State funeral begins in Montreal for Quebec music legend Jean-Pierre Ferland

Mourners including Quebec Premier François Legault paid their respects Friday during a visitation at Montreal's Théâtre Maisonneuve.

Quebec music legend Jean-Pierre Ferland is being honoured on Saturday with a national funeral in Montreal.

The service began at 11 a.m. at the downtown Mary Queen of the World Cathedral, with an urn containing the singer’s remains carried into the church to the accompaniment of a violin and cello arrangement of one of his songs. The service is set to feature eulogies, several musical performances, and remarks from Premier François Legault.

Quebecers have been invited to come and say their farewells, wearing the colour yellow in tribute to the singer’s 1970 hit album “Jaune.”

Ferland died of natural causes on April 27 at the age of 89 after several months in hospital.

Pianist and composer François Cousineau, a frequent collaborator with Ferland, who produced his 1992 album “Bleu, Blanc, Blues,” will be one of the performers at the funeral.

Cousineau says Ferland was a charming friend with a great sense of humour, but what made him stand out was the unique way he said things in his songs.

“He’s among the greatest,” said Cousineau. “He was a poet of love and a poet of life, that’s how I’d put it, because the thing he wanted most in life was to be loved.”

Danick Trottier, a music professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal, says Ferland was Quebec’s Joni Mitchell or Neil Young, fellow singer-songwriters known for both their music and their words.