Keeping some kind of record
Perla Batalla on her friend Leonard Cohen and how singing his songs keeps him alive
WHEN she walked into the audition, Perla Batalla was in difficulty. It was the late 1980s and the aspiring singer was living in Los Angeles but struggling to survive.
‘I was really down to my last nickel having a hard time making it as a musician in LA — it’s not a place that pays your bills as a musician,’ she says.
‘I heard that Leonard Cohen was auditioning people but I wasn’t really familiar with a lot of his work apart from the most famous songs like Suzanne.’
So she was shocked when she got a phone call asking her to audition as a backing singer with the legendary artist.
‘I went out and found as many cassettes as I could find,’ she says. ‘I listened to his music and when I heard his songs I just thought they were amazing.’
Perla carefully chose her outfit for the audition and set off and the minute she walked into the room, her life changed forever.
‘I saw this figure walking towards me,’ she says of Cohen. ‘I was stunned. Leonard was not very tall but he was a super powerful figure and he was walking towards me, dressed in black from head to toe. We started to giggle because I was dressed in white from head to toe. He took my hand and he said, “Darling, this is a match made in heaven.”
‘We ran through many songs and it was a wonderful audition for me and the material was so good, I felt I could sink my teeth into it. At the end of it I didn’t even care what happened because it was such a pleasure to sing with him. That evening I got a call to say I had the job so I was thrilled.’
PERLA is bringing these same songs to Dublin with her House of Cohen show, which she will stage at Vicar Street on June 1. The Grammy-nominated singer is honouring her good friend’s legacy by continuing to sing the songs he made famous. Even now, performing Bird on The Wire and other Cohen classics has the power to bring tears to her eyes.
‘I am getting emotional now,’ says Perla of her mentor. ‘I started signing the Leonard Cohen songbook years before he passed away. As an artist I am very driven by music that moves me deeply and that’s the only body of work that I want to sing. Since working with Leonard for so many years and being his friend, I think of Leonard’s music like Shakespeare in that it evolves constantly.
‘You change in your life, society changes and everything evolves and so does music — songs evolve. I have watched this growth and this change over the years and I can’t get enough.’
Perla made a promise to Cohen years ago that she would keep singing his work. ‘He was so sweet to say that he was honoured that I would sing his material and I just said I feel like I will be singing this music until the day I die because it is that important to me. I think it is that important to culture in general.’ Perla was just 20 when she set off on the road with Leonard and his band for that tour in 1988 and one of her favourite memories of her friend is from that time. ‘Leonard was very oldfashioned and I was so young when we first met and I was going on the road with him,’ she says. ‘He was so sweet. My parents came to the airport to say goodbye to me. Leonard took both of their hands and said, “I will take care of your daughter, I promise” and he actually did. He always had gifts for us, he always had beautiful food and beautiful wine and he always sat at the table with us. We were like a big family on the road, that’s how sweet he was.’
Perla toured with Leonard until 1993 and in those times there was a lot of ‘coffees and conversations.’ They lived close to each other and
often spent their downtime together. ‘It was a sweet friendship,’ says Perla. ‘He was very gentlemanly and very very funny. His main goal was to say things that would make me laugh. He was very thoughtful and we would be quiet a lot. He might be writing and I would be sitting on the sofa reading a magazine and he would say, “Darling what do you think about this line here?” I would laugh and say, “You are Leonard Cohen, it doesn’t matter what I think,”’ says Perla, laughing again at the memory.
She had been singing his songs for ten years before the legendary singer passed away in 2016 but following his death, Perla’s work took on a different meaning.
‘We always spoke,’ she says. ‘Up until the week he died when I was travelling to Europe and I hadn’t been in touch for a couple of days. I knew he was sick but when he passed I was still stunned.’
Singing his songs then was very emotional and obviously still is as often during our conversation Perla’s voice trembles as tears are not far away.
‘Just after Leonard passed I didn’t think I could get through any of his songs without weeping. I was in Spain actually visiting a great friend of mine who plays bass for me in Europe in and I told him, “I don’t think I can sing this without crying.” He said, “Well, just do what the Spanish do, we sing and we cry at the same time.” That’s exactly what I did so now I just sing how I feel and if I get emotional I grab a tissue.’
Anthem is a big emotional moment for Perla on stage.
‘Especially after the last two years, I can barely get through that song without tears,’ she says. ‘You’re talking about just getting up every morning and getting through another day and the fight we all have to fight but that’s what we do. Because there’s a crack, a crack in everything and that’s how the light gets in.’
Her favourite song from the canon at the minute is Take This Waltz. ‘My answer is never the same,’ she admits. ‘It changes depending on how I’m feeling at the moment. The most beautiful is Take This Waltz because he often tells the story of being inspired by the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. He named his daughter Lorca so that gives an indication of how important this poet was to him.
‘That song is a favourite of mine, being a fan of poetry and my first language is Spanish. Leonard was a big fan of Spanish poetry and we shared that in common.’
After singing Leonard’s music for ten years, Perla was invited by Hal Wilner to take part in his Cohen tribute in Dublin with Nick Cave, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed and many more famous artists.
BUT another tragedy happened this year when Wilner himself died at the beginning of the pandemic from Covid. ‘We have just had his memorial in New York and it was so beautiful,’ says Perla. ‘We had a lot of Irish friends there including U2 and Gavin Friday. It was really lovely and we had a wonderful time remembering Hal, who we all loved so much. I got to sing with Bono and the Edge. It was a beautiful moment for me — a highlight of my evening and my life, if I could be a totally ridiculous fan right now.
‘Then I was at the helm of another Cohen tribute in Spain. We had a lot of Flamenco musicians who translated Cohen into Spanish and then American musicians including Jackson Browne was part of that tour and and several other great artists. So Leonard has given me this whole life.’
Perla says she feels she must sing Leonard’s songs to remember her friend. ‘Every performance is an opportunity to conjure him up, it keeps him alive for me.
‘Leonard will never be forgotten because of how great he is and I honestly don’t mean it lightly when I say his work is like Shakespeare because it will live on.
‘A lot of people are doing Cohen now and that pleases me greatly because that is the point. That young people think he is cool fills my heart with such hope.
‘I am driven to sing these songs and absolutely it is emotional but what art isn’t? In Ireland you have a long tradition of poetry and written word and songs as well that are very emotional and I come from a similar people. It is the core of who we are so it gives me great joy to sing this material and to remember Leonard and feel like we are keeping him alive by singing his songs.
‘Leonard’s passing has taught me a lot about how one grieves,’ Perla says thoughtfully. ‘It is part of your life and not in a negative way, as remembering someone is very important and it can be joyful.’
PERLA BATALLA brings her House of Cohen concert to Vicar Street on June 1. Tickets from €36.65 from ticketmaster.ie