XLI Universal Music Award
Universal Song Contest (Dallas 2015)
On January, February, March … news and history
On November … seventy five semifinalists
On December … twenty-five finalists and the new Universal Music Award.
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comment songs, propose songs … and choose the Universal Music Award
The Popular Award (XLI Universal Music Award- Dallas 2015) will go to the winner in popular vote.
Popular vote, popular jury and professional jury will choose XLI Universal Music Award- Dallas 2015
XLI Dallas 2015 is coming …
XL Paris 2014 Pharrell Williams “Happy”
Ricky Martin “Come with me”
Conchita Wurst “Rise like a phoenix”
Popular Award: Marco Mengoni “Lessenziale”
Historic Award: Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah”
XXXIX San Juan 2013 Daft Punk & Pharell Williams “Get lucky”
Bonnie Tyler “Believe in me”
Shakira & Freslyground “Waka waka”
Popular Award: Psy “Gangnam style”
Historic Award: The Beatles “Let it be”
… since 1975
UMA objectives:
— Teach all the different cultures of the world.
— Getting funds (money) for: the fight against disease, humanitarian organizations, children everywhere, NGOs … through universal music prize.
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen was born into a middle-class Jewish family in a Montreal, Canada on 21st September 1934. From a young age he studied music and poetry and, even before attending McGill University in 1951 to study English, was already performing his poems in various clubs round Little Portugal.
In 1954 Cohen had his poemspublished in the short-lived but hugely influential ‘CIV/n’ magazine beforepublishing his first book of poetry, ‘Let us Compare Mythologies’, in 1956. When he graduated at Columbia University, New York, in 1957 he moved back to Montreal where he undertook menial work to support his writing. Cohen was able to supplement this with money from his father’s will who died when he was nine-indeed, his first book is dedicated to his late father.
His next book, ‘The Spice Box of Earth’ (1961) was received well critically and helped to expand his audience. Cohen bought a house on Hydra in the Sardonic Gulf so he could write in relative seclusion and he spent much of the 60’s writing critically ambiguous novels -‘The Favourite Game’ (1963) ‘Flowers for Hitler’ (1964) and ‘Beautiful Losers’ (1966) -and, in between, developing his skills as a songwriter.
In 1967 Cohen moved back to New York where he was a fringe figure in Andy Warhol’s ‘Factory’ scene. His song ‘Suzanne’ became a hit for folk singer Judy Collins which courted the attention Columbia records.
Cohen was signed to Columbia and, in 1968, released his first album, ‘The Songs of Leonard Cohen’. His second and third albums ‘Songs from a room’ (1969) and ‘Songs of Love and Hate’ (1971) were both recorded in Nashville to a much more specific production brief and he took off on tour.
In addition to dates in the US and Canada, Cohen played the Isle of Wight Festival in 1972 (footage of the show, and, indeed, the tour (directed by Tony Palmer) has been recently released). In 1974 Cohen collaborated with John Lissauer and they toured the album ‘New Skin for the Old Ceremony’ round Europe and the US to critical acclaim.
In 1976 Cohen took his new band on a major European Tour to support his ‘Best Of’ album which included his first appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival before returning home to work with Phil Spector. Recording the album was fraught with problems -Cohen said Spector threatened him with a crossbow. Spector is currently serving life for murder- and Cohen has tried to distance himself from what became ‘Death of a Ladies’ Man’, though he has performed a couple of songs off the album on three spate occasions.
After realising the more traditional, ‘Recent Songs’ in 1979, Cohen took some time out to co-write a rock musical with Lewis Furey entitled ‘Night Magic’ (1980) before re-collaborating with Lissauer for 1984’s ‘Various Positions’. In addition to containing ‘Dance Me to the End of Love,’ the album featured the now classic ‘Hallelujah’.
‘Hallelujah’ was initially successful but gained popularity when covered by John Cale and Jeff Buckley and has been performed by almost 200 artists in various languages. It’s been the subject of documentaries and books and has featured in the soundtrack of dozens of TV shows and movies. In 2009 X Factor winner Alexandra Burke covered ‘Hallelujah’ and it took the coveted Christmas-Number-One slot in the UK and with it a new generation of fans.
In 1986 Jennifer Warnes released a cover album of Cohen tracks, ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’, bringing a new lease of life to his records and re-vitalising his popularity in the US. The following year he released the self-produced, synth-heavy ‘I’m Your Man’, one of his most critically acclaimed albums to date. The album was supported by an extensive tour of Europe, US and his native Canada and a series of TV and radio interviews.
In 1991 ‘I’m Your Fan’ featured the likes REM, Nick Cave, Pixies and Lloyd Cole covering a selection of Cohen’s songs -another tribute album, ‘Tower of Song’, in 1995, featured a further selection by artists such as Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Elton John and Peter Gabriel.
In 1992 Cohen released ‘The Future’. Three songs featured in Oliver Stone’s controversial ‘Natural Born Killers’ bringing his music to a more diverse audience and another major tour beckoned.
Remaining true to his literary roots, Cohen published ‘Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs’ in 1993 featuring a collection of poems from 1989, just before he retreated to the Mount Baldy Zen Center near Los Angeles where he took a vow of silence.
With regards to his dalliance with Buddhism, something that could be construed as negative in the eyes of Judaism, Cohen is quoted as saying, “in the tradition of Zen that I’ve practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity. So theologically there is no challenge to any Jewish belief”.
In 1997 Cohen released ‘More Best of Leonard Cohen’, featuring previously unreleased material and following a period of writing released ‘Ten New Songs’ in 2001 which was a major hit in Europe and Canada. This was followed by ‘Dear Heather’ a music collaboration with his then partner Anjani Thomas which presented a much lighter side to Cohen, something he attributed to his time in the Zen Centre.
Cohen and Anjani went on to release ‘Blue Alert’ in 2006 to favourable reviews whilst in the midst of a legal wrangle with his long-time manager, Kelley Lynch. Lynch was convicted of financial impropriety and Cohen sued her for $9 million US dollars though it’s unlucky he’ll ever see the amount awarded.
In the same year ‘Book of Longing’ was published and went on to top the bestseller charts. It was also the theme of a composition by Philip Glass featuring the voice and artworks of Cohen and performed live.
In 2008 to 2010 Cohen embarked on his first world tour in fifteen years, highlights in the UK included performances at London’s O2, The Royal Albert Hall and a show-stopping performance of ‘Hallelujah’ at Glastonbury. The tour was a huge success and two live albums ‘Live in London’ and ‘Songs from the Road’ were launched subsequently.
Cohen was inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 where he was described as a “poet, in the classical, arts-and-letters sense of the word”. Other artists bestowed with this honour are Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Joni Mitchell. In his speech at the singer-songwriter’s induction, Lou Reed said that Cohen belonged to “the highest and most influential echelon of songwriters”.
In 2010, Cohen was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to music and the same year he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
His music has spanned a wide range of genres, from the stripped down folk of his earlier work to the synth-laden bombast of the albums released in the 1980s. Cohen is, first and foremost, a hugely talented writer and therein lies the key to his ongoing successes as a musician.
Leonard Cohen (“Hallelujah”) was Historic Award in XL Universal Music Award (Paris 2014).
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SanJuan2013 Paris2014 Dallas2015 …