Post by davidhr on Feb 8, 2011 11:18:17 GMT -5
Lara’s recent appearances in Asia received further attention this past week, with videos of her two songs at the Chinese New Year’s celebration televised in China. Lara’s rendition of “I Will Love Again” was the first time she has sung that song in public in about a decade as far as I know, and IMHO she did it very well (however not everyone agreed on the official site forum). The biggest drawback was the lack of demonstrable crowd response – compare it with the audiences in Brazil, for example (also available on youtube). Her duet with the Chinese singer Shang Wenjie on ‘J’y crois encore’ was nice, but it was obviously shortened, probably for time purposes. Nevertheless, one can expect that a wide audience was able to appreciate Lara in a country that may well not have heard of her previously. It was also reported to have been televised for Chinese communities in Asia, Europe and parts of the US, reaching over 100 million viewers. Videos of these songs are all over the web, and larafabianweb.com also has some very nice pictures.
Similarly, the studio version of the magnificent new song “Always” was made available, thanks to Maria Novikova. It was reported to have been written especially for the Asian Winter Games, which makes one wonder whether it will be on an upcoming album or not. One would hate for it to fall through the cracks.
Her appearance at these games and her activities in Asia have been getting some notice in France. Here is the (translated) news article on purepeople.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian: Masterful for a great celebration!
Lara Fabian is discreet on the French music scene but this does not mean she is not appearing before her audience and does not have swarms of projects. At 41, Lou's mom, 3 years old (born of her romance with producer Gerard Pullicino), travels the globe to defend her superb last album, Ms. Zhivago (not yet released in France).
Between shows, she is also working to prepare a musical film shot from this disc, "which recounts the journey of a soul through 12 lives", she says. A project that should become available next spring.
Saturday, January 30, the Belgian-Canadian francophone delivered a beautiful performance at the opening ceremony of the Pan Asian Winter Games, multi-sport competition held this year in Kazakhstan. She performed her song “Always”, before a ‘conquered’ audience, surrounded by dancers and breathtaking scenery.
A real honor for Lara, dressed in a white dress and in great form this evening.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to fans on the Russian site, Lara was also in Russia last week, where it was indicated that she is planning a tour from September through December. It’s not clear where that tour is supposed to take place – Russia, the world, France included? If this is true, the timing is curious; this was the approximate general time given for the release of the Russian DVD from last December’s Moscow concerts, but it is one year after the Mlle. Zhivago CD release in Russia and the Ukraine. Hence maybe it corresponds to the world-wide release of the album, but why wait so long? It is presumably not associated with the film, whose appearance is still talked about for this spring.
In her 13th week on the chart, Lara has fallen to 11th in Russia. For 2010, she was 29th overall. As noted by ‘speranza 9’ on the official site forum, the actual number of discs sold, according to the charts, is miniscule – Lara, from this reckoning, sold just 7271 copies. But the chart itself notes that it records only a small percentage of the total musical transactions in the country. From that perspective, the relative rankings may be very unrepresentative of the actual commerce in the country.
And finally, in the ‘countries to the east’, it was reported that Lara will appear in TASHIR-2011" , April 3 at the State Kremlin Palace. "TASHIR-2011" is not just a concert of Armenian artists, but also the national award, given for outstanding achievements in Armenian show business. It is also an opportunity for young Armenian singers to receive recognition. It is said to be the first time that outside special guests will be invited (in the official announcement, Lara’s name was specifically given). The show will be broadcast live in Armenia and 176 countries around the world, continuing the trend for Lara to get world-wide exposure.
In other news, information presented about the film “Charlie” indicates that 2/3 of the funding for the 5.5 million dollar budget has been obtained, and the goal is to have the movie ready for the Berlin film festival in 2012. An actor supposedly has been chosen to play the lead male role, but it is being kept secret, for some reason. Lara is presumably still on-board (for an intended June 2011 shoot), and hopefully her schedule will actually allow it. [Maybe this is the reason for a prospective tour waiting until next fall…].
