( http://www.corcobado.net/pdfs/cohen.pdf )
where I speak about the next show of Leonard in Lisbon.
Translation: Ethan Mansur
Leonard Cohen in Lisbon
In these times when any whippersnapper, weakly propelled into fame by a television converted into an emporium of bad taste, can reach audiences of millions who will faithfully echo whatever they read in newspapers and magazines, the public is rapturous in the silence maintained by the Spanish press about the world tour by the charismatic poet and singer Leonard Cohen that began last month in his home country, Canada, and has recently come to Europe. Along with a group of musicians of exceptional quality to accompany his seductively rough voice, which still sounds like one of a man in his 50s, Cohen, 73, has returned to enthuse large crowds on both sides of the Atlantic ocean with his sober elegance, his poetic irony, his desperate vision of existence, his unwavering search for beauty. One of the poets who inspired him in his youth, by the way, was Frederico Garcia Lorca, and in homage one of his daughters goes by the same name.
A newspaper as prestigious as The Independent wrote that “the level of cultural excitement”, referring to the three performances that took place in Dublin from the 13th to the 14th of this month, “bordered on mass hysteria”. If we keep in mind that the audiences were composed of thousands of people, the majority of which have left their teenage years far behind, we can get a pretty accurate image of what it is like to attend a recital by the author of Suzanne for any spectator with even a minimum amount of appreciation for music.
Leonard Cohen will perform only once in Spain at the Benicàssim Festival, which is perhaps not the best atmosphere to enjoy his music and poetry, but the citizens of Extremadura that want to have what I can assure you will be an unforgettable experience will find it easier to head to Lisbon, where on the night of Sunday the 19th of July, in the Paseo maritime de Algês, the old troubadour will offer what will be, without a doubt, an performance that will remain for years in the memory of all those who see it.
