Post by davidhr on Jan 11, 2011 10:35:50 GMT -5
Lara celebrated her 41st birthday this past week; also celebrated of course, 2 days earlier, was the Russian New Year, according to the Orthodox calendar – a near coincidence of timing that has never had as much resonance for us as it does now. For in this new year, Lara has appeared numerous times on Russian TV already, including her performance on (yet another) ‘Song of the Year’ aired once again on Russia 1, recorded in December. Her lip-synched versions of ‘Lou’ and ‘Mr. President’ can be found on the web, with Lara appearing this time in a gorgeous blue gown. What these shows lack in true singing they make up for in the exquisite outfits and stage settings. (Of course, it’s too bad we can’t have real singing as well…).
It would seem as if Lara and Igor are so happy with the results of their collaboration that they are actively pursuing it, which, IMHO, is great news. Lara recorded at least one additional song with Igor Krutoi, in mid-December, and a portion of it, entitled ‘Always’, is available for download on larafabiannews.com. It finds Lara singing once again with full voice in English. Maria, a Russian fan, says that Lara is going to record others very soon for an upcoming English album. If this is the wave of the future for her, it will mark a real change from most of the last 10 years and presage a potentially very different next decade.
Where that leaves any upcoming French album is anybody’s guess. Even more so, the release of TLFM1 appears less and less likely, since having it accompany the (now stand-alone) live DVD would seem to have been its best bet.
However, it’s far too premature to think that Lara is abandoning France (or ever will). Her interview on ‘goomradio’ finally did take place this week. Of most interest is that Lara seemed to suggest that the Mlle. Zhivago movie will be released in April. When asked what her worst experience was on stage, she referred to the fall she had in Nimes a decade ago where she broke three ribs. Her best times on stage were, of course, at her first concert (Nana Mouskouri) at the age of 8, and her appearance on stage with Johnny Hallyday.
The ‘best of’ is (still) 7th in Belgium. ‘jonlee’ on the official site forum claims that the ‘best of’ will be re-released on Feburary 28th as just a single CD – possibly with only the officially released singles plus the two ‘new’ songs.
The biography of Lara continues to attract comments on the official site forum, with the opinions still varying from “nothing new” to “I’ve learned a number of things”. There are mistakes, apparently, and most if not all of it comes from previously published or recorded material.
Nevertheless, I think there’s enough interesting material that might be new to this audience, as some of it was to me, that I’d like to introduce a new feature to these news updates. The book has some 245 pages; each week in the coming year, I’ll comment on ~five additional pages, starting from the beginning, so it should take pretty much the full year to finish. If the news updates are sufficiently long, a particular week may be skipped, but it’s perfect for ones such as this. The focus will be on things that I didn’t know, or didn’t know well, so it’s obviously a personal filtering. Note also that the book itself contains links to various youtube videos to illustrate some of its points, and these will not be included here.
The book effectively starts on page 11, so the material here will be from pp. 11-15.
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**When Lara’s father (Pierre) came down to meet Luisa (Lara’s mother) at the train from Sicily to Belgium, he was coming at the bequest of her brother, who was a good friend of his and was unavailable.
** He didn’t come alone – he brought his (then) fiancée, a big blonde woman, whom he was to marry in 9 days. But he was so taken by Luisa, that 8 days later he broke off the engagement.
**Lara’s mother actually wanted to name her ‘Laura’ but because that name was pronounced differently in Italian (‘Lawra’) than in French (‘Lora’), she was afraid it would be mispronounced one place or another, and be confusing. The solution, as we know, arose from their watching the ‘Dr. Zhivago’ movie, as 'Lara' is pronounced the same in both languages.
**While it has often been stated that Pierre was a ‘lead guitarist’ for Petula Clark, it’s reported here that this was for her Belgian tour. Once married, he felt that the life of a musician was incompatible with raising a stable family, so he switched professions, and became a heating engineer. Luisa, meanwhile, stayed home to raise Lara but eventually returned to her profession, as a professor of French.
**Lara was extremely curious as a kid, and was nicknamed “Mlle. Pourquoi” (Miss Why). She had a great desire to learn, and this probably accounts for her very rich vocabulary. She also was surrounded by people with a great interest in spirituality, and this fostered in her a like interest (we know that Lara often answers seemingly mundane questions with her philosophical bent).
**Her Italian grandmother gave her the name ‘Farfallina’, ‘little butterfly’ in Italian (and of course the name of her quarterly magazine.
**Growing up she was part of a big family, the ‘Clan of Sicillians’ – when she would spend time there, either on vacation or living there 6-9 months of the year, there were routinely some 20 people around. It was very matriarchal, providing her the role model of strong women. She returns at least once a year to renew those roots.
**Many languages were spoken at her home(s) – a veritable ‘Tower of Babel’ – which helps account for her language fluency. She also became a great mimic, being able to adapt any accent, which we see played out when her French accent changes from Quebec to Belgium to France (sometimes this is mocked, but Lara is proud of her ability to appeal to people in these individual countries by trying to be like them).
