Crying, laughing and singing with Marie-Annick Lépine, Jean-François Pauzé and Jérôme Dupras, more than a hundred thousand admirers of the Cowboys Fringants gathered at the Bell Center in Montreal or in front of the Facebook page of the favorite group of Quebecers the late Karl Tremblay on Tuesday evening for one last Just.
The culmination of a two-week collective mourning of a magnitude rare in Quebec history for an artist, the moving national tribute ceremony for the singer, who died at the age of 47 from complications of the cursed cancer, sent us through the full range of emotions .
For the one who so often made Quebecers vibrate on stage and who gave us the greatest lesson in courage when he sang for two hours on the Plains of Abraham last summer despite the devastating illness, it was the best farewell we could hope for could for.
“I love you, Karl Tremblay. We love you, our big, huge tree, you will be remembered for a long time. The first thing you’re afraid of forgetting about someone leaving is their voice. I think we will be hearing it for a long time,” said his lover Marie-Annick Lépine, strong, dignified and touching.
A Maurice Richard
Arriving on stage after a performance of “Pub Royal” by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and singer Alexia Gourd, the members of the Cowboys Fringants received wild applause and demonstrated for about thirty minutes their deep love for Karl through memories and anecdotes that we love would have stretched into hours.
His great friend Jean-François Pauzé recalled that Karl was a happy and modest man and that “if he saw what had been happening for two weeks, he would certainly, in his great wisdom, say: ‘Well, let’s look at the gang .’ , calm down, be quiet.” »
“It happened quickly, Karl,” Jérôme Dupras told him. You were too young, too beautiful, too tall. Great like this summer when I said to JF as I was leaving the show on the Plains, “Man, tonight I feel like I played with Maurice Richard.” »
“I’ll endure it…”
Marie-Annick Lépine, who has been in love with her big one for more than 20 years, revealed that the duo called themselves Karlmarie because they were so inseparable.
Until the end, she also confided, Karl would have struggled with agonizing suffering in order to remain under his strict guard as long as possible.
“His last clear words on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, November 15th, were: “I will endure it all to the end, Marie, for my two daughters.” »
When we heard those words, our collective hearts shattered into a thousand pieces again.
On my shoulder
As in concerts, Jérôme Dupras wanted to introduce his late friend by shouting: “Ladies and gentlemen, make noise one last time for the one, the unique, the eternal, Kaaaarl Tremblay!” »
Then, before they left the stage, the Cowboys Fringants wanted to sing one last song. The happy one was “On My Shoulder,” which resonated like a final burst of collective love in a lit-up Bell Center.
In addition to the group’s 14,000 heartbroken followers at the Bell Center, more than 122,000 people were watching the ceremony online at the time.
Once again, at a time when Quebecers have never been more divided, the great Karl Tremblay will have succeeded in bringing an entire people together.
We will miss him terribly.
– With Raphaël Gendron-Martin
Here is a summary of the emotional evening:
9:17 p.m | Dozens of fans take turns playing part of the Cowboys Fringants song “LesStars Filantes.”
8:30 p.m. | Montreal’s Champlain Bridge is illuminated as a tribute to Cowboys singer Fringants
8:52 p.m | Doctor Gaétan Barrette explains how prostate cancer can be diagnosed and what medical advances there are in this disease.
8:28 p.m. | Accompanied by the audience, Les Cowboys Fringants play “Sur Mon Épaule” from the album “Les antipodes”, released on October 4, 2019.
8:20 p.m. | Jérôme Dupras delivers a touching testimony to the audience at the Bell Center
8:10 p.m. | Karl Tremblay’s partner, Marie-Annick Lépine, delivers a touching testimony to the audience at the Bell Center
8:05 p.m. | Jean-François Pauzé gives a touching testimony to the audience at the Bell Center
8:00 p.m. | The members of the Cowboys Fringants, Jérôme Dupras, Jean-François Pauzé and Marie-Annick Lépine, welcomed them to the stage with thunderous applause
7:53 p.m. | Alexia Gourd plays “Pub Royal”, one of the songs composed by Karl Tremblay, accompanied by the OSM string quintet
• Also read: Media premiere of Pub Royal: The Cowboys Fringants are in attendance and are being showered with love
7:50 p.m. | Moment of silence
The more than 15,000 spectators observe a minute’s silence in honor of Karl Tremblay.
