Post by davidhr on Jun 15, 2010 13:15:51 GMT -5
The big story this week concerned Lara’s trip to Russia and her appearance on a TV show (“Saturday Night”) with Igor Krutoi for a mini-concert. According to ‘Mayanushka’ on the official site they presented 7 songs from the new album! In addition to ‘Lou’ (in Italian) and ‘Demain n’exise pas’ (in French), there were four songs in English: “Mama” (with some words in Russian); “Madmoiselle Hide”; “Stop”; and “Ever”. She also sang a song in Spanish, “Tokami”. Mayanushka indicated she was going to put the video of the television program on the web shortly. Meanwhile, low quality (but eminently listenable) copies of the songs we hadn’t yet heard are available from Christine’s site, larafabiangreek.blogspot.com/. While they were taken from the television program, they’re undoubtedly the recorded album versions, as were ‘Lou’ and ‘Demain n’existe pas’ on the ‘New Wave’ show from Latvia. One has to think that the impetus behind this ‘release’ is Igor Krutoi, as Lara has always been reluctant to make available multiple songs from a new album before the album is released.
These clips clarify that Lara is no longer afraid to sing whole-heartedly, almost defiantly (although she was never afraid to do that in English, anyway). I think what many of us missed was Lara’s exuberance when singing, an emotion that was transmitted to her fans; it seems to be back in these examples. That strength bodes well for the album’s reception, wherever that may be.
Also on the official forum, it was claimed that Lara will sing this song in Russia:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYVGY69pAbo
Presumably that information came from the TV show.
In association with this visit, Lara gave an interview. She looks great in it - it can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I8zb4RmrPc
Lara talked about her special relationship to Russia, her sharing with the Russian people the emotions of nostalgia and melancholy. She also took the opportunity to share her philosophy (this being Russia, after all!). In translation (with the help of Sandra, who first translated it into French):
Lara: “Probably, for guiding people to live pragmatically here and now, my judgments may seem strange. However, I am sure that life is only the middle of the track between some thing that was up to it and what will be after. For me the key concept is a concept of karma. Everything in life is not accidental. I always feel the direct link between different events in my life, even if they are divided by a long period of time.”
Perhaps she views her whole association with Russia, starting from the time of her naming, in the light of these connections.
As far as filming was concerned, when Lara was not away, a few pictures from the ‘Mr. President’ clip as well as “Begin” and “Beating” were made available (although Lara was not really prominent) - and of course the substitution was made of videos from the ‘Lullaby’ clip, removing Lou’s appearance. According to ‘jonlee’ on the official site, the 2.5 million spent so far on the Mme. Zhivago film does not come from Universal, that nothing has yet been signed between Universal and the film company. The writer speculates that Lara’s 9 productions and the producer are putting up the money. The writer further claims that in these countries the producers are shielded from losses, and thinks this movie will undoubtedly be profitable, so no need to worry. This ‘information’ conflicts with what we’ve heard previously, although it has always been puzzling why Universal France would be funding this movie. It’s not clear how ‘jonlee’ arrived at his conclusions.
People have had time to digest what they have seen so far, and there have been some questions raised about the harshness of the clips, especially “Lullaby”, given that the song ‘Lou’ played in association with it is a romantic ballad. Fans pointed out that the director is known for this (almost S/M) approach, but they spent time trying to find connections and justify how it could relate to Lara’s lyrics (for example, the mother in the concentration camp worrying about her child). Counterpoints are valid artistic techniques; we’ll have to wait for the final versions to see whether it works or not.
Nevertheless, an article appeared with the person responsible for helping create some of the scenery for these clips. Olga Markova is known as the ‘Snow Queen”, and helped create the artificial snow seen in several of the clips filmed so far. She had some nice words to say about Lara and the project. Here’s a portion of her interview, in translation:
--------------------------------------------------------
- "Mademoiselle Zhivago" - one of the last of your projects. Impressions are still fresh?
OM: That's 12 stories, it is absolutely amazing, in my opinion, a project that was undertaken in Ukraine by a very talented director and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to work in this group, with the most talented people in our country. This project has collected all the best, most professional people: the best makeup, best stylists and absolutely beautiful camerawork group. Alan Badoev, he has some power to lead this whole group and acts very flexibly, very carefully and very tactfully in his purpose, his objectives and all to him, of course, trust.
