Exploring Leonard Cohen's Hydra

Visiting Hydra, the Greek island which Leonard Cohen and other artists made their home in the 1950s and 1960s
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I'd always wanted to visit Hydra since I found out about the Bohemian expat community that lived there in the 1950s and 1960s. So I couldn't resist visiting when I was nearby in Athens last month to see if it lived up to my expectations. This video isn't about Leonard Cohen's music, or the work of any of the other artists, like Charmian Clift and George Johnston, who lived on the island. Rather, it's a video that takes a look at the island, but more how I felt going to a place that I'd hoped to go to for years, and how places can inspire you.
Leonard Cohen, Charmian Clift, Polly Samson, Marianne Ihlen, George Johnston, Songs of Leonard Cohen, Hydra, Greece, Greek Islands, A Theatre For Dreamers, Words Of Love, Peel Me A Lotus, Mermaid Singing, Songs From A Room, Travel, Music, Music Theory, Music History

[@andycordy5190]

The shots here are chosen with love and awe and show it. There is a power in Greece and in the islands most especially, which enables history and myth. I caught this myself in Heraklion, even though the place has been remade many times, the feeling of ages past is there in the carbuncular concrete streets, suggesting that if you took away the gridlocked traffic, the fumes and the trappings of modern life, the past is still drifting up through the ground like some noble gas. Travelling to Athens, horrified by the fumes, the dust, the endless sprawl of 20th century low rise blocks with no identity and so little of character to see, I learned to feel the past through the soles of my feet at a tiny holocaust memorial overlooking the remains at Keramikos, as if long forgotten passions struggled to be known and revered through the many layered paving between my tread and those remnants of love and loss stored in the suffocated ground.

[@jacobrivers5728]

Michael Cacoyannis, who directed Zorba the Greek, made an excellent black & white film on Hydra called, 'A Girl in Black'. The 1956 film was beautifully shot and captured the wonderful atmosphere of the island. One can easily understand why Leonard Cohen, who turned up on the island four years later, would find the place captivating.

[@AlbertGenower]

Beautiful film - it's amazing how similar it still looks today.

[@PeterRushThePitchDoctor]

Thanks man. Been listening to the maestro since early 70’s. Loved your vid. Will visit one day from my own Greek island of Ithaki. Not a day goes by I don’t play Cohen. Good luck with your channel. P

[@bengerson7064]

I visited Hydra the summer of '68, when anyone who knew anything at all about LC knew him as a poet and novelist. I recall renting a shared room for 70 cents a night, which might partly explain its attraction for artists. Even then, there were yachts parked in the harbor. Certainly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, with magnificent sunsets.

[@AlbertGenower]

Interesting! 70c a night! I was born too late :(

[@stylianosperrakis1666]

Many thanks for the video and for the world of 1960's Greece that it brings back to my memory (I am 4 years younger than LC). I remember visiting Hydra in the early summer of 1964, the year I left Greece where I was born and raised, for the wonderful world of Berkeley, California, that was even more inspiring than the Hydra of 1960's. LC, George Johnson, Charmian Clift, were unknown then among Greeks, and I didn't find out about them till I emigrated to Canada in the 1970's, where I still live. It is too bad that LC did not engage with Greece while living there. These were the years that Greek poetry and music soared, fuelled by the country's turbulent politics and the efforts to get rid of the stifling post-WWII rightwing climate and the wounds of the civil war. Dear L:eonard, as a fellow Montrealer that I was for 20 years, I feel affection for you, but your music and poetry leave me cold. Too much introspection brings what we saw in the Hydra group, divorces and suicide and children growing up in sigle parent families, and very little impact on the society where we live. In contgrast the Ballad of Mauthausen, written by a Greek poet and playwrite amd put into music by Mikis Theodorakis, continues to stir up my 86-year old soul many decades after I heard it for the first time.

