by Bono, Damien Rice and other Irish musicians on Grafton Street in Dublin, to busk in aid of the Simon Community. In January 2010, Glen and fellow musician Mark Geary auctioned off a house concert on eBay in aid of Haitian relief after the catastrophic earthquake left the country in dire need of assistance. The pair would travel anywhere within a 2 hour drive of Dublin and play a private gig in the highest bidder's house. In the end the two musicians played for the highest bidder and a selection of other fans in a central Dublin cafe. The auction raised in the region of €6,000 (six thousand euro) for charity.^{[citation needed]}

In the summer of 2011, he joined Eddie Vedder on his American solo tour in support of Vedder's solo album, Ukulele Songs. He also played his own solo concert at the opening of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art Guitar Heroes exhibit in May^[8] and on Cape Cod at the Cape Cinema on 17 June.^[9] On 3-4 September 2011, he played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival PJ20 at the Alpine Valley Theatre outside of East Troy, Wisconsin.

Hansard plays a Takamine NP15 acoustic guitar, which he calls "The Horse".^[10] In a recent interview^[when?] in the Huffington Post with Irglova, it was revealed that Hansard was preparing a solo album and that there was a very possible third release from the Swell Season. This solo album was later revealed to be titled Rhythm and Repose^[11]

Influences[link]

Hansard has remarked about his musical influences: "In my house, when I was a kid, there was the holy trinity, which was Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan with Bob sitting center."^[12] Hansard and The Frames toured as the support act for Bob Dylan in Australia and New Zealand in August 2007 and Hansard often performs Van Morrison's songs in concert. Two such songs include "Into the Mystic", and "And the Healing Has Begun" which were included on the collector's edition of the soundtrack for the film Once.

Awards and nominations[link]

Awards[link]

• Academy Award 2008 Achievement in Music Written for a Motion Picture (Original Song) - "Falling Slowly" from Once"Awards for Glen Hansard". IMdb. 2010. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0360598/awards. Retrieved 5 May 2010. 
• Critics' Choice Award 2008 Best Original Song - "Falling Slowly" from Once
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award 2008 Best Original Score - for Once

Nominations[link]

• 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

Discography[link]

The Frames[link]

Albums[link]

• Another Love Song (1991) (Out of production, though available for download from iTunes)
• Fitzcarraldo (1995) (as The Frames DC)

	"Revelate" (1995) noicon from the 1995 album "Fitzcarraldo"
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

• Fitzcarraldo (1996)
• Dance the Devil (1999)
• For the Birds (2001)
• Breadcrumb Trail (2002) (live album)
• Set List (2003) (live album)
• Burn the Maps (2004)

	"Fake" (2003) noicon from the 2004 album "Burn the Maps"
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

• The Cost (2006)
• DEBUT SOLO ALBUM - RHYTHM AND REPOSE (JUNE 2012)

Singles and EPs[link]

• "The Dancer" (1991)
• "Masquerade" (1992)
• Turn On Your Record Player EP (1992)
• Picture of Love (1993)
• Angel at My Table (1994)
• "Revelate" (1995)
• "Monument" (1996)
• I am the Magic Hand (February 15, 1999)
• Pavement Tune (1999)
• Rent Day Blues EP (1999)
• Come On Up to the House (1999—Compilation featuring "Star Star" by The Frames)
• Lay Me Down (2001)
• Headlong (2002)
• The Roads Outgrown EP (2003)
• "Fake" (12 September 2003)
• "Finally" (20 August 2004)
• "Sideways Down" (28 January 2005)
• "Happy" (Radio Single Only; 2005)
• "Falling Slowly/No More I Love Yous" (1 September 2006)
• "Take the Heartland" (2012)

The Swell Season[link]

• The Swell Season (2006)
• Once Soundtrack (2007)
• Strict Joy (2009)

Films and television[link]

• The Commitments (1991)
• Once (2007)
• Austin City Limits (2008)^[13]
• Ballymun Lullaby (2011) - Documentary
• Play (2011)

See also[link]

• The Stars Are Underground – 24-minute film documenting the underground music scene in Dublin (1996)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Glen Hansard

• Official Website
• Glen Hansard at the Internet Movie Database
• The Swell Season - Myspace
• theswellseason.com
• Lyrics at Irish Music Central
• Excreting Songs - Glen Hansard in interview
• The Frames: It's Just A Band, a 56-minute documentary on The Frames, in 2005

Me One (born Eric Martin on August 19, 1970) is a multi-instrumentalist singer, song-writer and music producer born in Cardiff, Wales.

Educated in London and New York, he is the son of an English teacher (mother) from Kingston and a Pentecostal Church minister (father) from Port Antonio. He holds dual citizenship of both Jamaica and the UK.

