Leonard Cohen
Birth : 1934-09-21, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Death : 2016-11-07
History
Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, novelist, and painter. His work mostly explored religion, politics, isolation, sexuality, and personal relationships.[2] Cohen was inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honor. In 2011, Cohen received one of the Prince of Asturias Awards for literature and the ninth Glenn Gould Prize.
Cohen pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s, and did not launch a music career until 1967, at the age of 33. His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), was followed by three more albums of folk music: Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974). His 1977 record Death of a Ladies' Man was co-written and produced by Phil Spector, which was a move away from Cohen's previous minimalist sound. In 1979 Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs, which blended his acoustic style with jazz and Oriental and Mediterranean influences. "Hallelujah" was first released on Cohen's studio album Various Positions in 1984. I'm Your Man in 1988 marked Cohen's turn to synthesized productions and remains his most popular album. In 1992 Cohen released its follow-up, The Future, which had dark lyrics and references to political and social unrest.
Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs, which was a major hit in Canada and Europe. His eleventh album, Dear Heather, followed in 2004. After a successful string of tours between 2008 and 2010, Cohen released three albums in the final four years of his life: Old Ideas (2012), Popular Problems (2014) and You Want It Darker (2016), the last of which was released three weeks before his death.
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Himself
This feature-length documentary explores the life of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, Hallelujah.
Self
It’s time to Canuck n’ Roll as we celebrate Canada Day with a trip through the best of the BBC’s music archives, exploring some of that great nation’s finest music stars.
Himself (voice)
"Symphony of the Invisible" is a reflection on creation and how through art, poetry and images you can break the limits that have been imposed on language and life itself.
Self (archive footage)
A story of enduring love between Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian muse, Marianne Ihlen. The film follows their relationship from their early days in Greece, a time of "free love" and open marriage, to how their love evolved when Leonard became a successful musician.
Self
Documentary about the revolutionary flamenco-rock album "Omega", composed by maestro Enrique Morente and the Granada group Lagartija Nick in 1996. A groundbreaking album with great impact on the national and international music scene in which Morente adapted songs by the singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen and he put music to poems by Federico García-Lorca.
Live performances by the renowned Canadian singer-songwriter.
Self
A rare collection of National Film Board of Canada movies focusing on poet, singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen, presented by Jane McGarrigle, one of the most emblematic figures of Montreal's cultural scene and with on-screen comments from friends, family and collaborators. This eclectic set includes an informal documentary about the young Cohen in 1965, as we see him reading poems, chatting with friends, and even taking a bath!
(voice)
The story of Canada's leading poet and the A-Frame cabin he built. Now Canada's leading musicians and artists come together to tell the tale of Al Purdy.
Self
Leonard Cohen: -Live in Dublin is an extraordinary full-length concert recording and film. Lensed and recorded at Dublin's O2 Arena on September 12, 2013, Leonard Cohen - Live in Dublin documents a peak performance from the musician's monumental sold out 2012-2013 world tour, introducing Cohen's then-latest release (2012's Old Ideas) within a major canonical on-stage retrospective.
After the Goldrush focuses specifically on the period between 1978 and his dramatic live comeback in 2008. With a mixture of performance footage, rare and classic recordings, and exclusive interviews, together with contributions from some of his closet confidantes, plus critical analysis from a host of esteemed experts, the film aims to provide the most comprehensive overview available of the maverick troubadour whilst at the very top of his game.
Himself
Although it can be difficult to detect the influences in the work of Leonard Cohen, he was informed by a far-reaching list of musicians, writers, poets and philosophies. In Leonard Cohen's Lonesome Heroes, the scope and detail of his artistic inspirations are put under the microscope.
Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Excerpts of Leonard Cohen's live performances in an itinerary that spans almost the whole world. Not only is this documentary a tribute to Cohen's artistic streak as a man of the stage, but also a tribute to his constant popularity worldwide.
Self
"Bird on a Wire" follows Leonard Cohen on his 1972 European tour.
