Post by davidhr on Mar 1, 2011 11:10:14 GMT -5
Lara continues to have a very busy schedule, with much ‘country-hopping’, either real or virtual.
Yesterday Lara was in Paris, presiding over the 2nd Musical Comedy Competition for AICOM, the organization for which she is the ‘godmother. According to an article about the event, there were some 500 hundred candidates to audition – and yesterday evening was the finale. The jury was composed of some 20 well-known personalities, Pullicino being one. Each candidate had between 3 and 5 minutes to convince the jury of their worth. The competition is multi-disciplinary, with singing, dancing and comedic acting all eligible pursuits. The finalists ranged between 8 and 40 years old. The first prize is a role in the comedy ‘1939’, to be staged at the Gymnasium Theatre in Paris. No news yet on the winners; presumably that news will be disseminated later in the day.
As was reported last week, Lara is to 'be involved in the ‘1939’ show, that will have just three performances. How big a role is in question. Larafabiannews.com reported that her part, ‘Gisele’ is quite small, and she will only be on stage for a few minutes. This would be consistent with the cast listing not even mentioning her. However, ‘Fany’ on the official site forum, who says she is part of the production for the play, wrote that ‘Gisele’ is actually a large role, and Lara’s part is an important one. Presumably we will find out more as time goes on. ‘Fany’ also reported that Lara has indicated that she would definitely be there in June, and the play's association with AICOM and Pierre-Yves Duchesne would seem to make that a good bet.
Also yesterday, Lara was not at the taping of ‘Parole des femmes’, a show dedicated to the rights of women worldwide, and something that is close to her heart. The taping was scheduled to continue today, and perhaps that was part of the problem, for tomorrow Lara is to be in Azerbaijan. She will be in concert with Igor Krutoi and some well-known Russian singers at the Heydar Alikyev Palace in Baku. It may have been that her scheduled taping was too close to the time she had to leave for this event.
And today, Lara is exhibiting a (virtual) US presence, as her appearance with other guests on the show “The Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends” is released on CD/DVD. [They can be purchased for $18 at amazon.com and elsewhere.]
One might think that this presages a greater American commitment. However, it looks like Lara’s comment that she would be coming to New York to work on music ‘for forever’ after her Asian concerts may have been misinterpreted, or else things have changed. She does not look to be leaving Asia any time soon, at least not for an extended stay. After the trip to Azerbaijan, Lara will be at the ‘French Day’ in Yerevan, Armenia on March 18th, and will return to Armenia about a month later (April 16th) for the Armenian music awards. According to the web, “the Award will be broadcast live both on Armenian Public TV in 134 countries around the world and on TV ARMRU [in Russia]. In support of the event a large-scale promotional campaign will be carried out. In addition, the awards will be supported by the major Russian and Armenian TV channels, as well as print media and the Internet. Besides an outdoor advertising campaign will be carried out in Moscow.”
There seems to be no end of events that Lara can participate in in these ‘countries to the east’, and many have very large (actual plus video) audiences, something that she has been generally lacking up to now. It does require her to pop back and forth between these countries and Belgium/France, as her itinerary this week continues to illustrate. Adding in an ‘American’ component will take some doing.
Back in France, a cheaper version (~10 euros) of the ‘Best of’ will soon be released – only one CD rather than two (and no DVD), with all the English songs excised. Lara is drawing a sharp boundary between her ‘Francophile’ releases and what she does elsewhere in the world, a schizophrenic approach that seems somehow unnatural. We’ll see how long she can keep it up - it has in effect characterized much of her career, just generally not at the same time.
Now for comments from the biography of Lara, pp. 46-50:
**David Foster was the person who set up Lara’s meeting with Barbra Streisand in 1995 in New York (Lara and Rick had come down to talk with him).
**At the 1994 Francopholies in Montreal, Lara was asked to do a medley that included ‘Je suis malade’. She was already familiar with it, as it seemed to embody her feelings during the time of her heartbreaking ‘Irish’ affair. But in the medley, it would only occupy ~30 seconds. She told them she couldn’t do it that way, she needed to sing it completely. They weren’t happy but she did it anyway, and got a great response from the audience. That led to her including it on ‘Carpe Diem’.
**Serge Lama heard it, and while Lara was on the Sonia Benezra program in November he called the studio and asked Lara to come sing the song with him as a duo at a big concert of his in Paris. She went in January 1995, and he was so impressed that he asked her to do it again, this time as a solo. [All this is two years before Lara really went back to France…].
**Lara participated in several charity recordings while in Quebec, but generally was reticent to stand out, often singing softly. Nevertheless, she did agree to a more prominent role as the ‘godmother’ of the Quebec association for childhood heart disease, and was an active participant in another organization associated with infant sickness.
**At the beginning of 1996 Lara was invited by the Walt Disney Company to sing the role of Esmeralda in the animated film “Le Bossu de Notre Dame”, and, in addition, to sing the title song “Que dieu aide les exclus”. The American producers at Sony were so impressed that they then asked her to sing the English version “God Save the Outcasts” and included it on their release.
**On her return to France in 1997, the producers of the ‘updated’ version of “Emelie Jolie” asked Lara to be part of their cast (which also included Johnny Hallyday, Maurane and Florent Pagny, among others). She sang “La chanson de la petite fleur triste” (available from Lara’s 3 CD box set, which also included “Laisse-moi rever” the soundtrack film that was never released independently). Philippe Chatel (the creator of the project) was so impressed by Lara that he asked her to sing another song, a duet with him “Chanson d’Emelie Jolie et du grand oiseau”, which showed up on the second pressing of the album.
**While impressing so many people, Lara was still basically unknown in France, but that was about to change…
A busy upcoming week for Lara and her fans, beginning today with the American release and continuing tomorrow in Armenia…The 2011 international career for Lara is in full swing.
