Post by davidhr on Aug 3, 2010 11:11:47 GMT -5
The big news this week of course was Lara’s appearance at the ‘New Wave’ festival in Latvia. While the festival ran for some 6 days, showcasing young talent from many countries in a competition, Lara came in just for the gala concert celebrating the proceedings, and left right after the show. She did participate in a news conference earlier in the day and also gave an interview to ‘Vesti.Ru’.
Although a complete discussion of what went on at the news conference does not seem to be available, apparently Igor Krutoi and Lara indicated that their new album will be released at the end of the year. If that was more than just a general phrase, it does imply some slippage compared to the Oct/Nov time-frame previously given. They also apparently said that it would be in a format CD + DVD – with the DVD being the Mlle Zhivago film. If this ends up being the definitive word on the subject, it would seem to imply that the movie will not be a cinematic release, at least not initially. It would also end the problem of ‘how to get it’! This might also account for the somewhat later release date – there would have to be assurances that the movie was ready, as well.
In the press interview, it was noted that Lara was able to understand the questions at the news conference in Russian, and apparently some of them were quite complex. When asked about it, she replied (in translation – thanks to the ‘Google translator’), “For two months I spent in Ukraine, taking in the film. Day and night all around me people spoke in Russian, and I opened to them. I do love languages and speak a few. And it seems to me that if I'll get really serious about learning the Russian language, then I can learn it, though I will not speak it fluently. Still, Russian language - one of the most complex in the world. But I'm beginning to understand something, some kind of individual expression.” The reviewer then asked why she doesn’t sing more in Russian, and she replied, “Come to my concert in the Kremlin, and you'll hear me sing in Russian. True, this is still a secret.” When asked why she comes so frequently to Russia, and since she has often said she belongs to no nation, if she felt at home here, she answered, “You know it's funny, but I'm really starting to feel at home here and understand something. I feel a certain connection between passion, which the Italians have, and the drama that is inherent in the Russian soul. And I feel a connection with this soul. For example, when you sit at the table, then jump in every three minutes to share with someone, thank someone. In southern Italy we behave the same way. I had seen this for many years, but traditions are slowly disappearing. But here, in Russia, I feel this warmth and passion, even to some extent play. And I like it. I always liked drama.”
As for the show itself, Lara presented four songs from the new album: ‘Miss Hyde’, ‘Toccami’, (perhaps) ‘Mr. President’ and ‘Ascolta La Voce’. The last is reported to be the theme for the movie that ties the different clips together. It is primarily a vocalization (I believe the title means ‘Listen to the Voice’), and it’s nice to have this haunting tune with Lara’s wonderful sound. For that matter we now have better versions of the first two songs, as well as our first hearing of the song from the clip ‘Mr. President’. The videos are available on youtube as well as larafabiannews.com (which also provides mp3 versions of the songs). [On youtube be sure to avoid the early versions in which the sound and picture don’t properly sync.]
All of this was done lip-synched, which seems to have disturbed some of the fans on the Russian site (the French fans seemed used to it). And actually it was pretty ridiculous – they had a full set of musicians there (including a guitar player for Toccami, and Igor Krutoi at the piano), and a choir, all pretending to do something, as Lara pretends to sing. And, again, it wasn’t just her – also present on the show was the opera singer Anna Netrebko, who did the same thing. Lara probably would have done it in any case, since she’s known to avoid actually singing new songs on TV until they’ve come out on her albums; but this is a dubious precedent to be setting for the young performers from all different countries (at least some of whom did sing live, including songs of Lara’s). Nevertheless, for our purposes, we now know what the songs will sound like on the album…
BTW, neither of those two ‘divas’ was the main attraction for this show (in Lara’s case, most of the audience – as opposed to the contestants - probably had never heard of her). That honor went to Zemfira, who is the thin scraggily looking woman in black at the piano in the photos of the event to be found at:
spletnik.ru/events/20820-novaja-volna-s-hello-ceremonija-zakrytija.html
She’s apparently a very big star in Russia, and ‘Wikipedia’ describes her as, “Sometimes moody, self-assured, enigmatic and flamboyant, Zemfira has found herself an object of constant obsession by the Russian media and paparazzi”. She had been away on a long sabbatical and this was her ‘return’. She actually sang live, and the sound quality was reported to be inferior, dispersed by the hall.
Very soon after the program aired, various articles for the French public appeared concerning the show, and more generally the release of Lara’s new album. One of them, ‘pitiblog’ still gave October 23 as the release date (for the album). Furthermore, it claimed that Lara shot the video for the first single – “Miss Hyde” – in Russia some weeks ago. If true, that’s the first we’ve heard of it, and, again if true, it’s a sad indication that they know about it while there is no official mention of that on Lara’s site. The news of this as the first single was also carried by other French web sites, which are using as an example of it, the video of Lara singing ‘Miss Hyde’ in English; one site even claimed this video is the ‘latest buzz’. All the articles mention that she’s returned to being (in effect) a ‘singer of voice’, and they're intrigued that she's once again singing in English (they also generally mention EWIM). The stories are great promotion for the new album – which won’t be available in France (at least for awhile).
For a list of the various sites with articles, see the ‘Mademoiselle Zhivago 2” thread in the official site forum. It also provides links to the youtube videos of the various songs on the new album that we have heard so far, which as reviewed by ‘Candydo’ on the same thread are: Demain n'existe pas; Lou; Stop; Ever; Miss Hyde; Mama; Toccami; Ascolta la voce; Mr President; Leora; plus the song illustrated by the clip ‘bouquet d’hiver’. Hence 11 songs; if there are 12 or 13 on the album, then we still have a bit more to learn about.
In other news, a more readable version of ‘Farfallina 18’ provides the following information:
**Lara is now happier in Paris because she doesn’t live there, and when she does go, is more like a tourist – she’s driven everywhere she wants to go, lives in a hotel, etc. She still feels the people in Paris are too pressured, which makes them very reactive.
**In an article on her concert in Israel earlier this year, it was written that among the songs presented was a duet with Noa of ‘The Eyes of Love’ (and, no, the article was not referring to the Trocadero duet they did for Israel’s 60th birthday). We had not heard this before, and despite the appearances of a number of videos from the show, there is none of this one. There have been no photos of the two of them that I’m aware of. One wonders if it is true…
**For what in some other countries is referred to as 'high school', Lara primarily went to a Catholic school in Waterloo, and an article explores her experiences there. She said her parents were not religious, and her enrollment in that school was primarily for the quality of the general education. She majored in languages. Her anecdotes indicated that, not surprisingly, she was a rebel. The school was kept quite cold, and once Lara brought in a thermometer and proved that the temperature was below the minimum allowable level, forcing the school to put on more heat. She also gave a talk expressing her doubt that Jesus was the ‘son of God’. As you can also imagine, this did not endear her to the school authorities, who ended up throwing her out. One thing you can depend upon is Lara being true to herself! She spent her last two years in another school, in Brussels, where she excelled.
**Following that, she enrolled at the University of Brussels with the aim of majoring in international rights, especially those of children – but, she said, “after 2 or 3 weeks I abandoned it for the career that you know…”
.
**She's not sure yet about what type of school will be appropriate for Lou. That "depends on who Lou is". [Answering a question about Lou!]
Nothing is scheduled for Lara publicly this coming week, so hopefully she can use the time to relax.
David
Although a complete discussion of what went on at the news conference does not seem to be available, apparently Igor Krutoi and Lara indicated that their new album will be released at the end of the year. If that was more than just a general phrase, it does imply some slippage compared to the Oct/Nov time-frame previously given. They also apparently said that it would be in a format CD + DVD – with the DVD being the Mlle Zhivago film. If this ends up being the definitive word on the subject, it would seem to imply that the movie will not be a cinematic release, at least not initially. It would also end the problem of ‘how to get it’! This might also account for the somewhat later release date – there would have to be assurances that the movie was ready, as well.
In the press interview, it was noted that Lara was able to understand the questions at the news conference in Russian, and apparently some of them were quite complex. When asked about it, she replied (in translation – thanks to the ‘Google translator’), “For two months I spent in Ukraine, taking in the film. Day and night all around me people spoke in Russian, and I opened to them. I do love languages and speak a few. And it seems to me that if I'll get really serious about learning the Russian language, then I can learn it, though I will not speak it fluently. Still, Russian language - one of the most complex in the world. But I'm beginning to understand something, some kind of individual expression.” The reviewer then asked why she doesn’t sing more in Russian, and she replied, “Come to my concert in the Kremlin, and you'll hear me sing in Russian. True, this is still a secret.” When asked why she comes so frequently to Russia, and since she has often said she belongs to no nation, if she felt at home here, she answered, “You know it's funny, but I'm really starting to feel at home here and understand something. I feel a certain connection between passion, which the Italians have, and the drama that is inherent in the Russian soul. And I feel a connection with this soul. For example, when you sit at the table, then jump in every three minutes to share with someone, thank someone. In southern Italy we behave the same way. I had seen this for many years, but traditions are slowly disappearing. But here, in Russia, I feel this warmth and passion, even to some extent play. And I like it. I always liked drama.”
As for the show itself, Lara presented four songs from the new album: ‘Miss Hyde’, ‘Toccami’, (perhaps) ‘Mr. President’ and ‘Ascolta La Voce’. The last is reported to be the theme for the movie that ties the different clips together. It is primarily a vocalization (I believe the title means ‘Listen to the Voice’), and it’s nice to have this haunting tune with Lara’s wonderful sound. For that matter we now have better versions of the first two songs, as well as our first hearing of the song from the clip ‘Mr. President’. The videos are available on youtube as well as larafabiannews.com (which also provides mp3 versions of the songs). [On youtube be sure to avoid the early versions in which the sound and picture don’t properly sync.]
All of this was done lip-synched, which seems to have disturbed some of the fans on the Russian site (the French fans seemed used to it). And actually it was pretty ridiculous – they had a full set of musicians there (including a guitar player for Toccami, and Igor Krutoi at the piano), and a choir, all pretending to do something, as Lara pretends to sing. And, again, it wasn’t just her – also present on the show was the opera singer Anna Netrebko, who did the same thing. Lara probably would have done it in any case, since she’s known to avoid actually singing new songs on TV until they’ve come out on her albums; but this is a dubious precedent to be setting for the young performers from all different countries (at least some of whom did sing live, including songs of Lara’s). Nevertheless, for our purposes, we now know what the songs will sound like on the album…
BTW, neither of those two ‘divas’ was the main attraction for this show (in Lara’s case, most of the audience – as opposed to the contestants - probably had never heard of her). That honor went to Zemfira, who is the thin scraggily looking woman in black at the piano in the photos of the event to be found at:
spletnik.ru/events/20820-novaja-volna-s-hello-ceremonija-zakrytija.html
She’s apparently a very big star in Russia, and ‘Wikipedia’ describes her as, “Sometimes moody, self-assured, enigmatic and flamboyant, Zemfira has found herself an object of constant obsession by the Russian media and paparazzi”. She had been away on a long sabbatical and this was her ‘return’. She actually sang live, and the sound quality was reported to be inferior, dispersed by the hall.
Very soon after the program aired, various articles for the French public appeared concerning the show, and more generally the release of Lara’s new album. One of them, ‘pitiblog’ still gave October 23 as the release date (for the album). Furthermore, it claimed that Lara shot the video for the first single – “Miss Hyde” – in Russia some weeks ago. If true, that’s the first we’ve heard of it, and, again if true, it’s a sad indication that they know about it while there is no official mention of that on Lara’s site. The news of this as the first single was also carried by other French web sites, which are using as an example of it, the video of Lara singing ‘Miss Hyde’ in English; one site even claimed this video is the ‘latest buzz’. All the articles mention that she’s returned to being (in effect) a ‘singer of voice’, and they're intrigued that she's once again singing in English (they also generally mention EWIM). The stories are great promotion for the new album – which won’t be available in France (at least for awhile).
For a list of the various sites with articles, see the ‘Mademoiselle Zhivago 2” thread in the official site forum. It also provides links to the youtube videos of the various songs on the new album that we have heard so far, which as reviewed by ‘Candydo’ on the same thread are: Demain n'existe pas; Lou; Stop; Ever; Miss Hyde; Mama; Toccami; Ascolta la voce; Mr President; Leora; plus the song illustrated by the clip ‘bouquet d’hiver’. Hence 11 songs; if there are 12 or 13 on the album, then we still have a bit more to learn about.
In other news, a more readable version of ‘Farfallina 18’ provides the following information:
**Lara is now happier in Paris because she doesn’t live there, and when she does go, is more like a tourist – she’s driven everywhere she wants to go, lives in a hotel, etc. She still feels the people in Paris are too pressured, which makes them very reactive.
**In an article on her concert in Israel earlier this year, it was written that among the songs presented was a duet with Noa of ‘The Eyes of Love’ (and, no, the article was not referring to the Trocadero duet they did for Israel’s 60th birthday). We had not heard this before, and despite the appearances of a number of videos from the show, there is none of this one. There have been no photos of the two of them that I’m aware of. One wonders if it is true…
**For what in some other countries is referred to as 'high school', Lara primarily went to a Catholic school in Waterloo, and an article explores her experiences there. She said her parents were not religious, and her enrollment in that school was primarily for the quality of the general education. She majored in languages. Her anecdotes indicated that, not surprisingly, she was a rebel. The school was kept quite cold, and once Lara brought in a thermometer and proved that the temperature was below the minimum allowable level, forcing the school to put on more heat. She also gave a talk expressing her doubt that Jesus was the ‘son of God’. As you can also imagine, this did not endear her to the school authorities, who ended up throwing her out. One thing you can depend upon is Lara being true to herself! She spent her last two years in another school, in Brussels, where she excelled.
**Following that, she enrolled at the University of Brussels with the aim of majoring in international rights, especially those of children – but, she said, “after 2 or 3 weeks I abandoned it for the career that you know…”
. **She's not sure yet about what type of school will be appropriate for Lou. That "depends on who Lou is". [Answering a question about Lou!]
Nothing is scheduled for Lara publicly this coming week, so hopefully she can use the time to relax.
David
(still have doubts about a couple of words, but...)
