There was a hush over the grounds in front of the Roots and Blues Festival main stage Sunday night as the words of the late Leonard Cohen were given new life and delivered to an appreciative audience.
Hosted by Tower of Song’s Glenna Garramone and Oliver Swain, “Celebrating Leonard Cohen,” was a touching and meaningful tribute to one of Canada’s most iconic artists.
The special Roots and Blues tribute was an attempt “to capture and balance the sorrow and high hopes of Cohen’s work,” said artistic director Peter North, who notes a number of artists jumped at the chance to be involved in this one-off special project.
Tribute participants included Irish Mythen, Livingston Taylor, Jeffrey Foucault, Dana Wylie and Dan Shinnan from the Mad Dogs Experience, Canadian poet John Lent and the Roots and Blues House Band.
This year’s house band was comprised of Winnipeg blues guitarist and singer Brent Parkin, Vancouver drummer Chris “The Wrist” Nordquist, Calgary keyboard wizard Garth Kennedy, former K.D. Lang and Colin James bassist Dennis Marcenko and Edmonton Folk Music House Band saxophonist David Babcock
On a mild evening under a sky hung with stars, a large and attentive audience heard the house band perform a gorgeous and moving instrumental version of Cohen’s much-covered Hallelujah.
Nobody put words to what is probably Cohen’s most-covered works, but Dana Wylie offered her angst-filled tribute song Hallelujah Leonard Cohen Hallelujah.
Cohen’s thought-provoking Everybody Knows was performed by Wisconsin blues/country singer Jeffrey Foucault.
When asked to participate, American tunesmith Livingston Taylor responded quickly at the opportunity to participate in a very unique fashion, says North.
“The brother of James Taylor took the opportunity to tell the Roots and Blues audience of the importance of Cohen’s songwriting, along with that of Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Ian Tyson, on American artists, while including snippets of tunes from what he describes as “Cohen’s personal jukebox.”
Canadian poet John Lent recited one of Cohen’s thought-provoking pieces, God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot, a passage from his novel Beautiful Losers, the words enhanced by the quiet dark of night.
The dark words were banished when Irish Mythen next lent her powerful voice to the familiar Suzanne and Dance Me To The End of Love and Boogie Patrol’s Dan Shinnan kept the vibe alive with Bird On A Wire.
“Celebrating Leonard Cohen” was a fitting tribute to one of Canada’s great artists, given generously by talented artists.