Keith James: The Songs of Leonard Cohen

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The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Each Song stripped back, desolate, naked and sensual

‘There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in’ Cohen’s most memorable and visionary line from his song ANTHEM. If ever there was a sentence in modern poetry to reflect on and give hope and understanding to us all, it is this line. This Concert begins with ANTHEM.

Enigmatic, mysterious and sub textural, songwriter Leonard Cohen was an unflinching character, with an exact sense of prose, wry humour and the courage to wrestle with the unspoken, forgiving human frailty with the stroke of each line.

Leonard’s death marked the end of an era. His music befriended an entire generation. Within every line of his writing, he has been challenging us to listen more carefully, speak more thoughtfully, think more deeply and recognise our own fragility. Our World misses him very much.

With a lifetime reputation of performing in this exact way and an undying love of the ‘pure song’ Keith James gives you a concert of Cohen’s amazing material in the most intimate and sensitive way imaginable, exposing the solitary inner strength of his greatest songs in their original perfect form. Keith has performed an extensive tour of this concert in Theatres and Arts Centres across the UK, giving over 500 concerts – close to 150,000 people. This has proved to be one of the greatest honours in Keith James’ 40 year career. Keith lives in Herefordshire, Scotland and sometimes in Andalusia, Spain.

Included in the concert are Cohen’s well-known songs: Famous Blue Raincoat, Sisters of Mercy, Suzanne, and Hallelujah alongside his rarer and profound writing such as Who by Fire, Joan of Arc and Secret Life. Also included are songs from his posthumous album Thanks for the Dance such as What happens to the Heart and Keith’s dramatic performances based on the work of Federico Garcia Lorca – Cohen’s greatest influence. Keith has also transcribed into song one of Leonard’s poems from his collection ‘Book of longing’ written whilst on retreat during the 1990s.

‘Some of the most atmospheric and emotive music you will ever hear’ The Independent