A tribute to Richard Lavoie, Jay Sewall, and Robert Cyr — three musketeers of Quebec music who, for decades, have shared notes, smiles, and a benevolent philosophy, including Richard, who passed away two years ago. Because life without music is nothing, let us remember and live life to the fullest — here, we finally know what that means.
The Musketeers of Music
There are three of them, like in the old novels you read in secret. Richard Lavoie, Jay Sewall, and Robert Cyr: musketeers of chords and words, companions of the stage and of life, bound by that contagious passion called music — and by that rare gift, rarer than one might think, of philosophizing without taking themselves too seriously.
For decades, they have played, they have sung, they have smiled. And they have made others smile. Your humble narrator is among them, one of the many fortunate souls to whom they have offered their notes and their bursts of laughter.
In the middle of the video, there is Richard. Gone for two years already. Two years — both short and long at the same time.
These three introduced me to so many things: music, Quebec, and — most surprisingly — myself. For life without music is nothing, and music without life, nothing either.
So let us live life to the fullest. Let us smile again, and again, and again. For ourselves, and for those whose hands no longer brush against the strings.
In Quebec, we say Je me souviens — I remember. We don't always know what for. Here, now, I do.
Philippe Goupil
