Post by davidhr on Mar 22, 2011 10:35:16 GMT -5
The big news this past week was the actual concert Lara gave in Armenia for ‘French culture’ day. larafabiannews.com provided the songlist (thanks also to Wendy on the official site forum), reproduced here to make several points:
1. J’y crois encore; 2. La difference; 3. Immortelle; 4. Humana; 5. Tout;
6. Soleil Soleil; 7. Do You Know Where You’re Going To; 8. Wind Beneath My Wings;
9. Angel; 10. Je t’aime; 11. Je suis malade; 12. Alfonsina y el mar; 13. I Guess I Loved You; 14. Broken Vow; 15. J’ai besoin de parler; 16. Adagio
The concert included real singing, rather than lip-synching, and perhaps not coincidentally it contained none of the ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ songs. As can be seen in the videos, the pianist looked to be the Israeli Giora Linenberg, rather than Igor Krutoi, which could have influenced her decision. However, in a preceding news conference, when asked if the new songs would be presented, Lara said they wouldn’t be because they were not yet generally available to the audience in Armenia. This has to be classified as a very weak excuse – as can be seen from the above list, a number of songs from EWIM were presented, and how available is that in that country? (It can be ordered from Lara’s website, obviously, but ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ can be ordered from Russian and Ukrainian websites which would probably be more familiar to that audience, and even from amazon.com). [As an aside, this excuse ranks with the one Lara gave when asked why she wasn’t singing ‘Adagio’ at a Moscow concert a few years ago, and she said she needed more than simply a piano for accompaniment to sing it…When the host, refusing to let go of the topic, noted that it was composed on a piano, Lara responded that it was composed on a number of pianos over the years, not just one!] Eventually Lara will have to sing the ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ songs live, if she wants to present the album to a western audience (still not guaranteed, six months after its release, but see below).
Another interesting thing about the setlist is that almost half the songs were not in French, despite the occasion. One wonders what the French ambassador thought about that. Perhaps she was trying to appeal to as much of the audience as possible, and realized that they might be better acquainted with English; in response to a question, she noted that while none of the songs would be in Armenian, next time there will be…We’ll see if that really comes to pass.
The news conference had at least one other oddity. Lara implied that people thought her name was Armenian because it ended in ‘ian’, and she had to disabuse them of that notion. We know she took it from her mother’s side of the family, and dropped the o at the end to make it less Italian. In a post-concert news conference, she noted that she had done a genealogical search, and indeed she had no Armenian ancestry.
As for the concert itself, Lara was accompanied by a drummer and guitarist in addition to the piano, and sounded great – one can listen, for example, to ‘Je t’aime’, ‘Angel’ or ‘Adagio’ . Videos of many of the songs from the concert are available on youtube, while photos and videos are also available on larafabiannews.com and Christina’s Greek Music Treasure box site. Apparently the concert was filmed for Armenian TV, so it might eventually show up in high quality. A nice article from the French side with additional pictures is available at:
www.ambafrance-am.org/spip.php?article735
In the interview after the concert, Lara repeated that she always had a childhood dream to sing a duet with Charles Aznevour (who is Armenian), and still hoped to do it, but it better be soon because ‘time’s passing’. When asked what happens to her family when she’s on tour, Lara said she is never away for more than 10 days in a row, during which time Gerard stays with Lou. She revealed that in addition to her appearance there next month at an awards show, she will also be back in Armenia for their Independence Day, Sept. 21st.
To close the interview, Lara indicated that she is preparing a concert tour that will spend 40 days in Russia (one thus presumes Lou will be with her for at least part of it ), and also perhaps travel to Israel, Rumania, Bulgaria, Italy and France. This is in conjunction with ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ (which she seems to have said has just been put on sale in western countries as well as Russia). And in January she said she will return to the studio for her next French album [one presumes she means January 2012]. In addition to possible translation problems with respect to this report, we know that Lara’s future plans are always in a state of flux (she had just recently wrote she’d be coming next to New York to record…). So while a new tour is probably quite likely at some point, we can’t be sure what it will really entail, or what the timing may end up being.
The clips of the concert and of her interviews suggest that Lara’s appearance was very big news in the country (as it was in Chechnia and Azerbajain). She is certainly being treated as an International Star in these countries, as well she should.
The ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ album is still doing well in Russia. Now in its 19th week, it has jumped 8 places and is back to #5 on the charts. The DVD of Lara’s Russian concert for this album, as discussed in the last update, is now available for sale in Russia, and is not a ‘pirated’ version according to an email response that ‘bangbang2’ received from the vendor on ebay. It said, “This DVD is factory pressed and released by Russian state TV channel Rossiya, so it is official.” If one is interested, the ebay address is (although they are continually running out of copies):
cgi.ebay.fr/Lara-Fabian-i-Igor-Krutoy-Koncert-v-Kremle-DVD-PAL-/170616986182?pt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&hash=item27b9909a46
While the track list claims that it only contains the songs from ‘Mlle. Zhivago’, it turns out that’s not so – it actually contains the whole concert. (Remember that a number of the songs were lip-synched). The photos included are apparently from one of Lara’s acoustic concerts in Russia, not this one, and the cover photo is from Lara’s appearance at the ‘saloon du chocolat’ in 2009. A Russian fan made up a cover that could have been used; it’s very creative, as one can see at:
radikal.ru/F/s42.radikal.ru/i097/1012/1f/44bfa3a63ab8.jpg.html
And if one wants to download the concert in high quality (albeit slowly) without paying for this DVD, it is available at:
letitbit.net/download/6362.6098cbc5114ecd0b81a4c87b55c72367/Fabian_i_Krutoy_Zhivago_2010_SATRip.rar.html
larafabianweb.com reports that the sale of this same DVD is the object of negotiations with Universal for release elsewhere, although there is nothing official at the moment. In contrast, the DVD of the clips of the musical film “Mlle. Zhivago”, which we’ve heard has just been finished, has no release in France yet envisioned.
While on the topic of films, ‘emille-pierre’ on the official site forum notes that Mike Ogan, still trying to put together the movie ‘Charlie’, has indicated on his site that he is currently writing the book for the film – both for help in the actual filming of it as well as ‘a worthwhile read after the film’. Doesn’t hurt to remain optimistic!
As noted in the thread for last week’s update, Lara’s ‘best of’ album to be released in Canada, entitled ‘Je me souviens’, is listed on Canadian sites as being a one CD affair. If it is like the one CD being sold as a cheaper option in France -although we can’t be sure of that - this would mean no English songs would be included, hence one more time that Lara misses an opportunity to appeal to a broader segment of the Canadian population. For $10 more, Canadians can buy the full 2 CD set as a French import on amazon.ca, but it says it “usually ships within 2 to 6 months”!
Now for the biography of Lara Fabian, pp. 67-71. It should be noted that there has been on on-going conversation between Lara’s fans and the author concerning inaccuracies in the book, one that has not always been very congenial. So take these points for what you will, although most of them have come directly from previously published articles or interviews Lara has given.
**The claim here is that the album “Pure” was made with the thought in mind that it would open the doors for Lara’s return to Europe, that in effect she had always wanted to go back home where she still had a house (despite taking out Canadian citizenship). This contrasts with Lara’s ‘official view’ that she was asked back to Europe, and ultimately had to stay because of her family. The explanation given here makes some degree of sense, since from a commercial standpoint, France (and Belgium) represent a much bigger market than Francophile Canada. This is why, the author opines, Lara, Rick and Lise made an effort to obtain songs from well-known songwriters for this album (Daniel Seff, Daniel Lavoe, Masimo Ranieri).
**The timing sort of backs up this claim; the album was released in Canada in September 1996, and by January, Lara signed a contract with Polydor to release it in France (her first release in that country). By May of that year, she was presenting the album at Cannes, during the summer she was on numerous radio shows there, her first TV appearance in France occurred in September, and her first tour began in January 1998.
**’Pure’ won the Felix in Canada for most popular album in 1997 and sold 300,000 copies in Quebec. She said she named it because it was the ‘purest expression of herself, without detour’. In the next 18 months in France, the album sold 2.8 million copies, and won her the ‘Victoire’ as ‘revelation of the year’ 1997.
