2023-11-29 03:38:04
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 greeted the late Karl Tremblay for one last time on Tuesday evening.
The culmination of a two-week collective mourning of a magnitude rarely seen in the history of Quebec for an artist, the moving ceremony of national tribute to the singer, who died at the age of 47 due to the cursed cancer, made us pass 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, despite the ravages of illness, last summer , it was the most beautiful goodbye we could hope for.
“I love you Karl Tremblay. We love you our big, our giant tree, you will stay in our memories for so long. The first thing you’re afraid of forgetting about someone who leaves is their voice. I think we will hear it for a long time,” said his lover, Marie-Annick Lépine, strong, dignified and touching.
Un Maurice Richard
Applause wildly when they arrived on stage after a performance of Pub Royal by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and singer Alexia Gourd, the members of the Cowboys Fringants demonstrated their deep love for Karl through memories and anecdotes for around thirty minutes that we would have liked to stretch into hours.
His great friend Jean-François Pauzé recalled that Karl was a happy and humble man, and that “if he sees what has been happening for two weeks, it is certain that in his great wisdom he would say: ‘Well, let’s see the gang , calm down, shut up”. »
“It happened quickly, Karl,” Jérôme Dupras told him. You were too young, too beautiful, too tall. Big like this summer when I told JF, leaving the show on the Plains: “Man, this evening I have the impression of having played with Maurice Richard”. »
“I will endure…”
In love with her big one for more than 20 years, Marie-Annick Lépine revealed that the duo called themselves Karlmarie because they were so inseparable.
Until the very end, she also confided, Karl will have fought excruciating suffering to remain as long as possible with his close guard.
“His last lucid words, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, November 15, were: “I will endure all this to the end, Marie, for my two daughters.” »
Hearing these words, our collective heart shattered into a thousand pieces again.
On my shoulder
As he did in concerts, Jérôme Dupras wanted to introduce his deceased friend by shouting “Ladies and gentlemen, for one last time, make some noise for the one, the unique, the eternal, Kaaaarl Tremblay!” »
Then, before leaving the stage, the Cowboys Fringants wanted to sing one last song. The lucky lady was On my shoulderwhich resonated like a final outpouring of collective love in an illuminated Bell Center.
In addition to the 14,000 inconsolable devotees of the group in the Bell Centre, there were at that time more than 122,000 people following the ceremony online.
Once again in a time when Quebecers have never been so divided, the great Karl Tremblay will have achieved the feat of bringing together an entire people.
We will miss him terribly.
– With Raphaël Gendron-Martin
Here is a summary of the emotional evening:
21h17 | Dozens of fans take turns performing part of the Cowboys Fringants song “LesStars Filantes”.
20h30 | The Champlain Bridge in Montreal is illuminated in homage to the singer of the Cowboys Fringants
20h52 | Doctor Gaétan Barrette explains how prostate cancer can be diagnosed and what medical advances are in this disease.
20H28 | Les Cowboys Fringants, accompanied by the crowd, perform “Sur Mon Épaule” from the album “Les antipodes”, released on October 4, 2019
20H20 | Jérôme Dupras delivers a touching testimony to spectators at the Bell Center
20H10 | Karl Tremblay’s partner, Marie-Annick Lépine, delivers a touching testimony to spectators at the Bell Center
20H05 | Jean-François Pauzé delivers a touching testimony to spectators at the Bell Center
20H00 | The members of Cowboys Fringants, Jérôme Dupras, Jean-François Pauzé and Marie-Annick Lépine welcomed on stage with thunderous applause
19H53 | Alexia Gourd, accompanied by the OSM string quintet, performs Pub Royal, one of the songs composed by Karl Tremblay
• Read also: Media premiere of Pub Royal: the Cowboys Fringants present and showered with love
19H50 | Moment of silence
The more than 15,000 spectators take a moment of silence in honor of Karl Tremblay.
19H44 | “Stick in, it’ll keep you warm, you’ll have a great time”
Émile Proulx-Cloutier, master of ceremonies, addresses spectators at the Bell Center to kick off the tribute to Karl Tremblay. “If we could have found an amphitheater 10 times, 100 times bigger we would have done it, but it would not have been big enough to contain all the love and pain felt.”
19H40 | The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM) begins its performance in tribute to Karl Tremblay
7:30 p.m. | The national tribute ceremony to Karl Tremblay begins at the Bell Centre; follow the event live
19H15 | “Quebec has been in mourning since Karl’s death,” says the new co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Émilise Lessard-Therrien. “There are few groups that succeed in bringing us together for anything and everything.” “It’s rare for artists who make us want to party as much as to change the world,” says Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire.
19H10 | “They talk about everyday life, the joys, the misfortunes and they turn them into poetry,” says the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec
19H05 | “I feel privileged to be here and to be able to send love to his wife and family with more than 15,000 other people,” says Valérie Plante.
19H04 | “I am an absolute fan of Cowboys Fringants, I listened to them over and over in my car,” says Pauline Marois, former Prime Minister of Quebec. “The Cowboys sing about the daily lives of Quebecers and sing about the simple lives of ordinary citizens, but do it with so much poetry”
19H00 | “As long as we have love. It’s a song that represents the simplicity of Quebecers, the desire in general as a people to take care of others, not to take themselves for others (…) It’s as if the Cowboys had this ability to speak about who the Quebec people are and how we are very different in certain respects from the rest of North America, from the rest of the world, but to do it gently, in hope… in a very bright,” said the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
18H55 | Jean-François Roberge, Minister of the French Language, who has just arrived at the Bell Center for the ceremony, recounts a touching anecdote that he experienced with his father; see his intervention below
18H50 | “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.
18H45 | “Karl Tremblay embodies what we are in Quebec,” says Sonia Bélanger, minister responsible for Seniors. “All Quebecers recognized themselves in his songs and in his way of interpreting his songs.”
18H39 | “It’s remarkable how he managed to transcend generations, I’m happy to be able to pay tribute to him,” says Pascale Déry, elected MP for the Repentigny constituency.
18H32 | “It’s as if Quebecers had lost someone from their close family,” says François Legault, who has just arrived at the Bell Center. Remember that the Prime Minister of Quebec had proposed a national funeral to the family of the singer of Cowboys Fringants, who instead opted for a tribute ceremony.
18H23 | “No matter our political color, the Fringants cowboys make us want to change things around us” said Mathieu Lacombe upon his arrival at the Bell Center
The ceremony will be presented at 7:30 p.m. in front of 14,000 people who managed to obtain a ticket for the event, as well as live on the group’s Facebook page.
• Read also: Cowboys Fringants fans bid farewell to Karl Tremblay
• Read also: Artists, political figures and dignitaries pay tribute to Karl Tremblay of Cowboys Fringants
The tribute will begin with a performance by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Subsequently, a member of the group will be called to give a testimony. It will all end with the screening of America Cries – The Movie.
A gathering is also planned in L’Assomption, the town where Karl Tremblay and his family lived.
1701249176
#touching #national #tribute #ceremony #Cowboys #Fringants #singer #Karl #Tremblay