MONTREAL (AFP) - One year after Leonard Cohen died, leading musicians, including Sting, Elvis Costello and Philip Glass, will remember him with a concert in his native Montreal, his family announced on Monday.

The Nov 6 tribute will benefit Canadian arts groups and is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Inviting the legendary songwriter's fans from around the world to visit Montreal for the concert, his son Adam said his father had given him instructions only to bury him in the city alongside his parents and keep his memorial service small.

But he said "if you want a public event, do it in Montreal", Adam, also a musician, added.

"I see this concert as a fulfilment of my duties to my father that we gather in Montreal to ring the bells that still can ring," he said.

Costello and Sting, like Cohen, are both songwriters known for their literary sensibilities while Glass is among the most influential living composers.

Other performers will include singers k.d. lang and Feist, the dark retro chanteuse Lana Del Rey as well as folk rockers Damien Rice and Wesley Schultz, frontman of The Lumineers.

Cohen died at 82 in his adopted home of Los Angeles on Nov 7 last year.

An accomplished poet before he set his words to music, he wrote songs that yearned to understand both love and the nature of the divine.

While never a major star in terms of his chart performance, Cohen became a favourite among artists with his spiritual odyssey Hallelujah becoming a classic through its frequent covers.