Leonard Cohen in Iranian prison
Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 9:47 am
I hope that someone with better computer skills than I have will be able to upload the following (Google Terry Gross Fresh Air Maziar Bahari):
An interview on American Public Radio with Maziar Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian correspondent for Newsweek who was accused of spying for the West and jailed and tortured for 118 days in Iran after last year's post-election demonstrations. In the 39-minute interview, he talks about his experience, and at the end he says that the music of Leonard Cohen helped get him through it all. "He basically provided the soundtrack to my imprisonment....And that was really liberating. Because that was a secret between me and Leonard Cohen that my interrogator and my prison guard, they did not know anthing about."
The segment ends with Sisters of Mercy, apparently one of the songs that got him through it all. We all know the so-called "documentary" background for that song that LC has provided, but this gives it a whole new layer of meaning. I found this tribute more moving than all the halls of fame put together, however wonderful they are.
The references to LC come only at the end of the interview, but you really need to listen to the entire thing to get the import of it.
An interview on American Public Radio with Maziar Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian correspondent for Newsweek who was accused of spying for the West and jailed and tortured for 118 days in Iran after last year's post-election demonstrations. In the 39-minute interview, he talks about his experience, and at the end he says that the music of Leonard Cohen helped get him through it all. "He basically provided the soundtrack to my imprisonment....And that was really liberating. Because that was a secret between me and Leonard Cohen that my interrogator and my prison guard, they did not know anthing about."
The segment ends with Sisters of Mercy, apparently one of the songs that got him through it all. We all know the so-called "documentary" background for that song that LC has provided, but this gives it a whole new layer of meaning. I found this tribute more moving than all the halls of fame put together, however wonderful they are.
The references to LC come only at the end of the interview, but you really need to listen to the entire thing to get the import of it.