Post by davidhr on Jul 3, 2012 11:27:42 GMT -5
Lara has now made available several different versions of the new song ‘Je t’aime encore’ that can be ordered from Lara’s webshop (www.larafabianshop.com/) for 0.99 euros (one can also get a ringtone for 0.69 euros). There is the standard album version, and there is also a “radio edit “; whereas the standard song runs a little over 5 minutes, the radio edit removes two minutes from that, by dropping the second verse (the first verse goes directly to the second chorus - hence all the exalted singing is preserved). On the same page (and various websites) one can see the beautiful cover photos of the two versions. Ironically, one cannot buy the Mademoiselle Zhivago album, from which the single comes, from this same webshop.
Of course, having a radio edit means Lara has decided to go ahead and promote the album in France, at least to some extent. It was also reported that she appeared via telephone on Radio Nostalgie, giving a mini-interview. In conjunction with that, they played "Demain n'existe pas”, “Tocami” and “Je t'aime encore". She also announced that ‘Le Secret” will be released at the beginning of 2013 (at the earliest), and that she will follow it with a tour in the fall of that year. [The choice of what appears to be Radio Nostalgie in France for her interview was not considered a plus by the French fans; the channel apparently lives up to its name].
Needless to say, her promotion of the album comes as somewhat of a surprise, even to this extent, given her previous comments (though in the interview, Lara seemed to be promoting the new song over the others). There is also a report that she will do further radio and TV promotions “à la rentrée” (in September). Perhaps she’s received indications that it could actually generate an audience for her in France; we’ll have to see how far she takes it. Another report says that ‘Mlle. Hyde’ has also been played on French radio.
With respect to ‘Le Secret', we don’t really know what label it will be released under, and for that matter, who will pay for the tour. As one fan noted, unless the songs are low keyed-acoustic in nature (which would mean Lara ‘abandoning’ her newly rediscovered ‘vocal instrument’), a tour with songs like ‘Je t’aime encore’ requires a full instrumental backing – hence expensive. Is she still a Universal recording artist, at least for the French songs? Opinions seem to differ. Presumably (or hopefully) Lara has (or will have) all this worked out.
Meanwhile, Lara seems to be meeting potential critics head on – not only in France but in Russia as well. It was reported on the Russian fan site that Lara has two concerts scheduled at the "Kremlin Palace” - November 24 and 25 (tickets are apparently available at http://www.ticketmix.ru). This would be a continuation of her rumored Russian tour, but now moving it to Moscow as well. The various elements of this tour are now getting verification from some concert halls themselves (everywhere on the web, in fact, except Lara’s official sites). It’s also been reported (by the Lara-Fabian Brazil fansite) that Lara has agreed to appear at the New Wave festival coming up in Latvia July 28th. [So much for her comment in the new MZ booklet that her Eastern flirtation was a ‘parenthesis in her career’ and she would now be turning to something else. Maybe she was focusing on the future of ‘Le Secret’, but at least for this year, the east apparently still beckons…].
In other news, RTL radio in France is running a contest asking fans to vote on whom they want to hear on their show ‘Stop or Encore” next Saturday and Sunday (July 7th and 8th). Lara’s own people put out a request on her FB site to encourage fans to vote for her! One can vote at:
www.rtl.fr/vote/votez-pour-votre-programmation-de-stop-ou-encore-du-dimanche-8-juillet-7749988982
Lara currently has 65% of the vote! Interestingly, the three songs they list for Lara are ‘Tout’, ‘J’y crois encore’, and ‘Mademoiselle Hyde’. Voting closes on Friday at 1200, local time.
For the next few weeks, translations will be provided of Lara’s comments on the various songs in Mlle. Zhivago (French version) that she includes in the recently released package. Three songs will be provided each week until all 12 are finished.
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Je t’aime encore (I love you still)
A story of love that returns. There is a woman who finds a man that she is persuaded she has already loved in another life. Now in this life, this man is not for her. She does not accept the love that he offers and decides therefore to transform it into an extraordinary and platonic relationship…to transform love into something else. Je t'aime encore, it is a means of saying to a man who so wants me to be something other than I am today: “We have done much better by the music. We were intelligent enough not to be confused by karma. And we hurt no one.”
Lyubov’ pokhozhaya na son (Love which resembles a dream)
It is the hymn to the love of Russians. It had been sung by the great singer Alla Pugacheva in her time and speaks of love as being an illusion, an ephemeral sensation or again a means of looking at oneself in a mirror. I find that quite appropriate. One often makes the error of loving oneself through the eyes of another, and this song speaks of it with a remarkable accuracy. It is by far the most lyrical piece on the album. The exaggerated aspects of the arrangements pleased me very much finally, and when you sing it, it carries you to an impossible height. I think of incredible things each time that I sing it.
Always
Always is the song that I sung at the occasion of the Winter Games in Astana in 2011. It says how we are alone and at the same time, we are all together under the same sky…and we forget it a little too often. We consider ourselves a little too much as a mass of individuals rather than as part of a whole. And this very individual approach to things does not make us sufficiently aware of the consequences of our actions. It is a song of assembly with simple words, exactly in the spirit of an Olympiad. It is about the responsibility and the benefits of being together in benevolence. It is finally ordinary and universal.
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Lara's comments are as usual both poetic and profound. Of course if she really wanted her French audience to understand the songs, she should have provided the lyrics so they could have the opportunity to translate those not in French, and understand them completely. This is not a very good substitute. And it can’t be the space involved, as the lyrics could easily have been placed in the same locations that these descriptions reside. For that matter, the Russian audience should have been given the same courtesy.
