Leonard Cohen's opening words:
"Thank you so much, friends... Please, sit down, thank you so much. Thank you, Marek, thank you very much. Thank you for coming tonight. Thank you, the listeners of Trójka. It's a great privilege and a great honour for us to be here. We were here 22 years ago. There were brave men in prison. There were people under house arrest. There was the Heavy Hand over the society and over the culture. And here today, 22 years later, they're calling this the "New Paris". Warsaw is the new Paris. Well, maybe Warsaw doesn't want to be the new Paris? In any case, we don't live in Warsaw, we don't live in Paris although those geographies may define our actual location; we live in other places that are more intimate and more real and more authentic than whatever the official culture defines us as. I was reading in Milosz's book today... just one beautiful paragraph... He says:"
Man has been given to understand that he lives only by the grace of those in power. Let him therefore busy himself sipping coffee, catching butterflies. And whoever cares for the republic will have his right hand cut off. There is so much death and that is why affection for pigtails, bright-coloured skirts in the wind, for paper boats no more durable than we are.(*)
"And then the poem just drifts off. And it's in that drifting off that these songs that we have tonight are written. Just... The songs not of great love, not of... songs that address the great bewildering challenges of today whether they're global warming of the clash of civilizations or the resolution of all the horrendous conflicts that beset us. These are songs that Anjani and I wrote about the little places, about the little loves, about the little corners."
"Some distinguished musicians have come with us from Canada. And I'd like to introduce them to you. These are master musicians - soloists and composers in their own right. On keyboard, Lou Pomanti. On guitar, Rob Piltch. On bass, Scott Alexander."
"These songs are honoured by the company of these musicians. Now, one day... I know Anjani very well - some of you may know - we've been singing and working and living together for many years, but one day very recently I woke up and I heard her singing in a completely different voice. It was as though her voice--and I know her voice very, very well--but it was as though her voice had moved from the throat to the heart. And it was a completely different sound, a completely different timbre, a completely different dimension."
"And I was so happy when she began to put my words to music, so I hope that you will find favour in these songs that we're going to offer you tonight. They are new songs with a new voice, and I'd like to present to you Anjani."