**We are all probably aware of Lara’s amazing her father by perfectly reproducing the vocalizations of Eve Brenner while riding in his car at the age of five. In addition, when they got home, Lara’s father put on the cassette in front of her mother, and asked Lara to do it again – which she does, again perfectly. He said he was astonished that a child at that age had that ability and realized that if she wanted to be a singer, he should not prevent it. From that day on, the book continues, whenever he put on the radio, Lara would always sing to it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is nothing on Lara’s official schedule for the coming week, and we don’t know whether she has found her passport yet ☺, so we don't know where she will be. Maybe at home!
David
It would seem as if Lara and Igor are so happy with the results of their collaboration that they are actively pursuing it, which, IMHO, is great news. Lara recorded at least one additional song with Igor Krutoi, in mid-December, and a portion of it, entitled ‘Always’, is available for download on larafabiannews.com. It finds Lara singing once again with full voice in English. Maria, a Russian fan, says that Lara is going to record others very soon for an upcoming English album. If this is the wave of the future for her, it will mark a real change from most of the last 10 years and presage a potentially very different next decade.
Where that leaves any upcoming French album is anybody’s guess. Even more so, the release of TLFM1 appears less and less likely, since having it accompany the (now stand-alone) live DVD would seem to have been its best bet.
However, it’s far too premature to think that Lara is abandoning France (or ever will). Her interview on ‘goomradio’ finally did take place this week. Of most interest is that Lara seemed to suggest that the Mlle. Zhivago movie will be released in April. When asked what her worst experience was on stage, she referred to the fall she had in Nimes a decade ago where she broke three ribs. Her best times on stage were, of course, at her first concert (Nana Mouskouri) at the age of 8, and her appearance on stage with Johnny Hallyday.
The ‘best of’ is (still) 7th in Belgium. ‘jonlee’ on the official site forum claims that the ‘best of’ will be re-released on Feburary 28th as just a single CD – possibly with only the officially released singles plus the two ‘new’ songs.
The biography of Lara continues to attract comments on the official site forum, with the opinions still varying from “nothing new” to “I’ve learned a number of things”. There are mistakes, apparently, and most if not all of it comes from previously published or recorded material.
Nevertheless, I think there’s enough interesting material that might be new to this audience, as some of it was to me, that I’d like to introduce a new feature to these news updates. The book has some 245 pages; each week in the coming year, I’ll comment on ~five additional pages, starting from the beginning, so it should take pretty much the full year to finish. If the news updates are sufficiently long, a particular week may be skipped, but it’s perfect for ones such as this. The focus will be on things that I didn’t know, or didn’t know well, so it’s obviously a personal filtering. Note also that the book itself contains links to various youtube videos to illustrate some of its points, and these will not be included here.
The book effectively starts on page 11, so the material here will be from pp. 11-15.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
**When Lara’s father (Pierre) came down to meet Luisa (Lara’s mother) at the train from Sicily to Belgium, he was coming at the bequest of her brother, who was a good friend of his and was unavailable.
** He didn’t come alone – he brought his (then) fiancée, a big blonde woman, whom he was to marry in 9 days. But he was so taken by Luisa, that 8 days later he broke off the engagement.
**Lara’s mother actually wanted to name her ‘Laura’ but because that name was pronounced differently in Italian (‘Lawra’) than in French (‘Lora’), she was afraid it would be mispronounced one place or another, and be confusing. The solution, as we know, arose from their watching the ‘Dr. Zhivago’ movie, as 'Lara' is pronounced the same in both languages.
**While it has often been stated that Pierre was a ‘lead guitarist’ for Petula Clark, it’s reported here that this was for her Belgian tour. Once married, he felt that the life of a musician was incompatible with raising a stable family, so he switched professions, and became a heating engineer. Luisa, meanwhile, stayed home to raise Lara but eventually returned to her profession, as a professor of French.
**Lara was extremely curious as a kid, and was nicknamed “Mlle. Pourquoi” (Miss Why). She had a great desire to learn, and this probably accounts for her very rich vocabulary. She also was surrounded by people with a great interest in spirituality, and this fostered in her a like interest (we know that Lara often answers seemingly mundane questions with her philosophical bent).
**Her Italian grandmother gave her the name ‘Farfallina’, ‘little butterfly’ in Italian (and of course the name of her quarterly magazine.
**Growing up she was part of a big family, the ‘Clan of Sicillians’ – when she would spend time there, either on vacation or living there 6-9 months of the year, there were routinely some 20 people around. It was very matriarchal, providing her the role model of strong women. She returns at least once a year to renew those roots.
**Many languages were spoken at her home(s) – a veritable ‘Tower of Babel’ – which helps account for her language fluency. She also became a great mimic, being able to adapt any accent, which we see played out when her French accent changes from Quebec to Belgium to France (sometimes this is mocked, but Lara is proud of her ability to appeal to people in these individual countries by trying to be like them).
**We are all probably aware of Lara’s amazing her father by perfectly reproducing the vocalizations of Eve Brenner while riding in his car at the age of five. In addition, when they got home, Lara’s father put on the cassette in front of her mother, and asked Lara to do it again – which she does, again perfectly. He said he was astonished that a child at that age had that ability and realized that if she wanted to be a singer, he should not prevent it. From that day on, the book continues, whenever he put on the radio, Lara would always sing to it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is nothing on Lara’s official schedule for the coming week, and we don’t know whether she has found her passport yet ☺, so we don't know where she will be. Maybe at home!
David
