Post by davidhr on Nov 23, 2010 12:45:32 GMT -5
Lara continued her promotion of the “Best of” album this past week, with several TV and radio interviews, as well as some print media appearances. In ‘sans chichi’ we see Lara in a very natural mode, and although the video is short, it’s well worth catching, available on youtube.
The highlight, though, was Lara’s appearance on ‘Dans l’universe de…’ which aired as expected last Wednesday. It was of a similar nature to ‘Quelque chose en nous de…’ which appeared on TV in Brussels in May of 2009. Both reviewed Lara’s life and career with guests and song, although ‘Dans l’universe de…’ seemed a bit more tailored for the general audience, bringing in a number of well-known French stars. Highlights included the “first ever” appearance of Lara singing with her mother and father, as well as another moving rendition of “On t’aime” by the audience for Lara, a nice duet of “New York, New York”, with Lara’s friend Nathalie, and Lara singing the new song “On S'Aimerait Tout Bas”. All in all, a truly excellent show. Videos of the whole thing as well as of the special musical segments are available in numerous places on the web.
The appearance of Louisa, Lara’s mother on the program was truly unexpected, since she has always avoided publicity. It seems to mark a new turn to openness for Lara and her relatives as a whole. Lara recently appeared in the Russian magazine Otdohni, and who is there with her but Lou! (who also recently had her stage debut, giving her mother flowers at a concert in Moscow). Scans of the article are available on larafabiannews.com. Perhaps Lara thinks that having Lou appear publicly in Russia won’t increase her recognizability in France/Belgium, or maybe Lou is now old enough to have a say in what she does (having just turned 3 years old on November 20th). We’ll see whether this new openness concerning Lara’s family becomes a permanent feature.
As usual, Lara was quite emotive on the program, and that has raised the question in the minds of both fans and the French media of how sincere these emotions really are, or how much is she just playing to her image. We will never really know that, but some of the negative comments seem overblown, themselves. Yes, Lara got emotional seeing her parents, and it is true she does see them all the time, but how often does she see them getting up on stage to sing to her? Fans have sung ‘On t’aime’ before, it is true, but Lara was not immediately emotional on hearing it, it seemed to build up as the song went on. Some fans said it best when they noted that ‘Lara is who she is’, and that probably includes both sincerity and reacting as one may think others want, which is true for all of us.
Promotion also continues for Lara’s other new release, Mlle. Zhivago, with her concerts from Moscow to be broadcast on Russian TV this coming Friday. ‘Jonlee’ in the official site forum gave links to a relatively complete version of one of Lara’s Moscow concerts, from 11/4; the list can be found at:
www.larafabian.com/forumLara/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10766&sid=df7df06f42395f41af812ca39fdeaf14&start=1035
The TV show itself, with potential contributions from three dates and multiple camera angles, promises to be even better; a nice promo of it is available on the web (e.g., www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIrckQ4f5d4). Fans felt that songs in the clips listed above didn’t sound exactly like they do on the album, so whether anything was lip-synched, or pre-recorded in some way, is still uncertain. In addition to the TV show, it is still expected to be released as a DVD next year.
We have been amazingly fortunate this month – with these two major TV programs, and Lara’s two releases, we’ve been bombarded with material from Lara, all of it of the highest quality. It’s hard to remember any equivalent time period with so much made available for us. And all of these releases continue to get very high marks from Lara’s fans, and to the extent they have weighed in, even the general public. Lara’s song "On S'Aimerait Tout Bas” recently received a rating of 100% on the French show ‘Stop ou Encore’ and the single is #1 in Belgium’s radio play; the ‘best of’ album is #11 at Virgin megastore, and #7 at FNAC. The Russian fans seem very happy with Mlle. Zhivago. Our hopes for this fall to be an active and successful one have certainly come true!
Whether this output will raise Lara’s status in the eyes of the general public remains a concern for fans. With respect to the appearance of Mlle. Zhivago in France, in the latest Farfallina which is now being distributed, Lara speaks of a “coffee table” version of Mlle. Zhivago: book + CD + DVD. The book she envisions will have many photos/stills from the movie. In her recent media interviews, she has mentioned both the CD and DVD, so adding a book to that would not be a great stretch. However, remember, she reportedly said just last week that she doesn’t know whether the CD will even be released in France, so any conclusions along these lines is very premature. ‘Jonlee’ in the official site forum indicated that after showing little response the first time it was discussed, Universal now does appear to be interested in the album and is ready to release it – but Lara is reportedly holding back. Jonlee suggests that part of the reason is Lara’s pique over Universal’s earlier refusal, but also that Lara feels the time may not be right for its release in the French market. Jonlee also suggests that the same turn of events with Universal arose with EWIM. The suggestion is that fans write to Lara and tell her how much the album is desired, to encourage the release.
In contrast, ‘aureli’ on the official site forum indicated that the CD is still scheduled for release February 7, 2011 from Lara’s company “9 Productions”, to be distributed by the official (boutique) site [news that is still awaiting confirmation]. All of this would be somewhat more important to Lara’s fans if the songs were not already available from Russia and the Russian fans. BTW, remember how confidently it was reported that the French stores could have a Russian album available for import within a week after it’s release? Well, one week after the Russian release (and almost a month after that in the Ukraine), it is still not available in any of them.