-If there was freedom of creativity on the set?
OM: Yes, by and large, many times depend on it. We assume reincarnation, the atmosphere. Because this post-war France, this is Auschwitz, it is generally some fantastic space in which there is no time. It is cruel, very real things that happen in life. This is a very subtle world of women. And Lara Fabian proved to be a magnificent actress, she is very flexible and everything that happens on the set- it's magic, because so many images of one person for each episode Lara was able to live a completely unique persona, and it is so organic, so natural! This is really for her. My last love - this project.
- This project, which is the main character Lara Fabian. In this sense it is for you that means something, or is it an ordinary scale of your work?
OM: Does it mean anything to someone who works in film for more than 10 years, look at the control monitor and cry? After all, there are people around who understand: this is shooting a movie, but ... just watch and cry. They can not calmly look into the monitor.
--------------------------------------------------------------
And in some contrast to ‘jonlee’s’ assertion above, OM agreed that the film was being made with foreign money.
OM also verified that the filming will continue to Juy 8th. Lara’s concert in Turkey for July 2nd is still on – fans checked with the promoters, and Nathalie on the official site confirmed it. The concert is not easy to get to: it requires a plane, bus and ferry. Presumably Lara will take time off from the film to go there, if necessary. For those interested, the concert internet site is at www.bursafestivali.org . In addition, Nathalie also confirmed Lara’s appearance at the summer festival in Quebec City for July 10th.
Pitiblog, the site known for telling people what others have already reported, indicate that the live DVD of the TLFM show will be released in September along with the 1st TLFM version as a CD bonus. They also claim that TLFM1 would have been released in early June but for financial difficulties. It’s not clear that either of these things are necessarily true, but it would be nice to have that DVD/CD version. And for all those who still castigate Universal for forcing Lara to release TLFM2, remember that in the process she was encouraged to regain her singing voice and attitude – which now seems like it will come to fruition in ‘Mme. Zhivago’.
Pitiblog also went through a discussion of Lara’s current filming in the Ukraine, as well as a complete summary of the 12 clips. Who knows, this may be the first time the general French audience has heard about it, since Lara’s team does not seem to be publicizing it. The article can be found at:
www.ptitblog.net/actualites/article-mademoiselle-zhivago-le-nouvel-album-de-lara-fabian-4431.html
Christina has put Lara’s reading of “Snow White” in a video accompanied by illustrative drawings. Great job! In addition to Christina’s sites, Larafabiannews.com offers it as well.
For the upcoming week, it has often been repeated that filming for Mme. Zhivago will take place in New Zealand – perhaps for the episodes associated with some of the English songs. If Lara’s role is to end in a few weeks, one would imagine they would have to be leaving pretty soon.
David
These clips clarify that Lara is no longer afraid to sing whole-heartedly, almost defiantly (although she was never afraid to do that in English, anyway). I think what many of us missed was Lara’s exuberance when singing, an emotion that was transmitted to her fans; it seems to be back in these examples. That strength bodes well for the album’s reception, wherever that may be.
Also on the official forum, it was claimed that Lara will sing this song in Russia:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYVGY69pAbo
Presumably that information came from the TV show.
In association with this visit, Lara gave an interview. She looks great in it - it can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I8zb4RmrPc
Lara talked about her special relationship to Russia, her sharing with the Russian people the emotions of nostalgia and melancholy. She also took the opportunity to share her philosophy (this being Russia, after all!). In translation (with the help of Sandra, who first translated it into French):
Lara: “Probably, for guiding people to live pragmatically here and now, my judgments may seem strange. However, I am sure that life is only the middle of the track between some thing that was up to it and what will be after. For me the key concept is a concept of karma. Everything in life is not accidental. I always feel the direct link between different events in my life, even if they are divided by a long period of time.”
Perhaps she views her whole association with Russia, starting from the time of her naming, in the light of these connections.
As far as filming was concerned, when Lara was not away, a few pictures from the ‘Mr. President’ clip as well as “Begin” and “Beating” were made available (although Lara was not really prominent) - and of course the substitution was made of videos from the ‘Lullaby’ clip, removing Lou’s appearance. According to ‘jonlee’ on the official site, the 2.5 million spent so far on the Mme. Zhivago film does not come from Universal, that nothing has yet been signed between Universal and the film company. The writer speculates that Lara’s 9 productions and the producer are putting up the money. The writer further claims that in these countries the producers are shielded from losses, and thinks this movie will undoubtedly be profitable, so no need to worry. This ‘information’ conflicts with what we’ve heard previously, although it has always been puzzling why Universal France would be funding this movie. It’s not clear how ‘jonlee’ arrived at his conclusions.
