Post by davidhr on Jan 3, 2017 8:58:39 GMT -5
The week spanning 2016 and 2017 started off in a low key fashion for Lara. No appearance on the Russian ‘Song of the Year’, as was the case in some past years, and in fact no professional public appearances of any sort (however, see below… ). Instead, most of this Update will be concerned with the ‘Year in Review’, which follows the “News”.
On her FB site, Lara and her team wished people a Happy New Year and posted links to the videos of the last dance from the 1983 movie Flashdance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzALZjoIx0g), a favorite of Lara’s; and also Abba’s ‘Happy New Year’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRa8g-m4UNk). Both seemed excellent choices for ushering in what many people think will be a year of great challenges and change.
The various fan sites, and also personalities, all offered New Year’s wishes. The ‘Lara Fabian, 'Bien Plus Qu'une Passion’ site copied a New Year’s message from Gilles Lartigot (the author of ‘EAT’, the book Lara promoted last week). On his official Facebook account he wrote (in translation):
"Beyond the prejudice" nice surprise from the end of the year this meeting with Lara Fabian in Brussels. I discovered an endearing woman, sincere in her quest, awake to topics that go well beyond the simple issue of food. Her words confirm her words and actions, which is particularly rare in this business that I know well. Thank you Lara.”
Several photos of them together can be found at:
www.facebook.com/166959643357708/photos/pcb.1207368582650137/1207368529316809/?type=3&theater
Actually, Lara did have one appearance out in public, at ‘Burger Triple B in Brussels’ : www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343 201065806601591/1372966786078148/?type=3. Isabelle Kassis on the MZII FB site wondered whether that food would really jibe with the message the book EAT prescribes?
Some nice wishes for Lara this coming year can be found at various fan sites, e.g., from the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ site,
www.facebook.com/166959643357708/photos/a.168982793155393.43222.166959643357708/1208762935844035/?type=3&theater
From ‘Operation Fan Club Lara Fabian’,
www.facebook.com/OperationFanClubLaraFabian/photos/a.674006339373232.1073741828.673991206041412/1147520508688477/?type=3&theater
(which also qualifies as one of the interesting photos of the week)
from Lara Fabian Mexico,
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianfromMexico/photos/a.556367684417296.1073741826.556364357750962/1202743613113030/?type=3&theater
(which would be another of the interesting photos…)
And an exceptionally beautiful photo from the Lara Fabian Greece site, at
www.facebook.com/larafabiangreece/photos/a.443804005744698.1073741828.443548625770236/608684129256684/?type=3&theater
In the limited other news available, the MZ FB site noted that after being the 20th best-selling album in 1 and a half months in 2015, "Ma vie dans la tienne" is the 21th best-selling album in 2016 in French-speaking Belgium. This, of course, is Lara’s most reliable market.
The MZ II FB site reported that ‘People Incognito’, the program where celebrities (including Lara) dressed up to be unidentifiable, and then revealed themselves to fans, was actually ‘de-programmed’ by M6 at the last moment (http://www.programme-tv.net/news/tv/103717-people-incognito-pourquoi-m6-ne-diffusera-pas-ce-soir-sa-nouvelle-emission-avec-vianney-et-frederic-michalak/). The article says the problem lies with the ‘rights of broadcast’. No indication of whether it will be returned to the schedule…
There is a 58 second extract of Lara’s duet with Tony Carreira, available to some people (primarily in Belgium) at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGe58mC_BQc&feature=youtu.be Presumably at some point we’ll get to hear the whole recording.
Activity may well pick up this coming week, though Lara does not have any scheduled appearances before her London concert in March.
Now on to the year in review…
-------------------------------------------------------
2016 Year in Review: A very successful and happy year of ‘rebirth’
[Rather than a chronological recitation of the events of the year, we’ll emphasize the main themes].
**After having gradually ramped up her activities in the year following her hearing injury in 2014, 2016 featured the flourishing once again of Lara’s career, both for the francophone world and internationally.
**Lara’s main professional activity was the tour for her album (released the previous November), called: “Ma Vie Dans La Tienne – the concert”. It began in March and ended in December, taking most of the summer off. As listed on her official FB site, there were ~40 such concerts this year; 22 occurred in France or Belgium, 18 elsewhere, primarily in eastern Europe, Russia and the Ukraine. This breakdown showed Lara’s strengthening image of herself as an international artist, rather than primarily a French/Belgian performer.
**The concerts featured exceptional singing by Lara throughout, with vocal prowess that rivaled her capability of some 15 years ago. This commendation was made by reviewers, both professional and fans, throughout the tour.
