leonard cohens greek island haven bids balladeer farewell
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

In the heart of the iconic musician and poet

Leonard Cohen's Greek island haven bids balladeer farewell

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice Leonard Cohen's Greek island haven bids balladeer farewell

A Leonard Cohen bench will be installed at Hydra harbour
Athens - Arab Today

Among the legions of fans mourning the death of Leonard Cohen at age 82 are the residents of Hydra, the small Greek island which held a special place in the heart of the iconic musician and poet.

"This was his haunt," Stavros Douskos, owner of the Xeri Elia tavern in the island's port capital, said on Friday upon hearing the news of Cohen's passing.

"We have good wine, and he loved to play his guitar here," he told AFP.

Cohen bought a 19th century stone house on Hydra, a 90-minute hydrofoil ride from Athens, in the early 1960s, a time when the island was a haven for bohemian artists.

"I was writing novels, putting books of poems together," Cohen reminisced in a 1988 BBC interview filmed in his Hydra hilltop house.

"We'd get up early, and have breakfast, and I'd go to work... I think I was on speed too, so I wasn't eating very much."

"I had a quota, I think it was three pages a day," he said.

During a seven-year spell there, he wrote "Flowers for Hitler", one of his most controversial poetry collections, his first novel "The Favorite Game", and "Beautiful Losers", a book about religion and sexuality that prompted comparisons to novelist James Joyce.

And the song "Bird on a Wire" was inspired by an electricity cable right outside his window.

This is also where he met his Norwegian muse and lover Marianne Ihlen, to whom he dedicated the ballad "So Long Marianne".

- 'I met a girl' -

"I just got off here. Somebody spoke English and I rented a house for $14 a month," Cohen said in the 1988 BBC documentary, Songs from the Life of Leonard Cohen.

"I met a girl, and I stayed for 8-10 years," he said.

After a pause, he adds with a glint in his eye: "Yeah, it's the way it was in those days."

Just before Ihlen died in July, Cohen wrote to her: "I think I will follow you very soon."

Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine," he wrote.

Douskos said Cohen "stopped coming to Hydra a few years ago after walking up (flights of stone steps) to the house became too taxing for him."

"But his son Adam still visits," he adds.

Douskos says that a poem dedicated by Cohen to his tavern still adorns the back of the menu.

"It's a poem describing the daily life of the Hydra sailors," said the island's mayor Yiorgos Koukoudakis.

In the past, local authorities have worked closely with Cohen fans to host concerts and screenings honouring the artist on the island, the mayor said.

Now, the street in front of his house will be renamed in his honour, and a Leonard Cohen bench will also be installed at the harbour.

And a meetup of fans already scheduled for June now assumes special meaning, adds the mayor.

"It will be an opportunity to do something organised in his memory," he told AFP.

Source: AFP

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

leonard cohens greek island haven bids balladeer farewell leonard cohens greek island haven bids balladeer farewell

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

leonard cohens greek island haven bids balladeer farewell leonard cohens greek island haven bids balladeer farewell

 



GMT 05:14 2024 Wednesday ,07 February

Sophisticated Classic Dining Room Design Ideas

GMT 12:47 2017 Thursday ,09 February

Furyk adjusts selection criteria for US Ryder Cup team

GMT 20:08 2017 Monday ,18 September

Dubai needs additional 1,000 hospital beds

GMT 20:13 2017 Tuesday ,19 September

Nadal maintains No.1 spot in ATP rankings

GMT 04:10 2017 Sunday ,24 December

Philippines storm death toll climbs to 182

GMT 12:40 2012 Wednesday ,15 August

Big snow in Eastern US cities

GMT 12:12 2012 Thursday ,17 May

Mark Zuckerberg created a seemingly perfect home

GMT 15:02 2017 Saturday ,17 June

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE respond

GMT 22:51 2017 Tuesday ,24 January

At least 40 dead in battle for Yemen port

GMT 08:54 2016 Saturday ,17 December

Venezuela cash crisis sparks looting, protests
 
 Emirates Voice Facebook,emirates voice facebook  Emirates Voice Twitter,emirates voice twitter Emirates Voice Rss,emirates voice rss  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

emiratesvoieen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen
emiratesvoice emiratesvoice emiratesvoice
emiratesvoice
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice