Nine years to the week after Leonard Cohen died, the San Francisco Leonard Cohen Festival has returned to celebrate the words, music and spirit of the musician and poet and his legacy.
Writer of “Hallelujah,” “Suzanne” and “So Long, Marianne” among many other songs, Cohen’s work was titanic in the music industry and remains so to this day. His legacy included induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the civilian award into the Order of Canada, alongside inspiring countless artists, including those who comprise San Francisco’s Conspiracy of Beards, a choir of men that sing the songs of Leonard Cohen.
The festival, hosted by San Francisco’s Conspiracy of Beards, features a wide array of artists and events ranging from concerts to film screenings. This year, the festival put on a concert of the music from “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” Robert Altman’s 1971 classic that prominently featured Cohen’s music, and is screening the film on Sunday.
In the week leading up to the screening, the festival hosted concerts featuring rhapsodic performances from Conspiracy of Beards and Perla Batalla, a musician and friend of the late Cohen. Clay Eugene Smith, curator of the festival and a singer in Conspiracy of Beards, has expanded the festival since its 2018 inception.
“When Leonard Cohen passed away in 2016, the choir started thinking about ways to honor Leonard. At that point, they did an impromptu tour of the BART system,” Smith said. “Two years later, I came up with the idea to call it the San Francisco Leonard Cohen Festival and to push forward with that.”
Expansion was always the idea, but bringing it to fruition took collaboration and shared passion. Smith and Conspiracy of Beards’ enthusiasm for the legendary artist was a widely shared sentiment, especially in the wake of his death. Daryl Henline, the group’s director, believes Cohen’s appeal is universal and his work is timeless.
“Cohen is soulful, he’s a visionary, intelligent and a realist as well, even though some of his songs are beautiful and encompass mysticism,” Henline said. “He also writes about the actual emotions that we encounter in daily life. He’s a Buddhist, he’s a Jew, he wrote about being old, growing old and continued to release music up until the time of his death. Not old songs, but new songs about loss and about life.”
Events from this year’s festival began Monday and conclude Sunday with the aforementioned screening of “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” at the Outer Richmond’s 4 Star Theater. Altman long admired Cohen and featured his music in previous films, but this was a major and direct collaboration. On Monday, the Red Room Orchestra performed Cohen’s songs featured in the film, including his famous “The Stranger Song.”
Wednesday’s event, “To the End of Love,” was a night of Cohen interpretations featuring Conspiracy of Venus and The John Mackay Trio. These groups gathered in The Lost Church to a sold-out crowd.
Battala’s Saturday concert is billed as “A Letter to Leonard Cohen, A Tribute to a Friend.” Battala met Cohen in 1988 and performed as a backup singer on his “I’m Your Man” tour before setting off on a solo career in the 1990s. Having worked closely with Cohen for years, Batalla still sees his music as vital art and is proud that the festival continues his legacy.
“I see Leonard very similar to Shakespeare in that Leonard was a real masterful craftsman of songwriting, originating in poetry, but it’s accessible,” Batalla said. “His work, much like Shakespeare’s, evolves with how you, as a person, evolve. The themes are all based in humanity and what we go through, our broken hearts, being in love and it’s the human condition on a very honest level.”
Batalla travels the globe and performs with artists like Nick Cave, but comes back to San Francisco to work with and witness the works of independent artists and be a part of the passionate handling of Cohen’s work.
“The [San Francisco] Leonard Cohen Festival and the people that are putting it on, it’s just an incredible, brave and adventurous thing to do because you’re celebrating art and real, great beauty,” Batalla said. “Based on what’s happening in our political realm and the economy, artists are falling by the wayside and having a really hard time of it, so doing a Leonard Cohen Festival where you’re singing something that’s considered high art, that people are coming and supporting it. My heart just wants to burst with great joy that it exists. Bravo!”
