BATH: Chapel Arts Centre

Thursday 4th April, 2019

7:30pm

Event information

These remarkable songs - stripped back, desolate, naked and sensual

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

He challenged us to listen more carefully, think more deeply and recognize our own fragility. A Man of Grace.

With a lifetime reputation of performing in this exact way and a 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. Keith has performed over 400 of these concerts, proving to be the greatest honour in Keith James’ 40 year music career. Keith lives in Wales and Andalucía, Spain

The concert includes Cohen’s well known songs: Famous Blue Raincoat, Sisters of Mercy, Suzanne and Hallelujah alongside rarer and profound writing: Who by Fire, Joan of Arc and Secret Life. Also included are 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’

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

‘Good work! Glad you are keeping Leonard’s songs alive’ Sylvie Simmons, Biographer – The Life of Leonard Cohen

‘Keith James has become a pillar of trust. A sublimely intimate and engaging voice’ Sunday Times

‘an elegant and beautifully crafted reinterpretation of a great Artist’s words’ BBC Radio Scotland

‘certainly the UK’s most celebrated and evocative interpreter of golden music’ The Guardian

‘All the tears of time are shed in a few brief lines’ Times Literary Supplement

‘a sensitive and pleasingly understated delivery, all the better that the songs might speak for themselves’ Acoustic Magazine

www.keith-james.com