One voice, two solitudes: Calls for cultural crossover one year after Karl Tremblay's death

It’s been one year since Karl Tremblay, the lead singer of Les Cowboys Fringants, died of prostate cancer at the age of 47.

There was an outpouring of grief across Quebec, and 15,000 people attended Tremblay’s national funeral at the Bell Centre.

Yet despite Les Cowboys Fringants’ international success, there were many in the province and across the country who never knew their music – and didn't know who Tremblay was until he died.

CTV News Montreal spoke to fans and music lovers who’ve been reflecting on the reality of the two solitudes.

Watch the video above to see the full report.

Les Cowboys Fringants lead singer Karl Tremblay performs at the Quebec Summer Festival, in Quebec City on Monday, July 17, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Louis-Philippe Guy

Louis-Philippe Guy, born and raised in Chicoutimi, has been a fan of Les Cowboys Fringants for more than two decades.

He has vivid memories of seeing them live for the first time in 2001, with a small crowd, following the release of the band’s third album, Motel Capri.

“I saw my first Cowboys Fringants show in Saint-Felicien, in Lac-Saint-Jean. It was a nice show, but we were like 100, maybe 80 people in the room,” he recalled.

Guy, the overnight radio host of La nuit en direct at 98.5 Montréal, was devastated when Tremblay died.

“I cried on air. I never cry on air,” he said.

The day after Tremblay’s death, Guy posted on X, pointing to the front-page coverage of Tremblay's death in every French paper in Quebec, but not in the country's national newspapers or in Montreal's only English daily.

He saw it as “proof of the two solitudes.” 

Les Cowboys Fringants lead singer Karl Tremblay pauses during a song in their performance at the Quebec Summer Festival, in Quebec City, Monday, July 17, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Brendan Kelly

While the Montreal Gazette didn't feature front-page coverage the day after Tremblay’s death, columnist Brendan Kelly wrote an in-depth piece about the band published in the weekend edition of the paper, one that was widely read and shared.

“We live in a world of clicks, and so a lot of people read that article and clicked on it,” said Kelly. “The death of Karl Tremblay was crazy. The reaction was super intense, right across the board – from François Legault, to people crying in the streets.”

Kelly compared the Quebec reaction to Karl Tremblay’s death to the reaction in the rest of Canada when Gord Downie died.

The lead singer for the Tragically Hip died of brain cancer in 2017 at the age of 53.

“French people here did not really know the Tragically Hip,” said Kelly. “I remember when Gord Downie was doing that last tour when we knew he was going to die and all of the francophone media began doing stories. ‘What is this thing, The Tragically Hip?’ Well, they had been around 25 years, so it works both ways and I think it's unfortunate in both cases.”

Kelly was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and raised in Montreal.

Anglophones living amongst the francophone majority in Quebec exist in a complicated reality, he said.

“It's weird in a way, it's normal in a way – because they're English, they're going to consume English culture. But it's also weird because you live in a French place. You think you’d be more curious.”

Kelly believes the province's nationalist politics may influence what some anglophones choose to consume.

“If you want to tell English people, ‘Hey! There's these great bands and movies and TV shows,’ and at the same time you're harassing the community with Bill 96 and with the stuff about Concordia and McGill, it doesn't help,” he said. “It doesn't make English people all warm and fuzzy about francophone culture.”

The Montreal Canadiens pay tribute to Karl Tremblay, the lead singer of the Quebec music group The Cowboy Fringants, who died Wednesday at the age of 47, prior to their NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights in Montreal on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Taylor Vallée

Taylor Vallée grew up in Stoney Creek, a small suburb of Hamilton, Ontario.

She is among Les Cowboys Fringants’ legions of loyal followers, but she hasn’t been following the albums since their start in the late 90s.

In fact, she’d never heard of the band – and barely spoke French – until she moved to Quebec in 2015.

Listening to Les Cowboys Fringants while learning the language was a revelation for Vallée.

She found herself falling in love with the music and asking herself questions.

“Why haven’t I discovered this amazing band? The music is funny, and heartwarming, and melancholic, and it was exactly aligned with the kind of music I would like,” said Vallée. “But I had not ever discovered them until moving here and doing a dive into Quebec culture.”

After Tremblay died, Vallée decided to write an opinion piece, sharing her own story about getting to know Les Cowboys Fringants, expressing the sadness she felt after Tremblay’s death, and reflecting on why the band wasn’t more widely known across Canada – despite their immense popularity in Quebec and elsewhere in the world.

“We've got our artists and culture, and they've got theirs, and I wish there was more travel between those two solitudes because I think there's a lot to share,” said Vallée.

Les Cowboys Fringants lead singer Karl Tremblay, right, sings as his wife Marie-Annick Lepine plays the violin during their performance at the Quebec Summer Festival, in Quebec City, Monday, July 17, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot)

Pierre Landry

CHOM music director Pierre Landry attributes the popularity of Les Cowboys Fringants to their ability to connect with ordinary people and their everyday experiences.

“Obviously there are political songs, there are songs about identity, but beyond those songs, it was about daily life. It was about stuff that was universally relatable, but obviously very Québécois,” he said.

Landry also describes the band’s music as part of a Quebec tradition.

“When you think of the 1970s, like Paul Piché or you think of Harmonium or Beau Dommage, or you think of the 80s with people like Richard Séguin, Michel Rivard, the 90s with Jean Leloup, you think of Les Colocs – well, Les Cowboys Fringants were kind of descendants of all of those. There's kind of a direct lineage,” he said.

Landry, an Acadian born in Campbellton, New Brunswick, said that while he does see a cultural divide between Quebec and the rest of Canada, he believes the reality within Quebec itself is more nuanced than media coverage suggests.

“There are francophones watching English TV. There are anglophones watching French TV and vice versa,” he said. “Not everyone, and I get that. But at the same time, the more you know and the more you expose culture to all people, the better culture is. And I think there's something to learn on both sides.”