(voice)
Based on a book of poetry by Dennis Lee, YESNO is a playful view of a planet on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Humphrey Bogart meets Werner Herzog in the heart of darkness. Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje and Margaret Atwood voice Lee's poetry over flood of images that mix live action and animation, calligraphy and DNA.
Self
Forty summers ago on a windswept island just off England's southern coastline, a young Canadian folksinger-songwriter-poet-novelist named Leonard Cohen delivered the performance of a lifetime.
Self
1. Dance Me To The End Of Love 2. The Future 3. Ain't No Cure For Love 4. Bird On The Wire 5. Everybody Knows 6. In My Secret Life 7. Who By Fire 8. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye 9. Anthem 10. Tower Of Song 11. Suzanne 12. The Gypsy's Wife 13. Boogie Street 14. Hallelujah 15. Democracy 16. I'm Your Man 17. Recitation 18. Take This Waltz 19. So Long, Marianne 20. First We Take Manhattan 21. Sisters Of Mercy 22. If It Be Your Will 23. Closing Time 24. I Tried To Leave You 25. Whither Thou Goest On March 31, 2009, Leonard Cohen released Live In London, his first new recording since 2004’s Dear Heather. This collection available in DVD and 2 CD formats was recorded live on July 17, 2008 at London’s 02 Arena, one of Europe’s largest indoor venues.
Self
Poet, singer / songwriter and ladies man Leonard Cohen is interviewed in his home about his life and times. The interview is interspersed with archive photos and exuberant praise and live perfomances from an eclectic mix of musicians, including: Jarvis Cocker, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Anohni, The Handsome Family and U2's Bono and The Edge.
Vocals
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS University of Texas Campus, 31st October 1988 First We Take Manhattan Tower Of Song Everybody Knows Ain't No Cure For Love The Partisan Joan Of Arc Jazz Police It It Be Your Will Take This Waltz Leonard Cohen Live Rock P Special Color TV Broadcast 1979 So Long Marianne The Window Famous Blue Raincoat Passing Through Memories The Guests Suzanne
Novel
As a kid, Leo thought he possessed, like a magician, the secret power to make things happen. As a young man, he certainly knows how to make things happen with women. But as his best friend Krantz would say to him, "Why do you always ask questions you already know answers to?" Leo believes firmly in what he invents from one day to the next. Images, impressions, stories fill his head. That's just how he is: life, for Leo, is just a game. Behind this childlike attitude, hides the very essence of his own life's quest.
Willy DeVille live in concert.
The film shows the daily life of the poet and singer Leonard Cohen at the Mount Baldy Zen Center. It also shows him at a recording studio, and interviews him in his office in Los Angeles.
Lyricist
Set to Leonard Cohen's 1988 song "I'm Your Man", this animated short offers a playful meditation on romance and the clichés that go with it.
Music
Set to Leonard Cohen's 1988 song "I'm Your Man", this animated short offers a playful meditation on romance and the clichés that go with it.
Self
In August 1970, 600,000 fans flocked to the Isle of Wight to witness the third and final festival to be held on the island. Besides the music, they also got a look at the greed, cynicism and corruption that would plague the music industry for years to come. They also witnessed the final, drugged out performance of Jimi Hendrix in England just two weeks before he would meet a tragic death. When it all was over, the fans view of rock and roll was never the same.
Music
A short film inspired by Leonard Cohen's song "Dance Me to the End of Love."
Narrator
The Tibetan Book of the Dead remains an essential teaching in the Buddhist cultures of the Himalayas.
Narrator
Narrated by Leonard Cohen, this two-part series explores ancient teachings on death and dying and boldly visualises the afterlife according to Tibetan philosophy. Tibetan Buddhists believe that after a person dies, they enter a state of "bardo" for 49 days until a rebirth. Program 1, The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Way of Life documents the history of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, tracing the book's acceptance and use in Europe and North America. Program 2, The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation observes an old Buddhist lama and a 13-year-old novice monk as they guide a deceased person into the afterlife.
Portrait of Canadian singer, songwriter, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen, recorded in 1988. Featuring interviews, archive film and live performances from London, Paris, Athens and New York.