His debut album as Me One was released in May 2000 on Universal-Island U.K.^[1] The 12 track release was titled As Far as I'm Concerned^[1] and featured Guru (from Gang Starr) on Do You Know and Michelle Gayle on a cover version of The Beach Boys track In My Room. The latter was released as a single, along with Game Plan and Old Fashioned. ^[2]

Aside from his solo work, Martin has written with (or for) Jeff Beck, Maxi Priest, The Roots, Capleton, Lynden David Hall and The Sugababes.^{[citation needed]}

He formed his own record label, Frenemy Records in 2005.^[3]

In 2011 he signed a recording deal with Glasgow based record label Innovation Music ^[4].

In addition to the Me One project, Eric Martin is known as an original member of Technotronic.

References[link]

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Róisín Murphy
Róisín Murphy live in Sofia (2008)
Background information
Birth name	Róisín Marie Murphy
Born	(1973-07-05) 5 July 1973 (age 38) Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland
Genres	Electropop, synthpop, alternative dance, nu-disco, house, trip hop, experimental, nu jazz
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Echo, EMI
Associated acts	Moloko
Website	www.myspace.com/roisinmurphy

Róisín Marie Murphy (Irish pronunciation: [roːˈʃʲiːnʲ], English: /roʊˈʃiːn/; born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and record producer, known for her electronic style. Murphy has a contralto vocal range.^[1]

Murphy first came to note as one half of the electronic music duo Moloko with her then-boyfriend Mark Brydon. After the two ended their romantic relationship, Murphy released her debut solo album Ruby Blue, written and produced with Matthew Herbert, in 2005. Her second solo album Overpowered was released in 2007.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Murphy was brought up in Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland, in a Roman Catholic family. When she was twelve, her family moved to Manchester, England.^[2] Murphy embraced 1960s fashions from going with her mother, an antique dealer, to car boot sales and charity shops.^[3] She concealed her singing voice, not wanting other people to know she "sounded like Elaine Paige" when she herself enjoyed listening to the likes of Sonic Youth and Pixies instead.^[2]

After three years of living in Manchester, her parents divorced and moved back to Ireland.^[4] Murphy insisted on remaining alone in the UK because she did not think that her mother had the strength to continue taking care of her.^[5] Murphy lived with her best friend for a year, until she could receive Housing Benefit and live in a nearby flat.^[4] She was bullied at school and befriended a group of "weird boys who wore black" and who listened to the Jesus and Mary Chain.^[2] She enrolled in a sixth form college at seventeen and later considered going to art school.^[4] She moved to Sheffield^[2] where she began going to nightclubs and was inspired by the Vivienne Westwood designs she saw at Trash.^[3]

1994–2003: Moloko[link]

Murphy met Mark Brydon in 1994 at a party, using the chat-up line "Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body."^[6] Brydon brought Murphy to his Fon Studios, where he auditioned her voice on tape, and liked Murphy's theatrical delivery. They began dating, and the newly-formed Moloko were signed to Echo Records, releasing their debut album Do You Like My Tight Sweater? the following year.^[4] The album combined trip hop and funk with electronic dance music, using a more humorous approach than some of their contemporaries.^[6] The follow-up I Am Not a Doctor covered similar musical ground,^[6] and a remix by Boris Dlugosch of "Sing It Back" enjoyed international success, and would go on to be featured on more than 110 compilation albums.^[2] In place of paying Dlugosch, Murphy helped write "Never Enough",^[7] which reached number sixteen on the UK Singles Chart in June 2001.^[8]

October 2000 saw the release of Moloko's third album Things to Make and Do, for which they employed more live instrumentation, and more multifaceted arrangements by keyboardist Eddie Stevens.^[9] The album reached number three on the UK Albums Chart, and "The Time Is Now" became their most successful British single, reaching number two.^[8] Murphy and Brydon broke up but were contractually obligated to deliver further albums. After the 2003 release of Statues, Brydon backed out of much of the album's promotion, so Murphy handled most of it herself.^[5] Although no official statement was issued pertaining to Moloko's future, Murphy had this to say in an interview with Q magazine in May 2005 (which was reiterated in the review of Ruby Blue in July 2005):

We left it on good terms after a very successful tour. We shook hands, said, "See you later", and haven't spoken since. I don't know what Mark thinks of this record or what he's doing. I don't know if we will or we won't reunite. Myself, I don't not want to.

[edit] 2004–05: Ruby Blue

Murphy performing at the Orange Music Experience Festival in Haifa, Israel on 27 June 2005, as part of the Ruby Blue tour.

