The history of Cohen’s performances in the Middle East does not stop there and include an unlikely meeting between the singer and Ariel Sharon, then a major general in the Israeli army, in the Sinai desert during the 1973 Arab–Israeli War. For various reasons, as we will see, the concert did not take place and Cohen never played in the West Bank, or anywhere else in Palestine - an omission that Michael’s project has since attempted to remedy.Ī longer version of this conversation appears in “ I’m good at love, I’m good at hate, it’s in between I freeze,” published by Sternberg Press. Hosted by the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC), this latter performance would be attended by families of some of the Palestinians in Israeli jails and detention centers. Following mounting pressure from pro-Palestinian voices, it was decided that the concert, his first in Israel since 1980, would be accompanied by a twin event at the Ramallah Cultural Palace in the West Bank. Two distinct elements arose here, one relating to a concert that Cohen performed on September 24, 2009, when he was booked to play at the Ramat Gan Stadium - the national stadium of Israel until 2014 - in the district of Tel Aviv. From its outset, the project was focused on Leonard Cohen’s work and Michael would return to Ramallah in 2017, as he recounts below, to shoot a film in the Alhambra Palace Hotel that directly references a number of key events in the singer’s life. “I’m good at love, I’m good at hate, it’s in between I freeze,” the title being a line from a Cohen song, had begun as a research project in 2009 and, by 2016, it was taking on a more coherent, and yet highly speculative form. Cohen’s songs were sung and others joined in - and, looking back now, it seemed a fitting way to celebrate the life of an artist we not only admired but had, in different ways, looked to for solace over the years.Īlthough we had both spoken of a project that Michael had been working on for some years, it was on that evening that I fully learned of its entire history. Apart from the sadness at his demise, there was a gratifying sense of what Cohen had left behind, in his music and writing, and we duly decided to hold an impromptu wake in the Garage Bar in Ramallah. Michael and I had been avowed fans of Cohen’s work for some time and we had discussed it at numerous events over the years.

As chance would have it, Michael Rakowitz was also there to give some artist-led workshops. In late 2016, one week after the death of Leonard Cohen on November 7, 2016, I traveled to Ramallah to give a series of talks. BeeLine Reader uses subtle color gradients to help you read more efficiently.

Leonard cohen concert