Iconic songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen is one of those much loved artists that is guaranteed to sell out all his shows. He has performed on this island regularly over the last few years and at the fine old age of 79 shows no sign of slowing down. The Tower of Song – The Cohen Project brings his music right to the heart of Ireland. A set of his songs has been translated into Irish and performed by Liam O’Maonlaí and guests in a multi media production that screens the original lyrics during the performance. Limerick Post spoke to Liam O’Maonlaí before he went on stage to perform the show in Letterkenny.
Tower of Song is the fruit of the labours of Liam Carson, described by Ó Maonlaí as a “force of nature, a scholar and a publisher and a lover of words, particularly Irish.” Carson first worked with Liam O’Maonlaí when he prepared a suite of Bob Dylan songs translated into Irish for a previous show.
Joining O’Maonlaí for the show is singer/songwriter Hillary Bow and Limerick’s Brad Pitt Light Orchestra. “Liam Carson knew of the Brad Pitt Orchestra and knew that they had a good handle on Cohen’s work. Hillary Bow has also worked with Carson on Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf songs also translated into Irish. So he put the team together and we have a show, a show of Leonard Cohen songs sung through Irish.”
The Hothouse Flowers front-man believes that the show works really well. It is the poetry in Leonard Cohen’s writing that lends itself to translation and the transition to being performed in Irish.
“Cohen is one of the poets in music. He and Dylan would be looked upon as poets. Because Irish is a lyrical language and because there is a lot of space in Cohen’s work, the show works.”
Part of that success is down to one of Limerick’s finest bands, Brad Pitt Light Orchestra who give ‘Tower of Song’ its musical direction. Brad Pitt Light Orchestra is led by siblings David, James and Ann Blake with Brian O’Grady, Nick Carswell, Stephen Childs, Tom Howley and Jamie O’Neill. BPLO released their debut album in 2011, ‘Lowering The Tone’ to positive reviews leading to regular touring and appearances at Electric Picnic. They are working on the follow up album and a musical, details of which are being kept under wraps for now.
Liam describes the BPLO as a band whose energy is inspiring to be around. “The relationship is great, we like each other. David would be the boss and he is good at it. He is good at putting the work in and bringing out the best in people. And they are young – that’s good for me because I’m old and they respect me!” he laughs
“We are really feeling the privilege of being musicians because when you put a group of people together, the possibilities are amazing especially when you are thrown together in this unexpected way. What we have, I think, is very potent. We might end up writing some new material as well.”
The Tower of Song – The Cohen Project will feature Cohen songs like ‘Suzanne’, ‘Hallelujah’ or ‘First we take Manhattan’, all translated by poets Liam ÓMuirthile and Gabriel Rosenstock (father of Gift Grub’s Mario Rosenstock).
The visual element of the show comes from the imagination of Margaret Lonergan. She has created images and screen projections of the lyrics that run throughout the show.
The Tower of Song – The Cohen Project plays this Friday November 22 at Lime Tree Theatre.
