Leonard Has Passed Away

News about Leonard Cohen and his work, press, radio & TV programs etc.
cohenadmirer
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by cohenadmirer »

Not sure if this has been posted before .
Final interview - unedited 13th October

https://soundcloud.com/chrisdouridas/at ... ate-101316
Leonard's work resonates
Brighton 1979; Dublin , Manchester june 2008; glasgow, manchester Nov 2008; Liverpool july 2009 ; Barcelona Sept 2009 ;marseille, lille september2010: Ghent August 2012;Barcelona October 2012;Montreal x2 November 2012: 2013; Saint John NB April 2013; Brussels June 2013;Manchester August 2013; Leeds , Birmingham September 2013; Amsterdam September 2013
hansmoleman
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by hansmoleman »

cohenadmirer wrote:Not sure if this has been posted before .
Final interview - unedited 13th October

https://soundcloud.com/chrisdouridas/at ... ate-101316
cool, thanks for posting
Wile E Quixote
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Leonard Cohen - The modern background soundtrack

Post by Wile E Quixote »

Leonard Cohen just passed away, and the world has discovered how much he meant only since he left. Not a single detractor, even from the ubiquitous modern phenomenon, on-line trolls, who usually find some fault with anything and anyone.
The reaction has been universal and uniform - deep sadness at the loss, and deep appreciation of his work. It is only now he is gone that so many realized how much they liked having him around. Speaking only for myself, I discovered his music and poetry late (only a decade or so ago) but it took hold, imperceptibly at first, then with a firmer and firmer grip. It was always in the background if I listened, popping into my head at appropriate times, commenting on life's events, turnings, follies, aches, losses, desires, despair, hope...ad Infinitum. I often didn't realized a song I liked was his until much later when I heard his version, not the cover artist's. The reaction was always the same - "of course it had to be his!", and I'd slap my forehead. Again. Seemingly he wrote poems and songs that spoke about every twist and turn life could throw. His writing has grown richer with time, and will far into the future. Like Shakespeare, his writings are universal and we recognize ourselves. Like Mozart, he was compelled by some unseen, unknowable force to share his gift.
It often bemused him, I think, as he said at the Prince of Asturias speech, that "if I knew where good songs and poems came from, I'd go there more often." It was usually a struggle, copious drafts, rewrites, frustration, re-arranging stanzas, lines, words. Yet perfect in the end, mostly because of the room he gave them to grow and evolve. Like "Hallelujah," the originally ignored, dismissed classic that has grown to universality because it can be interpreted so many ways, for different artists and listeners. Like the "baffled king composing 'Hallelujah'" writing poems that came from somewhere unknowable, astonished to find what his hand had written, knowing others would find new situations and interpretations. The best art has a life of its own. There are numerous others I can think of that fall in the same category - Anthem, Everybody Knows, Alexandra Leaving, and on and on.
Humility, generosity, loyalty, and many other qualities have been given by others to him, without dissent, but always without him thinking he deserved the attention. Loyalty he appreciated most I think -at the same speech he gave heartfelt thanks to the country and people of Spain for giving him a voice in their music and poetry. He recounted how he discovered both music and poetry that came from the soil and people of Spain, how from there he found his voice.
I find many reviews of his songs shallow, but sometimes they hit a glancing blow, less often a square hit. Maybe because the songs evolve with each artist who takes them on, or we have grown ourselves in time to see different angles, different sides, to the same thoughts. I find I enjoy his work as poetry without the music just as much, but each voice and arrangement that takes them on, also gives them different colours.
I think it was inevitable and no mistake, that he was Canadian. Just as it was inevitable he would be Jewish. What other identities could he have? One, of his heritage - a people always wandering, exiled, searching for a home, often persecuted, but always enduring. Second, of his upbringing in a country of immigrants, accepting of each other's differences, and believing the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. A country whose very name means "Meeting Place" in the language of those here first.
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Wan
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Wan »

''He was the very definition of Saint'...'It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love.'
Thanks for the post Jarkko!
jarkko wrote:Bird on a Wire: How Bombay helped Leonard Cohen find his voice again
by Ratnesh Mathur, Mumbai

http://scroll.in/article/821415/bird-on ... oice-again
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andrea
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by andrea »

Dear all, another article, which I find interesting and nicely written:

http://www.economist.com/news/obituary/ ... ovember7th

Today one week ago we got the message...and it is still unbelievable.....

Andrea
1976 june Zürich (both evenings)
2008 july london - july loerrach - july lucca - october berlin - october milan - november london
2009 july koeln - august venice - september barcelona
2010: july salzburg - september florence- - december las vegas
2012: august ghent - september berlin - verona
2013: august pula - august Zürich
Sunil
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Sunil »

Dear Leonard,
Thank you for your company for so many years.

