Montrealers mark 10 years since Leonard Cohen died with visits to his grave

MONTREAL Montrealers spent Saturday remembering Leonard Cohen, ten years after the singer, songwriter and poet died. A steady flow of fans went to his grave on Mount Royal, and others walked through the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighbourhood where he lived and where his music still plays in a neighbourhood restaurant.

The Canadian Press described the scene in a report carried by CTV News and CBC News. Radio-Canada, writing in French, covered the same visits and reached the same details.

A grave covered in flowers

Cohen died on Nov. 7, 2016, in Los Angeles. A few days afterward his body came home to Montreal. He rests on the northern slope of Mount Royal at the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery, next to his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

On the tenth anniversary, close to 100 roses lay on the grave, along with bouquets and other tokens. A small garland above his name bore the word Hallelujah. Some people stood in silence in front of the stone. Others sat nearby and listened to music through earbuds.

The reports describe Cohen as one of the country's most revered artists. They credit him with bringing a poet's sensibility and a distinctive baritone to songs such as Suzanne and Hallelujah across a career of five decades.

A ritual that began in 2017

Juan Merchan was among the visitors. Born in Colombia, he has made the trip a habit since he arrived in Montreal in 2017. He comes twice a year, on Cohen's birthday and on the anniversary of his death, and he usually stays for about an hour. Once he stayed all afternoon. He has brought a friend only one time, because he prefers to spend the moment alone.

"It's kind of my little ritual of coming and trying to trace back the reasons why I really like what he did," Merchan said.

On Saturday he sat a few feet from the grave with a book of the poet's collected poems, and he smoked a cigarette. Merchan told reporters the passion and introspection in the music speak to him, and he thinks Cohen reached most human feelings in a way few artists have managed.

Why the songs still land

Gabriel Domocos and Maria Damian brought their 14-month-old son to the cemetery. Domocos told the reporters it is the humanity in the songs that appeals to the couple, and that the music shows how art can help people relate across differences and across time.

Damian said she values the imperfections. "I just appreciate that he's not the best singer and he still made really great music that draws you in," she said.

From the Plateau to the mountain

Others made a pilgrimage to the house where Cohen lived in the Plateau-Mont-Royal. Claire Murrell and Ava Hester, who both study at McGill University, were among them. Murrell is originally from Barrie, Ont. Her family comes from Montreal, and Cohen's songs were part of her childhood. Moving to the city, she wanted to be close to the place where he grew up and found inspiration for his writing.

"It's music that you can feel in your bones," Murrell said. She added that he wrote about places her family came from, and that she could relate to them.

A short walk from the house, Suzanne drifted out of Bagel Etc., a restaurant that Cohen reportedly frequented. A portrait of him hangs in the entrance. Framed photos and DVDs of his albums fill a wall inside. The room was crowded and full of music, and servers squeezed between tables to reach customers.

A plaque with his name sits on the counter next to one stool. "He always sat at that red stool there," an employee said.

Murrell and Hester stopped there for lunch. Afterward, they climbed Mount Royal to place a rock on the grave. Murrell said she had hoped to meet locals with stories about him, or people ready to talk about his meaning in their lives, and of course to hear his songs.

What the day showed

For the people interviewed, the anniversary meant returning to places that tie Cohen to Montreal. The grave, the house and the restaurant gave fans a way to mark ten years in the city where he was laid to rest.