[@AlbertGenower]

I'm glad you enjoyed. I suppose I don't agree with all you say for I love Leonard Cohen's music and poetry, but it's very interesting to hear your thoughts on his engagement with the locals and local culture. I suppose to some extent he must have done, since he learned the language in only a few months, though I guess that is the nature of expat communities. I have just listened to the Mikis Theodorakis, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[@haddock99]

Perfect little video which encapsulates exactly what I felt having just spent 4 days there. I loved sitting at Douskos tavern imagining LC there with his friends (and you can see photos of him there on menu and inside restaurant which is still going with same name). Finding all the little places was special and made the visit very emotionally engaging…especially reading about what happened to the characters after they left the island.

[@AlbertGenower]

Glad you enjoyed the video (and the island)!

[@okonspruce]

Thank you - just found your video. Hydra has been on my bucket list since I was 17 in '67. Finally will be there this June to explore its beauty. Canadian fan of Leonard's since '67.

[@AlbertGenower]

It's a fantastic place, if you're a LC fan then I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I imagine June is probably a good time of year to go. Despite the heat of the sun, it's a very windy place so it was surprisingly cold in September.

[@always_in_Good_Hands]

what a fantastic short doc. Loved the lounging cats and pup! The mule was a nice photo as well. Don't be too hard on yourself, still glad you shared the photo's of the telephone poles...and they were interesting to look at, I had never seen Hydra telephone poles before...so thank you, now I can say I have. LOL. Cheers! Or should I say...OPA!

[@AlbertGenower]

Aha thank you! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@lornapark2308]

Enjoyed seeing Hydra, long live your 'obsessions' thank you.

[@AlbertGenower]

Glad you enjoyed :)

[@NikephorosAer54]

A Love story... Leonard-Music-Hydra ! Oh ! and Marianne ! A Greek friend, Demetrios Maniates.

[@lizzyhotpants]

I've literally just got back from 3 weeks in Greece & (with the exception of Athens for the airport) Hydra was my final port of call for 4 wonderful days. A pilgramage on my bucket list for many years, it didn't let me down, nor my husband who was a very late-comer to the beauty of LC. Thanks for the video

[@AlbertGenower]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Greece is such a fantastic country and Hydra was certainly my highlight-now it's my dream to have one of those little houses there.

[@desireeprinsloo428]

Lovely! Please make more like this on your travels. I live around the corner from the Cohen house and the island has many inspired artists living and working under its magical spell.

[@AlbertGenower]

Glad you enjoyed! My only other video similar to this is one I did in Naples about Stravinsky and Picasso (kzbin.info/www/bejne/anm7ZIycjrijeac, if you're interested). I'd love to do more in this style, though. It was such a beautiful place-very envious that you get to live there! It's something of a dream to be able to myself one day.

[@iMetrodora]

Greetings from Hydra ❤

[@Katie_J08]

Truly inspiring work - ✨ a legend in the making ✨

[@janemmb]

Wonderful video. Just returned from my first visit to Hydra. Just magical. I devour everything Cohen and that ‘bohemian’ era. Would like to see a little of George Johnson’s book before I buy it as it’s expensive. Any ideas? 😳 thank you sincerely xxx

[@AlbertGenower]

Glad you enjoyed! I've actually never read any George Johnston, though you can find free stuff if you make an account of archive.org or something similar. archive.org/details/essentialgeorgej0000john - This looks alright.

[@liketheroman]

I adored this video. I’m hoping to make the pilgrimage myself in a few months. Any tips re: the ferry from Athens? Hearing about your cancelled return trip makes me worry that it would be a nightmare.

[@AlbertGenower]

It’s absolutely worth your time to go, I think about the day a lot 6 months on and never think about the transport. I went to Pireaus the day before to buy the tickets because I wanted to check where the ferry was from, and when it got cancelled I just booked another one from a different company and then they refunded me a couple of days later. Worked out cheaper overall actually. I’d also say mid-September was the perfect time of year to go. Thanks for watching :)

[@ojaswirocks]

thank you.

[@AlbertGenower]

Glad you enjoyed :)

[@ojaswirocks]

@@AlbertGenower Sorry, was at a loss for words and could only manage to say 'Thank you.'

[@shanazi1]

❤great video thank u x❤

[@suzannedesylva3805]

This is a beautiful video. Maybe it is my eqmt but the music is loud and overtakes the dialogue. thanks