While on the topic of films, it has been rumored for some time that Lara will be working with Steven Spielberg on the soundtrack of an upcoming film project. What obviously gives this some credence is Lara’s previous collaboration with him on the film AI. Possibilities mentioned by fans include the upcoming film “Tintin” (who was Belgian), scheduled to be released in France this fall, or possibly a film on the Bee-Gees, or maybe even a small film in the Ukraine, with Alan Badoev involved. Now ‘francoisLF’ on the official site forum states that it is confirmed, Lara will sing the title song from the soundtrack "Around you again". He says a French version is also planned. No film was specified, and of course this remains to be confirmed.
Concerning TLFM1: Nathalie (for once) responded to a question this past week and stated that no release of it is foreseen. This is a reversal from what Lara herself (as well as Matt Herskowitz) had said some months ago and the news was not well-received by some of the fans on her website. While recognizing that she has ‘moved on to other things’, they thought that at least it could be sold as a boutique release on her website; or made available to fans free, via telecharge (or even only to fan club members). In addition to the allure that this version has for some fans, behind the disappointment is the recognition that it may well be a long time before anything additional is provided for her French audience.
And now the summary of key points in the biography of Lara, pp. 31-35:
**Lara met Franck Olivier in 1989 at a drive for funding for poor children, organized by Luxembourg TV. He was already well-known in Quebec, and invited her to come with him to that country. He wrote ‘Je sais’ for her and also distributed ‘Croire’ there. His company behind her, the singles started to be played in Quebec, along with several other songs of his that she sang, ‘L’amour voyage’, and “Il a neige sur le St-Laurent’. One of their singles even went to #1 on CFGL in Montreal.
**Subsequently he went on tour with her, and together with Lara’s father Pierre, helped prepare her future first album ‘Lara Fabian’, by writing the songs ‘Les murs’, ‘Simplement’ and ‘Le jour out u partiras’, the last of which again went to number 1. So, in essence, he was really responsible for Lara’s immersion in the Quebec scene.
**However, something amiss developed between them, and Lara now refers to him as ‘a bad man’. She has refused to say anything more, and nobody has ever pursued it.
You may know that some years ago he asked Lara for permission to include ‘Je sais’ on an album he was preparing – she reportedly refused. In all her subsequent discussions of her career in Quebec, he is conveniently overlooked. However, he has had his own career, oddly enough, as a star in Vietnam, after a series of duos with some very big Vietnamese stars. He even sung at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas on the occasion of a great gathering of U.S. Vietnamese. He joins the list of those whom Lara has moved past, more often than not with hard feelings, but of course we don’t know what he did to deserve them.
Lara indicated previously that after her time in Asia she would be coming to New York to work on music. We don’t know if that time has arrived, or if more time is to be spent in Russia/Ukraine. Nothing is officially on her schedule for the foreseeable future.
David
Similarly, the studio version of the magnificent new song “Always” was made available, thanks to Maria Novikova. It was reported to have been written especially for the Asian Winter Games, which makes one wonder whether it will be on an upcoming album or not. One would hate for it to fall through the cracks.
Her appearance at these games and her activities in Asia have been getting some notice in France. Here is the (translated) news article on purepeople.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian: Masterful for a great celebration!
Lara Fabian is discreet on the French music scene but this does not mean she is not appearing before her audience and does not have swarms of projects. At 41, Lou's mom, 3 years old (born of her romance with producer Gerard Pullicino), travels the globe to defend her superb last album, Ms. Zhivago (not yet released in France).
Between shows, she is also working to prepare a musical film shot from this disc, "which recounts the journey of a soul through 12 lives", she says. A project that should become available next spring.
Saturday, January 30, the Belgian-Canadian francophone delivered a beautiful performance at the opening ceremony of the Pan Asian Winter Games, multi-sport competition held this year in Kazakhstan. She performed her song “Always”, before a ‘conquered’ audience, surrounded by dancers and breathtaking scenery.
A real honor for Lara, dressed in a white dress and in great form this evening.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to fans on the Russian site, Lara was also in Russia last week, where it was indicated that she is planning a tour from September through December. It’s not clear where that tour is supposed to take place – Russia, the world, France included? If this is true, the timing is curious; this was the approximate general time given for the release of the Russian DVD from last December’s Moscow concerts, but it is one year after the Mlle. Zhivago CD release in Russia and the Ukraine. Hence maybe it corresponds to the world-wide release of the album, but why wait so long? It is presumably not associated with the film, whose appearance is still talked about for this spring.
