Édith Butler: A Passionate Talker

I was screaming so loud when I was born that the midwife told my mother “She’s going to be a singer!” My mother is a musician: she plays the piano and she sings. My childhood was accompanied by music from the piano in the middle of the living room. When I started my career, I continued what I had been doing at home: traditional music.

The audience is the same everywhere! Whether they are French, Belgian, Quebecer, Acadian, Japanese, American or English Canadian, the audience welcomes you when you speak from your heart. Today, 50-year-olds and older are drawn to me a lot.

Stand up straight! Many women hold their shoulders low. Say to yourself: “I feel good, I feel strong, I feel great!” My father would wake us up and tell us that. He repeated it until we got up!

Yes, all the time! They couldn’t understand a thing, but they liked it anyway. They were really feeling it! It was funny because we usually bow after a show, but in Japan, at the time, they were the ones bowing! The audience rose and they bowed to me. I loved Japan, it was so beautiful and the people were so respectful. They bow to you because they think you’re important. I thought they were more important, so I bowed lower. But then they would bow even lower! Sometimes, we were almost on the ground!

That may be one of the reasons why I left Acadia quite young. I always lived in Quebec afterwards, but I often had to defend this culture in parts of the country where it was unknown. It helped strengthen my ties to the culture. There are more than 4 million Acadian descendants in Quebec. I am no longer in a foreign country, I am an Acadian among many other Acadians in Quebec!

Very close! The Édith Butler Award is presented to young people across the country by Quebec’s professional association of authors and composers, the Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ). I have presented 14 awards, to artists like the band Radio Radio, Lisa LeBlanc and Joseph Edgar. I call them my babies, they’re so good!

I was very happy because it was the first cash prize I won. I had already won many prizes and medals, but no cash prizes. With the Governor General’s Award, I could make my album Le retour.

Most of the songs I write simply talk about my life. It’s like when I give lectures: I tell stories. I don’t know in advance what I’m going to say.

My great-grandfather was deaf, mute and had a wooden leg. I got lucky—I’m just hard of hearing!

No, they’re fairly new. Everyone tells me: “You broke your ears on stage!” But I don’t think that’s the case. When I was tested, I was told that the problem was not the inner ear but the middle ear. My ossicles stick together and no longer work; they can’t move. I was told it was genetic. That’s how I learned my great-grandfather’s story.

I could either have surgery or hearing aids. I chose the hearing aids, since I didn’t want to have microsurgery in my ears! And I would have had to spend three months without flying. I often fly to Moncton, so I thought I’d be better off with hearing aids. You really hear everything around you!

I don’t wear them when I sing. It would be too loud. When the drum starts to play behind me, I prefer not to have my hearing aids.

It has always been part of my life. Whether I’m famous or not, whether I’m up or down. I keep singing and telling stories, my story.

And your singing will keep brightening our days! Thank you for this interview!