If it is Lara’s reluctance that is the issue (and that is not guaranteed), one is hard-pressed to see what she has to gain, outside of some feelings of revenge. Clearly, both EWIM and Mlle. Zhivago would be better off if Universal were leading the charge on their behalf, both in France and for the international market where they both are so far practically invisible. Universal goes from being the villain to the potential savior in alternating News Updates, so it’s hard to know where this really stands. It’s reminiscent of Lara’s dealings with Sony, but at least in that case the company itself had internal conflicts. It seems that even when Lara has great products at hand, there always seems to be something keeping her popularity from reaching its potential. Lara’s international career, and her so-far checkered ability to exploit it, were the subject of an interview aired today on RTL TV in Belgium.
Fans took this occasion to once more criticize how Lara’s career and the official site are being run. Outside of the dates of her concerts, there has been no official information on her site about Lara’s activities in the ‘countries to the east’ (the upcoming TV show in Russia is not mentioned, for example). It was noted that other performers encourage their fans to go see them elsewhere in the world, even to the extent of arranging special airfare and bookings for their concerts. At the very least, they keep them ‘au courant’ about their doings, regardless of what country they are in. It seems the official site is fairly blind about anything happening anywhere except France and Belgium. Perhaps if there is going to be a new official site with input from the fans in Russia, that should change.
In a somewhat similar vein, you may remember the reports that surfaced recently about a biography of Lara to appear in 2011, with her approval. Some doubts have been cast about that, as in a recent interview Lara seemed to indicate that it was way too early for such a thing. ‘Jonlee’ noted that the book would be less a biography and more a reporting on what Lara has accomplished (and if so, it would therefore be like the book ‘Kathy’ produced some years back). This may be another Lara-related event that won’t be real until we hold the product of it in our hands.
Marraine on the official site forum noted that Luc Plamandon will release a 4 disc set of his songs next year, to celebrate 40 years in the business. We know that he thinks highly of Lara, and it shows as he is planning to include Lara’s version of “J’ai douze ans”.
Lara will apparently be at the “500 choristes” for their Christmas show this coming Saturday for France TF1. You may remember a previous appearance with them, where she (and they) did an amazing rendition of “Immortelle”. Other upcoming events include the release of Michael Bolton’s album containing his duet with Lara of “The Prayer” on the 29th (in England). And as far as we know, Lara apparently will return to Russia in early December for another TV appearance. So promotion on the two fronts should continue, if with reduced intensity.
David
The highlight, though, was Lara’s appearance on ‘Dans l’universe de…’ which aired as expected last Wednesday. It was of a similar nature to ‘Quelque chose en nous de…’ which appeared on TV in Brussels in May of 2009. Both reviewed Lara’s life and career with guests and song, although ‘Dans l’universe de…’ seemed a bit more tailored for the general audience, bringing in a number of well-known French stars. Highlights included the “first ever” appearance of Lara singing with her mother and father, as well as another moving rendition of “On t’aime” by the audience for Lara, a nice duet of “New York, New York”, with Lara’s friend Nathalie, and Lara singing the new song “On S'Aimerait Tout Bas”. All in all, a truly excellent show. Videos of the whole thing as well as of the special musical segments are available in numerous places on the web.
The appearance of Louisa, Lara’s mother on the program was truly unexpected, since she has always avoided publicity. It seems to mark a new turn to openness for Lara and her relatives as a whole. Lara recently appeared in the Russian magazine Otdohni, and who is there with her but Lou! (who also recently had her stage debut, giving her mother flowers at a concert in Moscow). Scans of the article are available on larafabiannews.com. Perhaps Lara thinks that having Lou appear publicly in Russia won’t increase her recognizability in France/Belgium, or maybe Lou is now old enough to have a say in what she does (having just turned 3 years old on November 20th). We’ll see whether this new openness concerning Lara’s family becomes a permanent feature.
As usual, Lara was quite emotive on the program, and that has raised the question in the minds of both fans and the French media of how sincere these emotions really are, or how much is she just playing to her image. We will never really know that, but some of the negative comments seem overblown, themselves. Yes, Lara got emotional seeing her parents, and it is true she does see them all the time, but how often does she see them getting up on stage to sing to her? Fans have sung ‘On t’aime’ before, it is true, but Lara was not immediately emotional on hearing it, it seemed to build up as the song went on. Some fans said it best when they noted that ‘Lara is who she is’, and that probably includes both sincerity and reacting as one may think others want, which is true for all of us.
Promotion also continues for Lara’s other new release, Mlle. Zhivago, with her concerts from Moscow to be broadcast on Russian TV this coming Friday. ‘Jonlee’ in the official site forum gave links to a relatively complete version of one of Lara’s Moscow concerts, from 11/4; the list can be found at:
www.larafabian.com/forumLara/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10766&sid=df7df06f42395f41af812ca39fdeaf14&start=1035
The TV show itself, with potential contributions from three dates and multiple camera angles, promises to be even better; a nice promo of it is available on the web (e.g., www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIrckQ4f5d4). Fans felt that songs in the clips listed above didn’t sound exactly like they do on the album, so whether anything was lip-synched, or pre-recorded in some way, is still uncertain. In addition to the TV show, it is still expected to be released as a DVD next year.
We have been amazingly fortunate this month – with these two major TV programs, and Lara’s two releases, we’ve been bombarded with material from Lara, all of it of the highest quality. It’s hard to remember any equivalent time period with so much made available for us. And all of these releases continue to get very high marks from Lara’s fans, and to the extent they have weighed in, even the general public. Lara’s song "On S'Aimerait Tout Bas” recently received a rating of 100% on the French show ‘Stop ou Encore’ and the single is #1 in Belgium’s radio play; the ‘best of’ album is #11 at Virgin megastore, and #7 at FNAC. The Russian fans seem very happy with Mlle. Zhivago. Our hopes for this fall to be an active and successful one have certainly come true!
Whether this output will raise Lara’s status in the eyes of the general public remains a concern for fans. With respect to the appearance of Mlle. Zhivago in France, in the latest Farfallina which is now being distributed, Lara speaks of a “coffee table” version of Mlle. Zhivago: book + CD + DVD. The book she envisions will have many photos/stills from the movie. In her recent media interviews, she has mentioned both the CD and DVD, so adding a book to that would not be a great stretch. However, remember, she reportedly said just last week that she doesn’t know whether the CD will even be released in France, so any conclusions along these lines is very premature. ‘Jonlee’ in the official site forum indicated that after showing little response the first time it was discussed, Universal now does appear to be interested in the album and is ready to release it – but Lara is reportedly holding back. Jonlee suggests that part of the reason is Lara’s pique over Universal’s earlier refusal, but also that Lara feels the time may not be right for its release in the French market. Jonlee also suggests that the same turn of events with Universal arose with EWIM. The suggestion is that fans write to Lara and tell her how much the album is desired, to encourage the release.
In contrast, ‘aureli’ on the official site forum indicated that the CD is still scheduled for release February 7, 2011 from Lara’s company “9 Productions”, to be distributed by the official (boutique) site [news that is still awaiting confirmation]. All of this would be somewhat more important to Lara’s fans if the songs were not already available from Russia and the Russian fans. BTW, remember how confidently it was reported that the French stores could have a Russian album available for import within a week after it’s release? Well, one week after the Russian release (and almost a month after that in the Ukraine), it is still not available in any of them.
If it is Lara’s reluctance that is the issue (and that is not guaranteed), one is hard-pressed to see what she has to gain, outside of some feelings of revenge. Clearly, both EWIM and Mlle. Zhivago would be better off if Universal were leading the charge on their behalf, both in France and for the international market where they both are so far practically invisible. Universal goes from being the villain to the potential savior in alternating News Updates, so it’s hard to know where this really stands. It’s reminiscent of Lara’s dealings with Sony, but at least in that case the company itself had internal conflicts. It seems that even when Lara has great products at hand, there always seems to be something keeping her popularity from reaching its potential. Lara’s international career, and her so-far checkered ability to exploit it, were the subject of an interview aired today on RTL TV in Belgium.
Fans took this occasion to once more criticize how Lara’s career and the official site are being run. Outside of the dates of her concerts, there has been no official information on her site about Lara’s activities in the ‘countries to the east’ (the upcoming TV show in Russia is not mentioned, for example). It was noted that other performers encourage their fans to go see them elsewhere in the world, even to the extent of arranging special airfare and bookings for their concerts. At the very least, they keep them ‘au courant’ about their doings, regardless of what country they are in. It seems the official site is fairly blind about anything happening anywhere except France and Belgium. Perhaps if there is going to be a new official site with input from the fans in Russia, that should change.
In a somewhat similar vein, you may remember the reports that surfaced recently about a biography of Lara to appear in 2011, with her approval. Some doubts have been cast about that, as in a recent interview Lara seemed to indicate that it was way too early for such a thing. ‘Jonlee’ noted that the book would be less a biography and more a reporting on what Lara has accomplished (and if so, it would therefore be like the book ‘Kathy’ produced some years back). This may be another Lara-related event that won’t be real until we hold the product of it in our hands.
Marraine on the official site forum noted that Luc Plamandon will release a 4 disc set of his songs next year, to celebrate 40 years in the business. We know that he thinks highly of Lara, and it shows as he is planning to include Lara’s version of “J’ai douze ans”.
Lara will apparently be at the “500 choristes” for their Christmas show this coming Saturday for France TF1. You may remember a previous appearance with them, where she (and they) did an amazing rendition of “Immortelle”. Other upcoming events include the release of Michael Bolton’s album containing his duet with Lara of “The Prayer” on the 29th (in England). And as far as we know, Lara apparently will return to Russia in early December for another TV appearance. So promotion on the two fronts should continue, if with reduced intensity.
David