Music
Night Magic, a musical fantasy, is set on earth but it is also about the heavens. At the centre of it all is Michael, a music hall artist, who finds Judy, an angel that epitomizes the woman of his dreams at the System Theatre where he is about to open his new show. For Michael it is just another show along the road but once inside something happens. The night is full of possibilities- full of love and romance, jealousy and infidelity, music and dance, even good and evil. Most of all it is full of magic.
Writer
Night Magic, a musical fantasy, is set on earth but it is also about the heavens. At the centre of it all is Michael, a music hall artist, who finds Judy, an angel that epitomizes the woman of his dreams at the System Theatre where he is about to open his new show. For Michael it is just another show along the road but once inside something happens. The night is full of possibilities- full of love and romance, jealousy and infidelity, music and dance, even good and evil. Most of all it is full of magic.
The Resident (as L.C.)
A short musical based on the imaginary events in the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, and the guests' (usually romantic) interactions with each other.
Songs
"In this journey, Courant's heroine wanders through the clouds and Pyrenees mountains way after the world's destruction [...] Songs by Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe and Leonard Cohen, scores by Vivaldi, Kraftwerk and Johan Strauss, they all form this eclectic and defying musical atmosphere from which Courant dreams about a point of view that would allow him to find a rhythm in a constantly changing abysmal paradise" -Diego Trerotola
Writer
This short film brings together animated interpretations of four poems by great Canadian wordsmiths: "Riverdale Lion" by John Robert Colombo, "A Kite Is a Victim" by Leonard Cohen, "Klaxon" by James Reaney and George Johnston’s "The Bulge."
Original Music Composer
A gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town, and their enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene.
Songs
Shot under extreme conditions and inspired by Mayan creation theory, the film contemplates the illusion of reality and the possibility of capturing for the camera something which is not there. It is about the mirages of nature—and the nature of mirage.
Music
This fictional feature follows a twenty-something man who is struggling to define his position in the world in early adulthood. He has left their parents' home but still has not made an home of his own. Our protagonist’s alienation is palpable; for him life is a game, not because he chooses to make it so, but because he is unable to make anything more of it. But for those who befriend him and eventually turn him loose again, his game is not enough.
Singer
This fictional feature follows a twenty-something man who is struggling to define his position in the world in early adulthood. He has left their parents' home but still has not made an home of his own. Our protagonist’s alienation is palpable; for him life is a game, not because he chooses to make it so, but because he is unable to make anything more of it. But for those who befriend him and eventually turn him loose again, his game is not enough.
Narrator (voice)
John Hofsess’s The Palace of Pleasure emerged from the psychedelic haze of 1960s postmodern art. It was a blistering work that combined arresting abstract imagery with the wounded expressions of a young couple, edited into a collage of mass culture imagery and album and book jackets, all of it framed as a therapeutic treatment. Addressed to a generation coming up in an era of protest and social change, where many found themselves increasingly burdened with hopelessness, paranoia, and neurosis, The Palace of Pleasure was offered as a cleansing ritual, a post-Freudian expelling of dammed-up energies that anticipated The Primal Scream. In this video, Stephen Broomer discusses Hofsess’s therapeutic ambitions, how the film was composed of Hofsess’s earlier films, and the sensual spell of the work, the way in which it commands us to enter into a universal fellowship of touch that circulates, from us to us, through us, to strain the boundaries between the self and the other.
Narrator (voice)
This short film features 4 readings of a prose poem from Leonard Cohen’s novel Beautiful Losers. Read by Cohen himself, the poem produces a distinct emotional effect every time it is read, following the poet’s rendition and accompanying visuals.
Man (uncredited)
In this short film, a young man, a girl and a dog attempt to fly with wings more symbolic than practical.
Musical
In this short film, a young man, a girl and a dog attempt to fly with wings more symbolic than practical.
Self
A 1964 documentary portrait of Cohen in his pre-musician days as a poet and stand-up comedian.
Leonard Cohen performance recorded in Madrid, Spain in 1988 as part of the European leg of a concert tour that took place in support of his I'm Your Man album released that same year.
