Marketa Irglova - Lila
“I believe that during the process of co-creation people open their hearts to one another, and their spirits entwine for a time to bring forward what is being conceived. All inspiration comes from the realm of spirit and needs to be collected there and brought into the world of matter where it is rooted and takes on a denser form. From my experience, this…process and the feelings that spring in one’s heart during it are similar to those of falling in love. The heart is open and cosmic energy flows through it more freely than we usually allow it to. It is this very experience I describe that I love most about what I do. It is the closest I ever get to feeling one with all of creation.” — Marketa Irglova, on her creative process
Lila is the new record, and first in over eight- yes eight!!!– years from Academy Award winner Marketa Irglova. Arriving on the fifteenth anniversary of ONCE, the film that catapulted her into mainstream consciousness, capturing the hearts of fans and critics alike, introducing us to a song for the ages with her composition, “Falling Slowly.”
Her performance prompted Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert to write that she, “has the kind of smile that makes a man want to be a better person, so he can deserve being smiled at.” With its universal theme of hope, “Falling Slowly” has become a staple of life’s most celebratory moments, most notably weddings, a perennial favorite for contestants on singing competitions and atop lists like “Greatest Movie Songs of All Time” and “Best Songs About Falling in Love.” It’s an honor Irglova embraces as love is a theme she consistently embraces in her music and life even as the world seems in short supply.
To fully understand how we arrived at Lila, it’s important to know how we got here. Irglova is the first of two daughters (Zuzana is her younger sister) born to Marek and Jana Irglova in the small town of Valašské Meziříčí in the Czech Republic. Her parents love of music and art was embraced by Irglova and she began playing piano and guitar an early age (7). Her father, a music festival producer, encouraged her to study classical piano which was her primary focus in school and he introduced her to many western bands. It was thru his promoting of bands in the Czech Republic that she would meet Glen Hansard.
Irglova credits Hansard with teaching her how to improvise, breaking free of her classical training and helping her discover her ethereal harmonies which were the perfect contrast to his earthy melodies. He encouraged her to write her own songs — setting her off on a trajectory of self-expression spanning heartache, perseverance, and imagining the impossible. (Continue reading full bio on DISCO)