In a little more than a week, Lara will be in London for Gorbachev’s 80th birthday party. If we take Lara’s words literally, this would imply she will be back spending time with her family, in-between. And Gerard can get back to work!
David
1. J’y crois encore; 2. La difference; 3. Immortelle; 4. Humana; 5. Tout;
6. Soleil Soleil; 7. Do You Know Where You’re Going To; 8. Wind Beneath My Wings;
9. Angel; 10. Je t’aime; 11. Je suis malade; 12. Alfonsina y el mar; 13. I Guess I Loved You; 14. Broken Vow; 15. J’ai besoin de parler; 16. Adagio
The concert included real singing, rather than lip-synching, and perhaps not coincidentally it contained none of the ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ songs. As can be seen in the videos, the pianist looked to be the Israeli Giora Linenberg, rather than Igor Krutoi, which could have influenced her decision. However, in a preceding news conference, when asked if the new songs would be presented, Lara said they wouldn’t be because they were not yet generally available to the audience in Armenia. This has to be classified as a very weak excuse – as can be seen from the above list, a number of songs from EWIM were presented, and how available is that in that country? (It can be ordered from Lara’s website, obviously, but ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ can be ordered from Russian and Ukrainian websites which would probably be more familiar to that audience, and even from amazon.com). [As an aside, this excuse ranks with the one Lara gave when asked why she wasn’t singing ‘Adagio’ at a Moscow concert a few years ago, and she said she needed more than simply a piano for accompaniment to sing it…When the host, refusing to let go of the topic, noted that it was composed on a piano, Lara responded that it was composed on a number of pianos over the years, not just one!] Eventually Lara will have to sing the ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ songs live, if she wants to present the album to a western audience (still not guaranteed, six months after its release, but see below).
Another interesting thing about the setlist is that almost half the songs were not in French, despite the occasion. One wonders what the French ambassador thought about that. Perhaps she was trying to appeal to as much of the audience as possible, and realized that they might be better acquainted with English; in response to a question, she noted that while none of the songs would be in Armenian, next time there will be…We’ll see if that really comes to pass.
The news conference had at least one other oddity. Lara implied that people thought her name was Armenian because it ended in ‘ian’, and she had to disabuse them of that notion. We know she took it from her mother’s side of the family, and dropped the o at the end to make it less Italian. In a post-concert news conference, she noted that she had done a genealogical search, and indeed she had no Armenian ancestry.
As for the concert itself, Lara was accompanied by a drummer and guitarist in addition to the piano, and sounded great – one can listen, for example, to ‘Je t’aime’, ‘Angel’ or ‘Adagio’ . Videos of many of the songs from the concert are available on youtube, while photos and videos are also available on larafabiannews.com and Christina’s Greek Music Treasure box site. Apparently the concert was filmed for Armenian TV, so it might eventually show up in high quality. A nice article from the French side with additional pictures is available at:
www.ambafrance-am.org/spip.php?article735
In the interview after the concert, Lara repeated that she always had a childhood dream to sing a duet with Charles Aznevour (who is Armenian), and still hoped to do it, but it better be soon because ‘time’s passing’. When asked what happens to her family when she’s on tour, Lara said she is never away for more than 10 days in a row, during which time Gerard stays with Lou. She revealed that in addition to her appearance there next month at an awards show, she will also be back in Armenia for their Independence Day, Sept. 21st.
To close the interview, Lara indicated that she is preparing a concert tour that will spend 40 days in Russia (one thus presumes Lou will be with her for at least part of it ), and also perhaps travel to Israel, Rumania, Bulgaria, Italy and France. This is in conjunction with ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ (which she seems to have said has just been put on sale in western countries as well as Russia). And in January she said she will return to the studio for her next French album [one presumes she means January 2012]. In addition to possible translation problems with respect to this report, we know that Lara’s future plans are always in a state of flux (she had just recently wrote she’d be coming next to New York to record…). So while a new tour is probably quite likely at some point, we can’t be sure what it will really entail, or what the timing may end up being.
The clips of the concert and of her interviews suggest that Lara’s appearance was very big news in the country (as it was in Chechnia and Azerbajain). She is certainly being treated as an International Star in these countries, as well she should.
The ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ album is still doing well in Russia. Now in its 19th week, it has jumped 8 places and is back to #5 on the charts. The DVD of Lara’s Russian concert for this album, as discussed in the last update, is now available for sale in Russia, and is not a ‘pirated’ version according to an email response that ‘bangbang2’ received from the vendor on ebay. It said, “This DVD is factory pressed and released by Russian state TV channel Rossiya, so it is official.” If one is interested, the ebay address is (although they are continually running out of copies):
cgi.ebay.fr/Lara-Fabian-i-Igor-Krutoy-Koncert-v-Kremle-DVD-PAL-/170616986182?pt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&hash=item27b9909a46
While the track list claims that it only contains the songs from ‘Mlle. Zhivago’, it turns out that’s not so – it actually contains the whole concert. (Remember that a number of the songs were lip-synched). The photos included are apparently from one of Lara’s acoustic concerts in Russia, not this one, and the cover photo is from Lara’s appearance at the ‘saloon du chocolat’ in 2009. A Russian fan made up a cover that could have been used; it’s very creative, as one can see at:
radikal.ru/F/s42.radikal.ru/i097/1012/1f/44bfa3a63ab8.jpg.html
And if one wants to download the concert in high quality (albeit slowly) without paying for this DVD, it is available at:
letitbit.net/download/6362.6098cbc5114ecd0b81a4c87b55c72367/Fabian_i_Krutoy_Zhivago_2010_SATRip.rar.html
larafabianweb.com reports that the sale of this same DVD is the object of negotiations with Universal for release elsewhere, although there is nothing official at the moment. In contrast, the DVD of the clips of the musical film “Mlle. Zhivago”, which we’ve heard has just been finished, has no release in France yet envisioned.
While on the topic of films, ‘emille-pierre’ on the official site forum notes that Mike Ogan, still trying to put together the movie ‘Charlie’, has indicated on his site that he is currently writing the book for the film – both for help in the actual filming of it as well as ‘a worthwhile read after the film’. Doesn’t hurt to remain optimistic!
As noted in the thread for last week’s update, Lara’s ‘best of’ album to be released in Canada, entitled ‘Je me souviens’, is listed on Canadian sites as being a one CD affair. If it is like the one CD being sold as a cheaper option in France -although we can’t be sure of that - this would mean no English songs would be included, hence one more time that Lara misses an opportunity to appeal to a broader segment of the Canadian population. For $10 more, Canadians can buy the full 2 CD set as a French import on amazon.ca, but it says it “usually ships within 2 to 6 months”!
Now for the biography of Lara Fabian, pp. 67-71. It should be noted that there has been on on-going conversation between Lara’s fans and the author concerning inaccuracies in the book, one that has not always been very congenial. So take these points for what you will, although most of them have come directly from previously published articles or interviews Lara has given.
**The claim here is that the album “Pure” was made with the thought in mind that it would open the doors for Lara’s return to Europe, that in effect she had always wanted to go back home where she still had a house (despite taking out Canadian citizenship). This contrasts with Lara’s ‘official view’ that she was asked back to Europe, and ultimately had to stay because of her family. The explanation given here makes some degree of sense, since from a commercial standpoint, France (and Belgium) represent a much bigger market than Francophile Canada. This is why, the author opines, Lara, Rick and Lise made an effort to obtain songs from well-known songwriters for this album (Daniel Seff, Daniel Lavoe, Masimo Ranieri).
**The timing sort of backs up this claim; the album was released in Canada in September 1996, and by January, Lara signed a contract with Polydor to release it in France (her first release in that country). By May of that year, she was presenting the album at Cannes, during the summer she was on numerous radio shows there, her first TV appearance in France occurred in September, and her first tour began in January 1998.
**’Pure’ won the Felix in Canada for most popular album in 1997 and sold 300,000 copies in Quebec. She said she named it because it was the ‘purest expression of herself, without detour’. In the next 18 months in France, the album sold 2.8 million copies, and won her the ‘Victoire’ as ‘revelation of the year’ 1997.
In a little more than a week, Lara will be in London for Gorbachev’s 80th birthday party. If we take Lara’s words literally, this would imply she will be back spending time with her family, in-between. And Gerard can get back to work!
David