Interview after the concert Barcelona 1980

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ForYourSmile
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Interview after the concert Barcelona 1980

Post by ForYourSmile »

Interview after de concert in Barcelona, November 17th, 1980 <- Link to YouTube

"Leonard chained at the bottom of the pool"
This would have been the sensationalist title in order to get more views for this topic :lol:

After the concert, at the backstage of the Palau Municipal d'Esports, Ángel Casas interviewed Leonard Cohen for Musical Express, in French dubbed to Spanish, this is my transcription:
Àngel Casas presentation: “We are going to offer you a report about a man who was born in the year 34 in Montreal who is a poet and novelist, as well as a singer who wrote a series of poetry books before deciding to sing and that his first album "The Songs of Leonard Cohen" had a great impact”.

Take of the concert: fragment of Bird on the Wire.

19801117_Barcelona_Cohen_1.jpg
19801117_Barcelona_Cohen_0.jpg
Àngel Casas: It was full of lights after the concert, full of lighters… and going out again to sing, nice, right?
Leonard Cohen: Oh... For me, seeing the small fires are like seeing the stars in the sky, it is wonderful I would like everyone to see it from the stage because it is something that cannot be explained.
AC: Tonight you have sung a lot, why? Is it because the public asked for it?
LC: Because the public wanted it, yes.
AC: Do you like to sing a lot?
LC: For such an audience, yes.
AC: You know that you are well known in Spain.
LC: No, I didn't think it was that much, I knew that there were people who knew me, but, but not that much.
AC: I know that you have a daughter and her name is Lorca, is it because of Federico?
LC: Yes, it is because of Federico García Lorca.
AC: You know the poetry of García Lorca well.
LC: Yes, he was the first poet who impressed me and when my daughter was born I gave her his name.
AC: And when she asks: Why is my name Lorca?
LC: I'll explain it to her; I'll show her the poems, even though she's only six years old now.
Alberto Manzano wrote in the book Leonard Cohen. Canciones y nuevos poemas vol. 2 (1986):
A new European tour that begins in Besançon, on October 24, and concludes with two concerts in Tel Aviv, on November 24, this time brings Cohen to Spain: San Sebastián (Nov. 16) and Barcelona (Nov. 17). Exorcism of collective beauty, dreamlike evening of realities. After the "inebriation" of the concert in Barcelona, Cohen chains himself at the bottom of an empty pool in his dressing room, and declares: "After a concert like this one can do a lot of nonsense ... I've spent my life looking for the way of freedom…
Today I celebrate the 41st anniversary :D , 41 years ago!!! :roll: This was my first Leonard concert, it’s an amazing memory: Barcelona 1980
Cohen had performed in Barcelona 1974 October 12th was Saturday, after the success of the first concert a second concert was hurriedly scheduled on Sunday morning (a matinee), October 13th.
Afterwards:
May 24th, 1988
May 15th, 1993
September 21st, 2009 We celebrated the 75th anniversary in an unforgettable fan meeting.
October 3rd, 2012

Alberto Manzano was possibly the one who sold me at the door of this concert an anonymous Spanish translation of the lyrics of Recent Songs (1979), a document of cyclostyle sheets stapled and covered with red tape, a valuable stuff to try understand Cohen, and I'm still trying to understand him. Manzano managed to get to the backstage with the empty pool, where his relationship with Cohen began. That winter he travelled to Hydra, from that visit we have an interesting collection of photos with Adam and Lorca. Manzano has written a good number of Cohen-related books and organized two mini tribute tours in 2006 and 2007.

Ángel Casas is a journalist and music critic. He directed Musical Express (1980-1983) at the Circuit Catalá in 1980 for TVE, the unique TV Spanish channel at that time. In 1984 he joined to TV3 at the beginning of Catalan public television. (The context: they were times of change, from a dictatorship we went to the current fake democracy without justice). Right now Ángel Casas has serious health problems. Both TV3 and TVE have produced tribute programs. I have clipped the video from “Tesoros de la tele, especial Ángel Casas” 2021.
(Thank you very much Chema for keeping me informed of so many things).

Maybe the video we have is a part of a broader interview and there are more shots of the concert. If so, I hope I can see it someday. TVE recorded the full San Sebastián gig in 1988.
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B4real
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Re: Interview after the concert Barcelona 1980

Post by B4real »

FYS, just to highlight your initial post I thought I would add the video again because it's a fun thing and different :)
Thanks for the translation. Same as you, I was hoping it would be longer but no such luck so far.
This time the short excerpt is on YouTube by Retro HQ Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT4CutI_9lQ
It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to B4real ~ me
Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!
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