Dear Karl,
In 2005, at the age of 10, I heard the song for the first time Nothingdownloaded by my big brother in a playlist of the time. I remember the exact moment I heard this song. It struck me for two reasons. First, it was the first time I became aware of the environmental issues facing our generation. With this song, I discovered myself against overconsumption and the harmful effects of globalization. Secondly, it was the first time in my life that I heard Quebec French, without even knowing what it was, or even knowing Quebec.
At the time, my knowledge of geography was not incredible. Your French touched my heart. Far from our European language, Quebecois language reveals the nuances and accents of French as it must have been spoken in the past. It’s real French. In love with this language, I fell in love with Quebec from that age, conquered by the strength of the French language in Quebec, which allowed it to survive despite oppression and invasion, to remain faithful to its cultural identity. .
I have lived my life keeping this song deeply in my heart, which I still listen to from time to time. Later, around my early teens, I started listening to albums.
High mass : full. It contains several masterpieces: Shooting Stars, Ti-Cul, Nothing, Hannah, The Queen, Letter to Lévesque, Camping Ste-Germaine, the epilogue. So many songs that I listened to while smoking my first cigarettes, on repeat on my scooter in my headphones blasting, while experiencing my first love.
Motel Capri, with its humorous-poetic titles: Native Quebecer, Maurice at the bistro, Marcel Galarneau, Thug, Leopold, The Thumb. Only titles that made me want to get off to the other side of the planet to hitchhike there and drink in all the godforsaken harbors of the world with my pretty face. The title Suburb is the one that bothered me the most.
Union breakwith the famous Autumn song. How I sang this song on my guitar! Winter is coming, terrible, purely Quebecois song, realistic, incredible. And the song My boyfriend Rémi, an ode to friendship, to fraternity. A plea against suicide. Extremely touching.
The albums Shipping And With an air of deja vuI listened to them over and over again during all my travels from 2014 to 2019. How many more nuggets on these: Straight ahead, The Catherine, Bobo, The swallows, As long as we have love, Brother-in-law, 1994, Holiday 31, Walk home.
Only windwith the masterpieces The clock, Only wind and the wonderful Like Joe Dassin. What can I say… except that this reference to Joe Dassin, precisely, demonstrates the spirit of the group of wanting to make benevolent songs, which touch on the universal, but which carry an enormous amount of humanity and hope in same time. Only you could bring this unique touch, Karl.
Then there was October. It’s a vintage. What can I say about these songs that I listened to and re-listened to… songs that teach us things about the history of Quebec, about ourselves, about our fragilities, about our strengths. On the beauty of life. On the importance of enjoying life. To live it. “And October just flew by…”, and this time, it’s you who’s leaving us, Karl. Pizza Galaxy, so so, merchant navy…
Always humor brilliantly used as a vector of poetry. What transcribes your humanity so faithfully is this humor, precisely, which is not there stupidly. Who is there because it makes sense and tenderly puts more serious things into perspective. It is this humor that you carry that is sorely lacking in our cynical society. Louis Hébert, it’s the song that made me decide to set foot on Quebec soil one day. And then Royal Pub, what to say ! Tenderness, sensitivity, poetry, humanity in its raw state.
And then The Antipodes. Well, yes, there have been some, from the antipodes, in recent times. Concerts in front of 19,000 people, with treatment for your illness. An uncertain future, with an audience that loves and supports you like never before. Songs carrying hope and tenderness, in a perspective that must have really been difficult to bear psychologically. All houses are the same, Down here, On my shoulder, America cries…
Well no, it’s not just America that’s crying today! The five continents are crying. An entire diverse humanity has lost a very dear one. When I see all the puppets who run countries, who wage wars, who exploit women and children. And then, there is you, Karl, who dedicated your life to carrying a message, to carrying a hope, and who gets cut down at not even 50 years old. I tell myself that life is sometimes unbearably unfair.
All these songs, most of them written and composed by Jean-François Pauzé — an absolute genius — and performed by you, dear Karl, are gifts to the French-speaking world and to Quebec that have no value. These are gifts from the heart, given with kindness, what our crazy world needs these days. This is also everything that we will miss with your departure, but we are extremely grateful to you for having carried, sung, defended tooth and nail these titles which bring hope and life to all humanity.
Because this is indeed the reason for art, contrary to what people might want us to believe in this commodified world. Art is there to remind us that beautiful things exist. And that’s why art saves us, unlike the merchants of vulgarity, who kill us. In honor of your art, Karl, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart as a child, a French speaker and a human being on this planet. Thank you for what you have given to humanity. Rest in peace.