Leonard Cohen was posthumously inducted into the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Hall Of Fame on Wednesday night (16.10.19).
Cohen – who passed away at home at the age of 82 in November 2016 – was honoured at the ceremony at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, which saw folk-rock singer Thea Gilmore pay tribute to the late Canadian songwriter-and-poet with a rousing performance of the music icon’s acclaimed 1984 track ‘Dance Me To The End Of Love’.
Cohen follows in the footsteps of the likes of the late Woody Guthrie, Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Ewan MacColl and Cecil Sharp in joining the Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, guitar legend Wizz Jones, 80, and Irish group Dervish both received Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Shane Mitchell of Dervish – who formed in 1989 – said: “We are thrilled and so delighted to be receiving this very special honour at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, particularly as this is the 30th anniversary of the band.”
Elsewhere, rising star Maddie Morris was presented with the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award.
Lewis Carnie, head of Radio 2, said: “A huge congratulations to all of the winners at the Radio 2 Folk Awards tonight.
“I am delighted that at Radio 2, we can keep celebrating the very best of folk music every year, and we’re honoured to have witnessed such an array of sensational performances on stage this evening in Manchester.”
In September, a posthumous Cohen album was announced for release on November 22.
Music royalty including Beck, Feist, Damien Rice and members of the National and Arcade Fire feature on ‘Thanks for the Dance’, which has been produced by Cohen’s son Adam.
Leonard Cohen’s bandmate Javier Mas also plays guitar.
Adam, 47, said: “In composing and arranging the music for his words, we chose his most characteristic musical signatures, in this way keeping him with us.
“What moves me most about the album is the startled response of those who have heard it. ‘Leonard lives!’ they say, one after the other.”
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