Murphy began doing solo work while still in Moloko, which included her contributions to the works of other artists including Handsome Boy Modeling School and Boris Dlugosch, for whom she sang on the track "Never Enough", which became a huge club hit, hitting the top three of the US Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Murphy recorded her first official solo material in 2004 with producer Matthew Herbert, who had previously done remixes for Moloko. She had wanted to work with him again, commenting that "it felt very natural... because Matthew makes things seem quicker and easier."^[10] After the pair had recorded a few songs, Murphy found that she enjoyed working with Herbert, and her label Echo Records let her work freely without any deadline. When she presented them the album, they found it odd and did not hear any songs that would make successful singles. The A&R division suggested that Murphy make some changes to make it more radio-friendly. Murphy refused, stating that she "wanted it to be as pure as possible." The label later came to support her.^[11]

Murphy released her debut album Ruby Blue in June 2005. Prior to this, tracks from the album were made available on three limited edition, vinyl-only releases: Sequins #1, Sequins #2 and Sequins #3. The release of the EP's was to precede a London exhibition by artist Simon Henwood, featuring paintings of Murphy in various sequined outfits (some of Henwood's paintings are used as cover images for the record jackets).^[12] The titling is also a pun on "sequins" and the related word "sequence". Henwood also directed the two video clips for the album's singles ("If We're in Love" and "Sow into You").

Ruby Blue samples sounds made by everyday objects and actions, including cosmetics, brass mice, dancing and ornaments.^[13] It mixes the electronic music for which Moloko was known with jazz and pop styles.^[14] Although the album was a commercial failure,^[15] it drew mainly positive reviews; Pitchfork Media called it "perfect, the ultimate combination of human warmth and technological know-how."^[16]

[edit] 2006–08: Overpowered

Murphy performing in Belgrade, Serbia on 26 August 2007.

In May 2006, Murphy announced on her website forum that she had signed with EMI and was working on new material. The first single, "Overpowered", was released on 2 July 2007. "Overpowered" was written by Murphy and Seiji of Bugz in the Attic and mixed by Tom Elmhirst (Amy Winehouse, Röyksopp, Grace Jones). The single is accompanied by a series of remixes from the likes of Seamus Haji, Kris Menace, Hervé and Loose Cannons.^[17] The second single "Let Me Know" (a collaboration with Andy Cato), was released in September and the album, named Overpowered, was released soon after.

In September 2007, Murphy received a pre-nomination for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Inter Act, but did not make it to the final list.^[18] She performed "Let Me Know" on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 5 October 2007.

Murphy sustained an eye injury on 27 October 2007, while on tour in Russia to promote Overpowered. She was forced to cancel several subsequent dates on the tour.^[19]

2009–present[link]

Despite well-known troubles at EMI, Murphy said in an interview in August 2008 that she was working on her third studio solo album. She said she was working with the producer from Overpowered, Seiji, to give the third album the "sleepy, synthesized vibe" that Overpowered has.^[20]

On 17 July 2009 BBC 6 Music revealed Murphy would release a new single, "Demon Lover", by the end of the summer. The singer describes the song as "a big funky house track. It's a souped-up full on garage tune". About her third album she says: "It is quite gritty, it has a slightly London sound to it, it's a bit more urban and bass-ey than Overpowered". ^[21] On the same day, a Murphy news blog also revealed that she was pregnant with her first child.^[22]

Murphy recently previewed new material at the SEone club in London, performing "Momma's Place" and "Hold up Your Hands". She also said on her official forum that she has written some new songs including "Leviathan (Do It Yourself)", among others with producer Apollo Andel. On 2 November, she premiered the single "Orally Fixated" on her Myspace page. The song was released 16 November. The Guardian offered a free download of the song for 48 hours beginning on 12 November.

In a January 2010 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Murphy said, "First of all, I haven't recorded a new album as such. I've recorded a lot of songs, but I haven't planned beyond just putting the songs out there and letting them have their own life, and see how the music lives on its own, without videos, without a big promotion. It's more just about getting songs out there and letting them have their own life."

On 8 March 2010, production duo Crookers released their new album Tons of Friends which features Murphy on the tracks "Royal T" and "Hold Up Your Hand".^[23]

On 6 April 2010 David Byrne and Fatboy Slim released their project "Here Lies Love", which features Murphy on the track "Don't You Agree?" ^[24]

Murphy has collaborated with Dutch DJ Mason on the track "Boadicea". It has been released in the UK and the US as a single on 21 March 2011. In 2011, she collaborated with Tony Christie on his album Now's The Time!. Also in 2011 she revealed to XOXO magazine that she has been working on new music and is ready to release an album sometime in the near future. She also added that her new music is coming from "a deeper place" than her last album Overpowered.

A collaboration with a "well-respected producer from Northern England" titled "Simulation" surfaced online in December 2011.^[25] Murphy also told Electronic Beats that she had recorded a track with David Morales.^[26]

Personal life[link]

Murphy is now in a relationship with her artist boyfriend Simon Henwood. On 15 December 2009, Murphy gave birth to her first child, a baby girl who she named Clodagh Henwood. Murphy and Simon Henwood are reportedly "thrilled" with the new addition to their budding family, who weighed at 8 lb 4oz.^[27]

Discography[link]

• Ruby Blue (2005)
• Overpowered (2007)

References[link]