culture
The jury decided the works of this 76 year old Canadian singer-songwriter, novelist and poet have influenced "three generations all over the world"
08.06.11 - 12:02 -
Prize. Cohen is the first musician to receive the award. SUR
Canadian songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Letters and he becomes the first musician to win this prize. There were 32 candidates for this award and other finalists included author Alice Munro, who is also Canadian, and British novelist Ian McEwan.
It is said that even if Cohen had made no more records after 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' (1967), he would still have made his name in musical history, like the Sex Pistols with their ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’. He didn't make a record until he was 33 years old, but it contained some of the most important songs of his career including the now famous 'Suzanne', 'Sisters of Mercy', 'Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye' and 'So Long, Marianne'.
These are poems set to music, written by this singer-songwriter, novelist, Buddhist monk and admirer of the works of Federico García Lorca, who with this Prince of Asturias prize follows in the footsteps of the French-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf.
Jewish and of Lithuanian heritage, the life of young Leonard Cohen from Montreal changed when he was only fifteen. In 1949 he went into a second-hand bookshop and came across a book by Federico García Lorca, the poet from Granada. At that moment, he decided to dedicate himself to literature.
Two years later he registered at the McGill University in Montreal and in 1956 he published his first book of poems, 'Let Us Compare Mythologies'. This first book was followed by 'The Spice Box of Earth' (1961), which admitted him to the circle of Canadian poets. After that came 'Flowers for Hitler', written on the Greek island of Hydra, and his only two novels: 'The Favourite Game' (1963) and 'Beautiful Losers' (1966).
Bob Dylan
But it wasn't books that brought fame and fortune to Leonard Cohen. "I'm going to be the Bob Dylan of Canada", he once said and he picked up his rucksack and crossed the border to carve out a musical career on the American folk circuit. His name came to be known in 1966 when Judy Collins sang 'Suzanne'. This success led John H. Hammond to sign him up for Columbia and publish his first record, called 'Songs of Leonard Cohen'.
After spending more time in Greece, Cohen produced 'Songs from a Room' (1969), 'Songs of Love and Hate' (1971), 'New Skin for the Old Ceremony' (1974), 'Death of a Ladies' Man' (1977) and 'Recent Songs' (1979), all of them based on the three fundamental themes of love, partnerships and religion. He also continued to publish books of poetry: 'The Energy of Slaves' (1972) and 'Death of a Lady's Man' (1978).
In 1984 one of his most spiritual records went on sale: 'Various Positions'. One of the songs, 'Hallelujah', became one of the theme songs of the Cohen world and one of those of which most versions were produced. John Cale did a spectacular version for the Julian Schnabel film 'Basquiat', Rufus Wainwright sang it for 'Shrek' and Bob Dylan, Damien Rice, Regina Spektor and Sheryl Crow have all sung it live.
With 'I'm your man' (1988), Cohen began using more synthesisers in his recordings and settled his musical debt with Lorca. In his personal life he had already paid his own tribute to this poet from Granada, by giving his daughter the same name. He adapted Lorca's 'Pequeño vals vienés', which became 'Take this waltz'. This version led him to discover Enrique Morente, who together with Lagartija Nick would pay tribute to the two poets in the amazing 'Omega'. Six years later, Cohen withdrew to a Buddhist monastery and became a Zen Buddhist monk with the name of Jikan Dharma.
After leaving the monastery five years later, he published two more records, 'Ten New Songs' (2001) and 'Dear Heather' (2004) and a book of poems ('Book of Longing') which were set to music by Philip Glass. In 2008, Cohen set off once again on a world tour and a year later 'Live in London', a live recording of one of those tour concerts, went on sale.
