Author, composer and performer Yves Duteil was yesterday named a Knight of the Québec National Order by Prime Minister François Legault.
The author of Take a Child and The Language of Our House was decorated yesterday during a garrison ceremony. Yves Duteil joins Félix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault, Michel Rivard, who have shaped Quebec’s cultural landscape and others who have received this award, bestowed by the State of Quebec, for their exceptional contribution.
“We honor an exceptional author, composer and performer. A great friend of Quebec. Quebecers adopted and fell in love with you from the start. Their songs are now part of our pop culture,” Premier Legault said.
The Prime Minister added that To Take a Child has become the song most commonly used at baptism ceremonies in Quebec, even surpassing France.
“Proof that Quebecers are truly visionary,” he laughed.
François Legault also praised Yves Duteil for his success in La langue de chez nous.
“This song has a very strong meaning for us Quebecers. We see it as a declaration of love to the French language. You have made us proud of our language. you are more than a friend You are an ally of the nation of Quebec,” he said, adding that in the heart of an English-speaking ocean, the French language will always be vulnerable.
A turning point
Yves Duteil, who has a career spanning 50 years, is honored to receive the National Order of Quebec, the highest award bestowed by the State of Quebec.
“It is a great honor and recognition for those who have inspired me. It is a more than precious gift and I enjoy it as a privilege. Quebec is like a second home to me. I have found a land of brotherhood and a loving family here. La langue de chez nous, which I wrote after meeting Félix Leclerc, was a turning point in my life,” he said, before taking out his guitar and performing it.
The 73-year-old author, composer and performer said meeting Félix changed the way he writes. Felix had told her that a poet who doesn’t care is useless.
“He made me realize that we’re not just here to write beautiful words and beautiful songs, we can also bring people together. That was the great lesson of La langue de chez nous. It was the first song I wrote that could bring people together,” he said in an interview.
On tour in Quebec, Yves Duteil, who said with humor that on arrival he was challenged by the “beautiful campaign of the government of Quebec against the decline of French”.
“The French language concerns everyone. We hold a treasure in our hands. Ultimately, what will win is not French, Italian or Spanish, but diversity,” he stressed.
Yves Duteil is always amazed at the reactions when he sings La langue de chez nous.
“There’s a kind of emotion of extraordinary strength that comes up at the beginning and end of the song. I feel this feeling deep inside me. It brings me to tears every time,” he said.