Your songs helped me begin to approach some of life's inevitables and the generous sprinkling of humour have made it more palatable! Numerous interviews and observations were gems of insight; you freely shared signs and clues which gave a clear direction to so many of us.

I don't know how much it meant to you, but I'm glad you lived long enough to see how loved you were, long enough for the critics to realise what they'd been missing.

Wishing you deep peace and happiness.

Wishing comfort and light to all your family, your friends and your admirers.

I bowed to you at the end of several concerts and now

Namaste
Sunil
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jarkko
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by jarkko »

From Lena Måndotter
(Photo also by Lena):
Image
"O break from your branches a green branch of love
after the raven has died for the dove"
1988, 1993: Helsinki||2008: Manchester|Oslo|London O2|Berlin|Helsinki|London RAH|| 2009: New York Beacon|Berlin|Venice|Barcelona|Las Vegas|San José||2010: Salzburg|Helsinki|Gent|Bratislava|Las Vegas|| 2012: Gent|Helsinki|Verona|| 2013: New York|Pula|Oslo|||
loki17ie
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Location: Wicklow, Ireland

Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by loki17ie »

2008 Kilmainham (Dublin), Amsterdam
2009 O2 (Dublin), Nimes
2010 Lissadell (Sligo),
2012 Kilmainham (Dublin)
2013 Bercy (Paris), O2 Dublin
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
Olwen
Posts: 198
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:02 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Olwen »

loki17ie wrote:https://www.instagram.com/p/BM4Zlwwg2r6/?hl=en
Last photo of Leonard?
Remembering Leonard-
Leonard Cohen tribute in the Hotspot, Greystones on February 11th 2017. I noticed you are from Wicklow and thought you might be interested.
Olwen
Plymouth 1976, Kilmainham Dublin 2008, 02 Dublin 2009, Lissadel Sligo 2010,
Kilmainham, Dublin 2012, 02 Dublin 2013, Leonard Cohen Dublin Event 2014.
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rpan
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Location: Dublin, Ireland

Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by rpan »

At http://twitter.com/@DenisCoderre, the mayor of Montreal I think, there are various postings and a short video showing prayers being said for Leonard Cohen at the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem.
"We were broken then, but now we're borderline"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2009: Dublin - Lisbon - Barcelona - San Jose
2010: Sligo - Florence - Marseille - Lille - Las Vegas
2012: Wembley - Kilmainham - Paris - Montreal
2013: London O2 - Lucca - Dublin
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MarieM
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by MarieM »

Some thoughts from Patrick Leonard:

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/11/18/le ... his-friend
Entertainment Weekly

Longtime Leonard Cohen producer remembers his friend: 'A scholar of the heart'
BY LEAH GREENBLATT
November 18 2016

They met nearly a decade ago over tuna sandwiches in an L.A. strip mall, and what followed would turn out to be one of the most rewarding working relationships of producer Patrick Leonard’s life. “There’s so much that I wish I could say about this man,” he says of Leonard Cohen, the celebrated Canadian singer, songwriter, and eternal brother of mercy, who died last week at the age of 82. “One of the tremendous beauties about Leonard Cohen which I will never ever forget is that what you saw was what you got, 100 percent: dignified, generous, unbelievable.”

Leonard, 60, collaborated closely on Cohen’s final three albums – and spoke to EW last week about the many projects they were still working on at the time of Cohen’s death, including an R&B album and orchestral reworkings of some of Cohen’s most beloved anthems. While the Michigan native is probably best known for his long history with Madonna (from 1986’s True Blue through 1998’s Ray of Light) and his recordings with marquee artists including Fleetwood Mac, Roger Waters, Elton John, and Marianne Faithfull, his experience with Cohen, he says, was singular: “We joked about [our slogan] as a music company, the Leonards—‘140 years of studio time!’ Because between the two of us that’s about what we had,” Leonard recalls, laughing.

Despite his reputation as a lofty, often solitary figure, Cohen was warm and funny and continually opening his home to friends and loved ones, Leonard tells EW. Though it was also hard to miss the signs of his deep daily engagement with spirituality, which included an extended stint in a Buddhist monastery. “I was raised Catholic,” Leonard says, “and in his kitchen there was a Catholic shrine because his mother was Catholic, and then Friday night was for Shabbat, and we would sing the songs and he would say the prayers. So it was very much about embracing all of it, but none of it dogmatically – just what makes [religion] beautiful and how it can enhance your life.”