7:44 p.m. | “Hang in there, it will keep you warm, you will have a great time”
Émile Proulx-Cloutier, master of ceremonies, speaks to the audience in the Bell Center at the start of the tribute to Karl Tremblay. “If we could have found an amphitheater 10 times 100 times larger, we would have, but it wouldn’t have been big enough to contain all the love and pain we felt.”
7:40 p.m. | The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM) begins its performance in honor of Karl Tremblay
7:30 p.m. | The National Honors Ceremony for Karl Tremblay begins at the Bell Center. Follow the event live
7:15 p.m. | “Quebec has been in mourning since Karl’s death,” says Québec solidaire’s new co-spokesperson, Émilise Lessard-Therrien. “There are few groups that can bring us together for anything and everything.” “It’s rare that artists make us party so much as they change the world,” says Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co- Spokesperson for Quebec Solidaire.
7:10 p.m. | “They talk about everyday life, the joys, the misfortunes and turn them into poetry,” says the interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party
7:05 p.m. | “I feel privileged to be here and to be able to send love to his wife and family, along with more than 15,000 other people,” says Valérie Plante.
7:04 p.m. | “I’m an absolute fan of Cowboys Fringants, I listened to them over and over again in my car,” says Pauline Marois, former Quebec premier. “The cowboys sing about the daily lives of Quebecers and the simple lives of ordinary people, but they do it with so much poetry.”
7:00 p.m. | “As long as we have love. It is a song that represents the simplicity of Quebecers, the general desire of a people to take care of others and not think of themselves as others (…) It is as if the cowboys had the ability to talk about it, who the people of Quebec are and how different we are in some ways from the rest of North America and the rest of the world, but we have to do it cautiously and hopefully … in a very bright way,” said the leader of the Parti Québécois , Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
6:55 p.m. | Jean-François Roberge, Minister of French Language, who has just arrived at the Bell Center for the ceremony, tells a touching anecdote he experienced with his father; see his post below
6:50 p.m. | “What we admired about Karl was his ability to speak to us about our society in a very eloquent way,” says Pascale St-Onges, Minister of Canadian Heritage.
6:45 p.m. | “Karl Tremblay embodies who we are in Quebec,” said Sonia Bélanger, Minister of Seniors. “All Quebecers recognized themselves in his songs and in his way of interpreting his songs.”
6:39 p.m. | “It is remarkable how he has managed to transcend generations, I am happy to be able to pay tribute to him,” says Pascale Déry, elected representative of the Repentigny constituency.
6:32 p.m. | “It’s as if Quebecers have lost someone from their close family,” says François Legault, who has just arrived at the Bell Centre. Recall that the Prime Minister of Quebec had proposed a national funeral to the family of the Cowboys Fringants singer, who instead opted for a tribute ceremony.
6:23 p.m | “No matter what political color we are, the Fringants Cowboys make us want to change the things around us,” said Mathieu Lacombe upon his arrival at the Bell Center
The ceremony will be presented at 7:30 p.m. to 14,000 people who managed to get a ticket to the event, as well as live on the group’s Facebook page.
• Also read: Cowboys Fringants fans say goodbye to Karl Tremblay
• Also read: Artists, politicians and dignitaries pay tribute to Karl Tremblay of the Cowboys Fringants
The tribute begins with a performance by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. A member of the group is then asked to testify. The finale is the screening of “America is Crying – The Movie”.
A meeting is also planned in L’Assomption, the town where Karl Tremblay and his family lived.