It will therefore not be a “national funeral” but a “national honoring ceremony” for Karl Tremblay.
A decision made to respect the wishes of the family, who wanted a secular and non-religious celebration. But deep down, beyond the vocabulary and names, we agree that what will happen on November 28th will simply be “national love” for the cowboy who left too fast, too soon.
HERE BELOW
I got my ticket at 10 a.m., like 15,000 other people. But the moment I clicked “Accept,” a chill ran through me: I remembered that the last time I bought tickets to see a cowboy in this amphitheater, Karl Tremblay, the stage monster, jumped on stage , cheering the crowd on and getting them in the mood saw the roof of the Bell Center. It was about “communicating” with my son because the Cowboys are our musical “connection.”
- Listen to the interview with Quebec journalist and politician Christine St-Pierre on Sophie Durocher’s show QUB radio :
It’s still crazy to think that the Cowboys played the Bell Center for the first time on December 30, 2003. What a sad irony that Karl returned there almost exactly 20 years later to finish the loop of that famous “Countdown” that so many Cowboys songs are talked about.
To tell you how disconnected our English media is: On Wednesday, CTV Montreal announced “a national funeral for Karl Tremblay.” Maybe their Google Translate doesn’t work well… What do you say again? “Lost in translation…”
The Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, impressed me from the start on this issue. In his testimony, he managed to find the right tone to talk about Karl Tremblay, halfway between the enthusiasm of a groupie and the reticence of a minister. On November 18, he posted a photo of himself surrounded by cowboys on X (formerly Twitter) with the words: “A friend’s mother sent this to me. April 2003, more than 20 years ago. I was 14 years old. The little guy that I was had no idea how much of an impact the Cowboys Fringants would have on his life and the lives of millions of Quebecers.
A friend’s mother sent this to me. April 2003, more than 20 years ago. I was 14 years old. The little guy that I was had no idea how much of an impact the Cowboys Fringants would have on his life and the lives of millions of Quebecers. ♥️ pic.twitter.com/tGks1yzuaJ
— Mathieu Lacombe (@lacombemathieu) November 18, 2023
He wanted Quebec
Just when we thought everything had been said and written about Karl Tremblay, Karl’s attending physician, Dr. Marie-Anne Archambault, an open letter to Le Devoir that touched our hearts.
In an interview with Le Devoir, she reveals details about her famous patient. “In Quebec, Karl Tremblay was still in hospital in extreme pain just days before his body and soul were handed over to an audience of 90,000 people gathered following the summer festival.”
“He wanted Quebec, he wanted Quebec so badly. I told her again: “You can’t go there, it’s impossible,” the doctor remembers. […] He received a transfusion again, went on stage and let me lie: he did things that were incompatible with life on paper, he went beyond the limits.
But it was necessary for this man to love his audience to ward off the disease in this way. It is this image of a warrior of the heart that I will be thinking about next Tuesday.