Continues Leonard, “He said a couple things to me in the last six months that I feel I will keep in my mind for the rest of my life, heavier than I would ever share with anyone. I think there are people who are seekers because they’re confused, there are seekers who want to be part of something, but whatever brings you to it, once you start to seek it’s hard to stop. He investigated every nook and cranny. I mean, why do you study music? Because you want to get to the bottom of it, so that whatever you do is pure. And I think with Leonard, [he understood that] this experience of being human is difficult and his point of view was that spirituality offers, I don’t know, some gentleness maybe? I think it was important for him to see if he believed in that gentleness, in that forgiveness or that grace… And you’d feel it in the lyrics. There were often Christian themes, but they’d be framed by a historical reference to something completely on the other side of the subject matter. And that was one of this tremendous gifts–that he could talk about asparagus and the Virgin Mother in the same sentence and it worked, I don’t know how. [Laughs]”

Aside from the rich recorded legacy the singer leaves behind, how would Leonard like his friend and mentor to be remembered? “I feel like a few days, a few weeks of press, isn’t enough,” he says, his voice full of emotion. “We should designate three years of honoring Leonard Cohen, minimum, because nothing will ever be the same, and we would not be the world we are without this man I promise. He was a scholar of the heart.”
Marie
Speaking Cohen
HotelGuest
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by HotelGuest »

Dear Leonard,
I cherish the memory of working with you on 'I Am a Hotel' with the song 'Chelsea Hotel# 2'.Such an honour to work with such an icon and musical legend.You were truly brilliant and such a gift to this world.Thank you for your patience,kindness,humour and wisdom.Such a gentle man and a beautiful soul.I hope your journey was effortless.Now you can rest;it's closing time.
Respect,love and light.
Samantha Logan
loki17ie
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Location: Wicklow, Ireland

Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by loki17ie »

Olwen wrote:
loki17ie wrote:https://www.instagram.com/p/BM4Zlwwg2r6/?hl=en
Last photo of Leonard?
Remembering Leonard-
Leonard Cohen tribute in the Hotspot, Greystones on February 11th 2017. I noticed you are from Wicklow and thought you might be interested.
Thanks Olwen already have my tickets. Have been to his birthday concerts there. I presume you have been too.
2008 Kilmainham (Dublin), Amsterdam
2009 O2 (Dublin), Nimes
2010 Lissadell (Sligo),
2012 Kilmainham (Dublin)
2013 Bercy (Paris), O2 Dublin
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
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MarieM
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Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2002 1:36 am
Location: Michigan, USA

Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by MarieM »

A loving farewell by Cantor Gideon Zelermyer.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/mus ... cmpid=rss1
GLOBE AND MAIL


Leonard Cohen’s Temple of Song
globemail11182016a.jpg
Cantor Gideon Zelermyer, of the Shaar Hashomayim congregation in Westmount, is seen in the Sanctuary of the Shaar on Oct. 25. Zelermyer collaborated with Leonard Cohen on two songs from his most recent album, You Want It Darker.

The Cantor of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Westmount, Montreal remembers his relationship with the musician

CANTOR GIDEON ZELERMYER
FRIDAY, NOV. 18, 2016

‘May your voice reach that Place and bring down the blessings.”

Never had a member of my Montreal congregation summarized so elegantly my role as Cantor of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Westmount. But I shouldn’t have been surprised. This congregant was unlike any other: the grandson and great-grandson of presidents of The Shaar, a Companion of the Order of Canada, and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was Eliezer ben Nisan HaKohein u’Masha, also known as Leonard Cohen.

Leonard wrote me last November asking, “Would you be interested in working with me on a new record?” My first response was an ecstatic scream, followed by a feeble attempt to appear nonchalant by writing back, “Hallelujah! I’m your man!” Then I heard: “Hineni, Hineni / I’m ready, my Lord.” My exuberance morphed into something more subdued, more sober, more solemn. This would be more than just a recording. This might be Closing Time.

When I heard a rough draft of the title track for what would be Leonard’s final opus, my liturgically attuned instincts sensed a foreboding tone. “Magnified, sanctified be Thy Holy Name,” the words of the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer of mourning. I heard “Hineni,” a reference to the Akeidah, the Binding of Isaac, the ultimate test of faith.

I heard “out of the game … broken and lame … mine must be the shame.” Yet I hoped, as we all did, that Leonard would live till 120 as he quipped at a launch for You Want it Darker not three weeks before his passing.

For me, the surest sign that Leonard was indeed ready came in an e-mail that I received from him in mid-September, just weeks before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. In keeping with the strong Jewish tradition to visit the graves of loved ones prior to the High Holy Days, Leonard wrote asking me to visit his late parents at our congregation’s cemetery on Mount Royal. Within a few days, I replied with a picture, letting him know that I had put in a good word up above and had placed a stone on their graves. He replied: “That picture, and your visit are precious to me.”