In her 13th week on the chart, Lara has fallen to 11th in Russia. For 2010, she was 29th overall. As noted by ‘speranza 9’ on the official site forum, the actual number of discs sold, according to the charts, is miniscule – Lara, from this reckoning, sold just 7271 copies. But the chart itself notes that it records only a small percentage of the total musical transactions in the country. From that perspective, the relative rankings may be very unrepresentative of the actual commerce in the country.
And finally, in the ‘countries to the east’, it was reported that Lara will appear in TASHIR-2011" , April 3 at the State Kremlin Palace. "TASHIR-2011" is not just a concert of Armenian artists, but also the national award, given for outstanding achievements in Armenian show business. It is also an opportunity for young Armenian singers to receive recognition. It is said to be the first time that outside special guests will be invited (in the official announcement, Lara’s name was specifically given). The show will be broadcast live in Armenia and 176 countries around the world, continuing the trend for Lara to get world-wide exposure.
In other news, information presented about the film “Charlie” indicates that 2/3 of the funding for the 5.5 million dollar budget has been obtained, and the goal is to have the movie ready for the Berlin film festival in 2012. An actor supposedly has been chosen to play the lead male role, but it is being kept secret, for some reason. Lara is presumably still on-board (for an intended June 2011 shoot), and hopefully her schedule will actually allow it. [Maybe this is the reason for a prospective tour waiting until next fall…].
While on the topic of films, it has been rumored for some time that Lara will be working with Steven Spielberg on the soundtrack of an upcoming film project. What obviously gives this some credence is Lara’s previous collaboration with him on the film AI. Possibilities mentioned by fans include the upcoming film “Tintin” (who was Belgian), scheduled to be released in France this fall, or possibly a film on the Bee-Gees, or maybe even a small film in the Ukraine, with Alan Badoev involved. Now ‘francoisLF’ on the official site forum states that it is confirmed, Lara will sing the title song from the soundtrack "Around you again". He says a French version is also planned. No film was specified, and of course this remains to be confirmed.
Concerning TLFM1: Nathalie (for once) responded to a question this past week and stated that no release of it is foreseen. This is a reversal from what Lara herself (as well as Matt Herskowitz) had said some months ago and the news was not well-received by some of the fans on her website. While recognizing that she has ‘moved on to other things’, they thought that at least it could be sold as a boutique release on her website; or made available to fans free, via telecharge (or even only to fan club members). In addition to the allure that this version has for some fans, behind the disappointment is the recognition that it may well be a long time before anything additional is provided for her French audience.
And now the summary of key points in the biography of Lara, pp. 31-35:
**Lara met Franck Olivier in 1989 at a drive for funding for poor children, organized by Luxembourg TV. He was already well-known in Quebec, and invited her to come with him to that country. He wrote ‘Je sais’ for her and also distributed ‘Croire’ there. His company behind her, the singles started to be played in Quebec, along with several other songs of his that she sang, ‘L’amour voyage’, and “Il a neige sur le St-Laurent’. One of their singles even went to #1 on CFGL in Montreal.
**Subsequently he went on tour with her, and together with Lara’s father Pierre, helped prepare her future first album ‘Lara Fabian’, by writing the songs ‘Les murs’, ‘Simplement’ and ‘Le jour out u partiras’, the last of which again went to number 1. So, in essence, he was really responsible for Lara’s immersion in the Quebec scene.
**However, something amiss developed between them, and Lara now refers to him as ‘a bad man’. She has refused to say anything more, and nobody has ever pursued it.
You may know that some years ago he asked Lara for permission to include ‘Je sais’ on an album he was preparing – she reportedly refused. In all her subsequent discussions of her career in Quebec, he is conveniently overlooked. However, he has had his own career, oddly enough, as a star in Vietnam, after a series of duos with some very big Vietnamese stars. He even sung at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas on the occasion of a great gathering of U.S. Vietnamese. He joins the list of those whom Lara has moved past, more often than not with hard feelings, but of course we don’t know what he did to deserve them.
Lara indicated previously that after her time in Asia she would be coming to New York to work on music. We don’t know if that time has arrived, or if more time is to be spent in Russia/Ukraine. Nothing is officially on her schedule for the foreseeable future.
David