With her skepticism about Mlle. Zhivago and the French public, Lara seems to be trying to inure herself against any disappointment from sales or reviewers. Nevertheless, her enthusiasm for the new song is unbridled, and she may allow herself to ride it, and the album as a whole, as far as it will take her. We’ll see what happens next…but all in all, things appear to be looking up for Lara, after a very difficult 2011.
David
Of course, having a radio edit means Lara has decided to go ahead and promote the album in France, at least to some extent. It was also reported that she appeared via telephone on Radio Nostalgie, giving a mini-interview. In conjunction with that, they played "Demain n'existe pas”, “Tocami” and “Je t'aime encore". She also announced that ‘Le Secret” will be released at the beginning of 2013 (at the earliest), and that she will follow it with a tour in the fall of that year. [The choice of what appears to be Radio Nostalgie in France for her interview was not considered a plus by the French fans; the channel apparently lives up to its name].
Needless to say, her promotion of the album comes as somewhat of a surprise, even to this extent, given her previous comments (though in the interview, Lara seemed to be promoting the new song over the others). There is also a report that she will do further radio and TV promotions “à la rentrée” (in September). Perhaps she’s received indications that it could actually generate an audience for her in France; we’ll have to see how far she takes it. Another report says that ‘Mlle. Hyde’ has also been played on French radio.
With respect to ‘Le Secret', we don’t really know what label it will be released under, and for that matter, who will pay for the tour. As one fan noted, unless the songs are low keyed-acoustic in nature (which would mean Lara ‘abandoning’ her newly rediscovered ‘vocal instrument’), a tour with songs like ‘Je t’aime encore’ requires a full instrumental backing – hence expensive. Is she still a Universal recording artist, at least for the French songs? Opinions seem to differ. Presumably (or hopefully) Lara has (or will have) all this worked out.
Meanwhile, Lara seems to be meeting potential critics head on – not only in France but in Russia as well. It was reported on the Russian fan site that Lara has two concerts scheduled at the "Kremlin Palace” - November 24 and 25 (tickets are apparently available at http://www.ticketmix.ru). This would be a continuation of her rumored Russian tour, but now moving it to Moscow as well. The various elements of this tour are now getting verification from some concert halls themselves (everywhere on the web, in fact, except Lara’s official sites). It’s also been reported (by the Lara-Fabian Brazil fansite) that Lara has agreed to appear at the New Wave festival coming up in Latvia July 28th. [So much for her comment in the new MZ booklet that her Eastern flirtation was a ‘parenthesis in her career’ and she would now be turning to something else. Maybe she was focusing on the future of ‘Le Secret’, but at least for this year, the east apparently still beckons…].
In other news, RTL radio in France is running a contest asking fans to vote on whom they want to hear on their show ‘Stop or Encore” next Saturday and Sunday (July 7th and 8th). Lara’s own people put out a request on her FB site to encourage fans to vote for her! One can vote at:
www.rtl.fr/vote/votez-pour-votre-programmation-de-stop-ou-encore-du-dimanche-8-juillet-7749988982
Lara currently has 65% of the vote! Interestingly, the three songs they list for Lara are ‘Tout’, ‘J’y crois encore’, and ‘Mademoiselle Hyde’. Voting closes on Friday at 1200, local time.
For the next few weeks, translations will be provided of Lara’s comments on the various songs in Mlle. Zhivago (French version) that she includes in the recently released package. Three songs will be provided each week until all 12 are finished.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Je t’aime encore (I love you still)
A story of love that returns. There is a woman who finds a man that she is persuaded she has already loved in another life. Now in this life, this man is not for her. She does not accept the love that he offers and decides therefore to transform it into an extraordinary and platonic relationship…to transform love into something else. Je t'aime encore, it is a means of saying to a man who so wants me to be something other than I am today: “We have done much better by the music. We were intelligent enough not to be confused by karma. And we hurt no one.”
Lyubov’ pokhozhaya na son (Love which resembles a dream)
It is the hymn to the love of Russians. It had been sung by the great singer Alla Pugacheva in her time and speaks of love as being an illusion, an ephemeral sensation or again a means of looking at oneself in a mirror. I find that quite appropriate. One often makes the error of loving oneself through the eyes of another, and this song speaks of it with a remarkable accuracy. It is by far the most lyrical piece on the album. The exaggerated aspects of the arrangements pleased me very much finally, and when you sing it, it carries you to an impossible height. I think of incredible things each time that I sing it.
Always
Always is the song that I sung at the occasion of the Winter Games in Astana in 2011. It says how we are alone and at the same time, we are all together under the same sky…and we forget it a little too often. We consider ourselves a little too much as a mass of individuals rather than as part of a whole. And this very individual approach to things does not make us sufficiently aware of the consequences of our actions. It is a song of assembly with simple words, exactly in the spirit of an Olympiad. It is about the responsibility and the benefits of being together in benevolence. It is finally ordinary and universal.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara's comments are as usual both poetic and profound. Of course if she really wanted her French audience to understand the songs, she should have provided the lyrics so they could have the opportunity to translate those not in French, and understand them completely. This is not a very good substitute. And it can’t be the space involved, as the lyrics could easily have been placed in the same locations that these descriptions reside. For that matter, the Russian audience should have been given the same courtesy.
With her skepticism about Mlle. Zhivago and the French public, Lara seems to be trying to inure herself against any disappointment from sales or reviewers. Nevertheless, her enthusiasm for the new song is unbridled, and she may allow herself to ride it, and the album as a whole, as far as it will take her. We’ll see what happens next…but all in all, things appear to be looking up for Lara, after a very difficult 2011.
David
