The Pogues founder Shane MacGowan has died – Kommersant

Founder of Irish folk-punk band The Pogues Shane MacGowan has died at the age of 65, reports The Guardian. According to the TV channel Sky Newslast week he was discharged from the intensive care unit, where the musician was being treated for the effects of viral encephalitis.

Shane McGowan has used a wheelchair since 2015 after suffering fractures to his pelvis and right knee. In December 2022, he was hospitalized with encephalitis. The musician spent the summer of 2023 in intensive care.

“It is impossible to describe the loss I feel and the longing for his smile that lit up my world. You will live in my heart forever. You meant the whole world to me,” the musician’s wife Victoria Mary Clark wrote on Instagram (owned by Meta, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation).

With his work, Shane MacGowan sought to “bring the power of Irish folk music to the rock scene,” writes The Guardian. The Pogues used instruments associated with traditional Celtic folklore in their performances: whistle, banjo, accordion, mandolin. The group became known for the albums Rum Sodomy & The Lash (1985), If I Should Fall From Grace With God (1988) and Peace And Love (1989).

Shane MacGowan was born on December 25, 1957. His last performance took place on January 15, 2018 in Dublin in honor of his 60th birthday. The concert was attended by Nick Cave, Johnny Depp, Sinead O’Connor and Clem Burke (Blondie), as well as the President of Ireland Michael Higgins. The latter has repeatedly called Shane MacGowan “one of the greatest authors”. “His words connected Irish people around the world to their culture and history, capturing so many human emotions in the most poetic way,” Mr Higgins wrote in an Instagram post today.

Polina Motyzlevskaya