David
Yesterday Lara was in Paris, presiding over the 2nd Musical Comedy Competition for AICOM, the organization for which she is the ‘godmother. According to an article about the event, there were some 500 hundred candidates to audition – and yesterday evening was the finale. The jury was composed of some 20 well-known personalities, Pullicino being one. Each candidate had between 3 and 5 minutes to convince the jury of their worth. The competition is multi-disciplinary, with singing, dancing and comedic acting all eligible pursuits. The finalists ranged between 8 and 40 years old. The first prize is a role in the comedy ‘1939’, to be staged at the Gymnasium Theatre in Paris. No news yet on the winners; presumably that news will be disseminated later in the day.
As was reported last week, Lara is to 'be involved in the ‘1939’ show, that will have just three performances. How big a role is in question. Larafabiannews.com reported that her part, ‘Gisele’ is quite small, and she will only be on stage for a few minutes. This would be consistent with the cast listing not even mentioning her. However, ‘Fany’ on the official site forum, who says she is part of the production for the play, wrote that ‘Gisele’ is actually a large role, and Lara’s part is an important one. Presumably we will find out more as time goes on. ‘Fany’ also reported that Lara has indicated that she would definitely be there in June, and the play's association with AICOM and Pierre-Yves Duchesne would seem to make that a good bet.
Also yesterday, Lara was not at the taping of ‘Parole des femmes’, a show dedicated to the rights of women worldwide, and something that is close to her heart. The taping was scheduled to continue today, and perhaps that was part of the problem, for tomorrow Lara is to be in Azerbaijan. She will be in concert with Igor Krutoi and some well-known Russian singers at the Heydar Alikyev Palace in Baku. It may have been that her scheduled taping was too close to the time she had to leave for this event.
And today, Lara is exhibiting a (virtual) US presence, as her appearance with other guests on the show “The Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends” is released on CD/DVD. [They can be purchased for $18 at amazon.com and elsewhere.]
One might think that this presages a greater American commitment. However, it looks like Lara’s comment that she would be coming to New York to work on music ‘for forever’ after her Asian concerts may have been misinterpreted, or else things have changed. She does not look to be leaving Asia any time soon, at least not for an extended stay. After the trip to Azerbaijan, Lara will be at the ‘French Day’ in Yerevan, Armenia on March 18th, and will return to Armenia about a month later (April 16th) for the Armenian music awards. According to the web, “the Award will be broadcast live both on Armenian Public TV in 134 countries around the world and on TV ARMRU [in Russia]. In support of the event a large-scale promotional campaign will be carried out. In addition, the awards will be supported by the major Russian and Armenian TV channels, as well as print media and the Internet. Besides an outdoor advertising campaign will be carried out in Moscow.”
There seems to be no end of events that Lara can participate in in these ‘countries to the east’, and many have very large (actual plus video) audiences, something that she has been generally lacking up to now. It does require her to pop back and forth between these countries and Belgium/France, as her itinerary this week continues to illustrate. Adding in an ‘American’ component will take some doing.
Back in France, a cheaper version (~10 euros) of the ‘Best of’ will soon be released – only one CD rather than two (and no DVD), with all the English songs excised. Lara is drawing a sharp boundary between her ‘Francophile’ releases and what she does elsewhere in the world, a schizophrenic approach that seems somehow unnatural. We’ll see how long she can keep it up - it has in effect characterized much of her career, just generally not at the same time.
Now for comments from the biography of Lara, pp. 46-50:
**David Foster was the person who set up Lara’s meeting with Barbra Streisand in 1995 in New York (Lara and Rick had come down to talk with him).
**At the 1994 Francopholies in Montreal, Lara was asked to do a medley that included ‘Je suis malade’. She was already familiar with it, as it seemed to embody her feelings during the time of her heartbreaking ‘Irish’ affair. But in the medley, it would only occupy ~30 seconds. She told them she couldn’t do it that way, she needed to sing it completely. They weren’t happy but she did it anyway, and got a great response from the audience. That led to her including it on ‘Carpe Diem’.
**Serge Lama heard it, and while Lara was on the Sonia Benezra program in November he called the studio and asked Lara to come sing the song with him as a duo at a big concert of his in Paris. She went in January 1995, and he was so impressed that he asked her to do it again, this time as a solo. [All this is two years before Lara really went back to France…].
**Lara participated in several charity recordings while in Quebec, but generally was reticent to stand out, often singing softly. Nevertheless, she did agree to a more prominent role as the ‘godmother’ of the Quebec association for childhood heart disease, and was an active participant in another organization associated with infant sickness.
**At the beginning of 1996 Lara was invited by the Walt Disney Company to sing the role of Esmeralda in the animated film “Le Bossu de Notre Dame”, and, in addition, to sing the title song “Que dieu aide les exclus”. The American producers at Sony were so impressed that they then asked her to sing the English version “God Save the Outcasts” and included it on their release.
**On her return to France in 1997, the producers of the ‘updated’ version of “Emelie Jolie” asked Lara to be part of their cast (which also included Johnny Hallyday, Maurane and Florent Pagny, among others). She sang “La chanson de la petite fleur triste” (available from Lara’s 3 CD box set, which also included “Laisse-moi rever” the soundtrack film that was never released independently). Philippe Chatel (the creator of the project) was so impressed by Lara that he asked her to sing another song, a duet with him “Chanson d’Emelie Jolie et du grand oiseau”, which showed up on the second pressing of the album.
**While impressing so many people, Lara was still basically unknown in France, but that was about to change…
A busy upcoming week for Lara and her fans, beginning today with the American release and continuing tomorrow in Armenia…The 2011 international career for Lara is in full swing.
David