Now, Leonard lies at rest atop Mount Royal in the city he loved most, buried beside his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents in the cemetery of the congregation with which he maintained a lifelong connection. Through all his spiritual peregrinations, Leonard Cohen remained a Jewish Montrealer till his last breath. “I’m not looking for a new religion,” he said to The Guardian in 2004. “I’m quite happy with the old one, with Judaism.” And in reflecting on the invitation he extended to me and the choir to appear on his latest album, Leonard wrote that “our work together reflects our love for the place, the people and the tradition.”

Every man of faith needs to make a pilgrimage and for me and Rabbi Adam Scheier, our Shaar clergy experience would remain incomplete until we saw Eliezer lead his adoring flock in song. When Leonard went back on the road in 2008, then in his mid-70s, we were determined to catch one of his local shows, all of which were sold out. Timidly, I sent Leonard an e-mail saying that we would like to buy tickets were he able to procure them for us, “the operative word being buy.” Within hours, Leonard instructed his tour manager to leave comps for “his Rabbi and Cantor” at will-call. I immediately replied that the word “complimentary” was not part of the original request. His response: “Given my connection to the shul [synagogue], and my appreciation for your work there, I was more than happy to gift them.” I then asked where I could direct a charitable contribution in his honour. “Any food bank. The closer to home, the better.”

Home was where Eliezer’s heart was pulled, and his Jewish home was always at Shaar Hashomayim. Since 1887, the rites of our synagogue have revolved around Cantor and male choir, following in the tradition of the great Choral Synagogues of Western Europe. Elaborate compositions and rich harmonies illuminate the prayers and their meaning. This musical tradition – especially when combined with the canonical robes, high ornate ceiling, rich dark wood and stained glass windows – clearly made an impression on young Leonard, as he said: “Even as a boy I loved their singing. It is what made compulsory synagogue attendance enjoyable.” When Leonard invited us to participate in You Want it Darker, he said that he was “looking for the sound of the Cantor and choir of his youth.” In one of his last interviews, he shined an even brighter light on the reason for reaching out to us. “I’ve wanted to work with the Cantor and the choir for a long time. There are times when you want to show the flag, when you want to indicate that there is nourishment to be had from this culture.”

Simchat Torah marked the last Jewish Festival that Leonard could observe in an earthly sense. The Festival of Rejoicing with the Torah marks the close of the High Holy Day period when, after weeks of weighty liturgical offerings, Simchat Torah offers the community a chance to celebrate, to dance and even to be a little silly. Our Shaar Hashomayim tradition is to close the service with a whimsical setting of the closing hymn, Adon Olam. The choir and I have sung the text to the music of Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Star Wars, Frozen and other “profane” tunes, but this year’s edition was a tribute to Eliezer: Tower of Song.

After the holiday, I sent the sheet music of our choral arrangement to Leonard with a note giving him the context. His response came a few hours later, in Hebrew, with the words: “Chazak, chazak v’nitchazeik! – Be strong, be strong and let us strengthen one another!” These are the words said in unison by Jewish worshippers when the reading of a book of the Torah is concluded. They are an affirmation of the power of God’s word in our own lives. Leonard knew that we say these words on Simchat Torah and he used them to compliment our humorous homage. These holy words were also the last that we exchanged. He died less than two weeks later.

Leonard’s invitation to collaborate on You Want It Darker changed my life, and has caused a surge of pride within our community. When the initial sense of disbelief died down, I kept asking myself: “Why us?” Leonard Cohen could go to anyone in the world for some male backing vocals. Why did he contact Shaar Hashomayim?

Eliezer Cohen first heard the words “Who by Fire?” in our sanctuary. The same place that he first heard a choir sing “Hallelujah!” and a cantor sing “Hineni.” He remembered his roots and remained proud of his heritage as a Jew, a Montrealer and as a member of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. Leonard’s high fidelity to the aforementioned makes his loss especially painful for our community, and for me personally.

“We are so lightly here.

It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear.”

Godspeed, Eliezer. May God lift up His countenance to you and grant you peace in the penthouse of the Tower of Song.

globemail11182016b.jpg
Gideon Zelermyer poses with portraits of Lyon Cohen and Lazarus Cohen, respectively grand-father and great-grand-father of Leonard Cohen, who were both presidents of the Shaar in their time.
SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT/FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Marie
Speaking Cohen
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Joe Way
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Re: Leonard Has Passed Away

Post by Joe Way »

Dear Marie,
That was a very elequent and touching article by Cantor Zelermyer. If you have the ability to contact him, please thank him on behalf of those who not only were fans of Leonard Cohen and appreciate his deep contribution to the last album, but also considered Leonard to be a very special person in their lives also and appreciate his affectionate and loving connection to Leonard, his ancestors, Shaar Hashomayim and Montreal itself.

Joe
"Say a prayer for the cowboy..."
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