Fox, rest in peace, I remember

We have no say in the privacy of the deceased and their bereaved relatives.

That’s what I thought when the circumstances of Karim Ouellet’s death were revealed on Wednesday. Of course, the notion of mourning is not only private when artists dear to an entire population die. These artists are an integral part of our lives through their work. We enjoy their generosity through our headphones, our radio, our telephone or our television screen.

We therefore maintain a special relationship with our favorite artists because they make us vibrate with their catchy or touching performances. Our attachment to these artists, even those we have never met, is therefore very real, as is our mourning when they die.

But let’s not forget that artists, well beyond being personalities, are first and foremost people. People who, like you and me, have a more complex life than the few songs revealed in an album, TV interviews or posts on Instagram.

The lives of these people, like ours, are first and foremost intimate. She also has relatives, family and friends, who do not only admire personality.

Above all, they have over time experienced many ups and downs in relation to the person. That, too, is about intimacy.

The whole life of the artist is therefore not of public interest. And the same is true after his death. It therefore seems to me that a certain degree of modesty is required, not only to let the deceased rest in peace, but also to respect the mourning process of their loved ones, who suffer beyond having lost their favorite artist. The sphere of intimacy of the late artist and his relatives does not belong to us, and not even in the circumstances that shock us. This is what Chantal Guy exposed in particular in her most recent column, a magnificent reading^⁠1.

As a public, if we knew the artist during his lifetime through his work, it seems to me that it is more up to us, after his death, to keep this work and the messages it conveys alive. What can we say, then, about the work of Karim Ouellet?

The next few lines are largely insufficient to comment exhaustively on the musical genius of the fox. It still comes to mind to specifically point out, on this national holiday, that this artist from an immigrant background will have proudly carried the Quebec banner by singing the French word in an exceptional way.

Moreover, while the motto of our nation is “I remember”, Karim Ouellet also underlined our duty to remember the colonization and slavery that plagued Quebec:

“400 years of history

6 million reasons

to make us forget to believe

and then remember

It’s all I’m afraid to become

When you think about it 10 minutes

Ignorance is decreasing »

These lyrics make up the chorus of the song Qc History Xa collaboration between Karim Ouellet and rapper and historian Webster.

This song reminds us of historical facts about Quebec that are little taught in our institutions, including prominent figures from black communities.

Jackie Robinson. Oliver Jones. Oscar Peterson. As Webster says in this song: “Too many forgotten heroes who contributed to our past, [m]but few want to point it out”. Let us remember, therefore. But how ?

Dear Jackie, a documentary by director Henri Pardo, has just hit theaters. This film takes the form of a letter to Jackie Robinson, a baseball player who began his professional career in Montreal and became the first black man to play in the American Major League Baseball. Recounting the reality of the black communities living in the district of Little Burgundy, Dear Jackie draws a relevant parallel between the eras, revealing little-known historical facts, congratulating the strength of the people of Little Burgundy and denouncing the racial inequalities that have raged and still rage in Montreal.

It also seems relevant to me to salute the quality of the show Decolonizing Historyoffered on the Télé-Québec website, which presents 10 little-known chapters of Quebec and Canadian history from the point of view of Indigenous, black and racialized people.

Keeping Karim Ouellet alive can manifest itself in many ways, and it would be simplistic to limit this artist’s work to anti-racist messages. That said, on this day when we celebrate Quebec, it seems appropriate to include the memory exercise to which the artist invites us in the song Qc History X. Reducing our ignorance with regard to the treatment reserved for black and aboriginal people in the province is also that, “I remember”.