People have had time to digest what they have seen so far, and there have been some questions raised about the harshness of the clips, especially “Lullaby”, given that the song ‘Lou’ played in association with it is a romantic ballad. Fans pointed out that the director is known for this (almost S/M) approach, but they spent time trying to find connections and justify how it could relate to Lara’s lyrics (for example, the mother in the concentration camp worrying about her child). Counterpoints are valid artistic techniques; we’ll have to wait for the final versions to see whether it works or not.
Nevertheless, an article appeared with the person responsible for helping create some of the scenery for these clips. Olga Markova is known as the ‘Snow Queen”, and helped create the artificial snow seen in several of the clips filmed so far. She had some nice words to say about Lara and the project. Here’s a portion of her interview, in translation:
--------------------------------------------------------
- "Mademoiselle Zhivago" - one of the last of your projects. Impressions are still fresh?
OM: That's 12 stories, it is absolutely amazing, in my opinion, a project that was undertaken in Ukraine by a very talented director and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to work in this group, with the most talented people in our country. This project has collected all the best, most professional people: the best makeup, best stylists and absolutely beautiful camerawork group. Alan Badoev, he has some power to lead this whole group and acts very flexibly, very carefully and very tactfully in his purpose, his objectives and all to him, of course, trust.
-If there was freedom of creativity on the set?
OM: Yes, by and large, many times depend on it. We assume reincarnation, the atmosphere. Because this post-war France, this is Auschwitz, it is generally some fantastic space in which there is no time. It is cruel, very real things that happen in life. This is a very subtle world of women. And Lara Fabian proved to be a magnificent actress, she is very flexible and everything that happens on the set- it's magic, because so many images of one person for each episode Lara was able to live a completely unique persona, and it is so organic, so natural! This is really for her. My last love - this project.
- This project, which is the main character Lara Fabian. In this sense it is for you that means something, or is it an ordinary scale of your work?
OM: Does it mean anything to someone who works in film for more than 10 years, look at the control monitor and cry? After all, there are people around who understand: this is shooting a movie, but ... just watch and cry. They can not calmly look into the monitor.
--------------------------------------------------------------
And in some contrast to ‘jonlee’s’ assertion above, OM agreed that the film was being made with foreign money.
OM also verified that the filming will continue to Juy 8th. Lara’s concert in Turkey for July 2nd is still on – fans checked with the promoters, and Nathalie on the official site confirmed it. The concert is not easy to get to: it requires a plane, bus and ferry. Presumably Lara will take time off from the film to go there, if necessary. For those interested, the concert internet site is at www.bursafestivali.org . In addition, Nathalie also confirmed Lara’s appearance at the summer festival in Quebec City for July 10th.
Pitiblog, the site known for telling people what others have already reported, indicate that the live DVD of the TLFM show will be released in September along with the 1st TLFM version as a CD bonus. They also claim that TLFM1 would have been released in early June but for financial difficulties. It’s not clear that either of these things are necessarily true, but it would be nice to have that DVD/CD version. And for all those who still castigate Universal for forcing Lara to release TLFM2, remember that in the process she was encouraged to regain her singing voice and attitude – which now seems like it will come to fruition in ‘Mme. Zhivago’.
Pitiblog also went through a discussion of Lara’s current filming in the Ukraine, as well as a complete summary of the 12 clips. Who knows, this may be the first time the general French audience has heard about it, since Lara’s team does not seem to be publicizing it. The article can be found at:
www.ptitblog.net/actualites/article-mademoiselle-zhivago-le-nouvel-album-de-lara-fabian-4431.html
Christina has put Lara’s reading of “Snow White” in a video accompanied by illustrative drawings. Great job! In addition to Christina’s sites, Larafabiannews.com offers it as well.
For the upcoming week, it has often been repeated that filming for Mme. Zhivago will take place in New Zealand – perhaps for the episodes associated with some of the English songs. If Lara’s role is to end in a few weeks, one would imagine they would have to be leaving pretty soon.
David