**The concerts also had wonderful visuals on the screen behind her, including pictures of fans, and best-friend Nathalie, during the song ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’; and of couples of all sexual orientation from the photos of Olivier Ciappa (‘Imaginary Couples’) behind ‘La Difference’. Many other songs had accompanying, appealing light shows. Other nice touches were Lara’s husband Gabriel (pre-recorded) joining Lara for a duet on ‘Tue es mon autre’, and the heartfelt spoken tribute to her mother before “L’oubli”.
**The setlist also had numerous ‘dancing’ songs, including ‘Ton desir’, ‘I Will Love Again’, ‘Elle danse’ and, as a novelty, a medley of Abba songs.
**Lara’s outfits became a ‘subject’ this year. Her touring ‘costume’ on stage was simply a jacket, jeans and sneakers. It came under some criticism, especially in Russia and Turkey where they were used to less casual attire, including from Lara. She explained that since she had more dancing/rock songs, she decided she wanted to be comfortable. Ironically, in the beginning of the year, ‘puretrend.com’ had an article entitled “The six most notable looks of Lara Fabian”, with an article that began, ““Not a diva who wants, Lara Fabian has understood: sexy necklines to vestal gowns, the Belgian-Canadian singer has dared the most extravagant outfits.” And at the end of the year, it was noted that she was donating her concert dresses to support ‘la Fondation Papillon’, which is building an orphanage. [If her upcoming concerts continue to have 'more rock songs', she probably won't need them ].
**There were some problems and cancellations. For a variety of reasons, some of them unexplained, concerts were cancelled in Poland, Strasbourg, Romania, Japan and at the Festival in Montauban; also an announced joint appearance with Natalia in west-Flanders never took place. Technical problems affected performances in Liege, Turkey, and the Romanian cancellation. Promoters’ organizational problems affected the concerts in Greece (which, independently of that, was rained out) and Ukraine (cold conditions). Most of the concerts, however, proceeded without such difficulties.
**The terrorist problems plaguing the world did not spare Lara. She had close calls with the bombing at the Brussels’ airport, and attacks in Turkey both prior to her appearance in Antalya, and just after in Istanbul. This followed a relatively close call last November in Paris. None of these were directed at Lara, of course, and she persevered despite them.
**Lara responded to the Brussels attack by singing ‘Voir un ami pleurer’ later that night in Marseilles – a performance which garnered great publicity and approval.
**Lara had other notable live performances during the year – at the Gay Pride Festival in Montreal (her first time appearing at such an event as a performer); at the New Wave Festival in Sochi (after having missed it last year); and at the opening of the ‘Parisian Macau’ in China.
**Lara’s first-time-ever full concert performance in the Flemish portion of Belgium, in Antwerp, got very positive reviews. In an interview associated with that concert, she mentioned she would like to sing a duet with Flemish star Natalia. Natalia’s people then called Lara, and they subsequently recorded and released a single ‘Raozrblade’, with a video produced as well. Natalia then joined her for concerts in Turkey and at Forest National in Brussels. This was part of Lara’s hope to have the two cultural/linguistic sides of Belgium come closer, musically.
**As far as the album ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’ is concerned, it achieved platinum status, with more than 100,000 discs sold (not just shipped), which counts as a success in this era’s market. Of course, even with the change in buying habits, it was not as great a success as Pure or Nue in terms of influencing French culture. Indicative of that was that the singles released this year, ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’, Ton desir, or even the ‘aborted’ single “L’oubli” made no impact on the charts.
**A re-release of the album occurred in March, which included two new ‘bonuses’, “Non coupable” and “Voce” (replacing the two bonuses written by Igor Krutoi that had been on the initial release), and also a DVD of her ‘world tour’, “Un soir autour du monde”, the live show filmed in Prague. It provided a momentary spark in the charts, and was the version that Lara went to promote for a few days in Montreal – somewhat ironically, because one of the replaced bonus songs, ‘Je vais revoir l’hiver’ was about her love of Quebec, which was then completely overlooked.
**’Non coupable’, Lara’s answer to her past critics, turned out to be a fan favorite and was included in her regular concert set. In retrospect, one wonders whether Lara does not regret removing it from the initial album release (it had been on a preliminary version). The impression was left that she didn’t want to alienate the critics, and indeed, she and the album (without that song) were critically acclaimed. Nevertheless, when Lara’s primary discography is displayed, this album will be missing a powerful song.
**Another regret that fans have, and one would suspect Lara might as well, was that there was no professional filming of her wonderful tour. When the ‘Le Secret’ tour was cut short, Lara said she was very sorry that they had not gotten a chance to film it, and this latest tour was, if anything, much more impressive and much better received. The general feeling of fans was that Warner France did not want to pay for another DVD release (following the bonus DVD ‘Un soir autour du monde’). Although not a complete substitute, we do have many videos from her concerts made by fans from the audience, including some whole shows (e.g., Moscow, Paris, Brussels) – the advantages of modern technology!
**At least partly for the promotion of the album and the tour, Lara was on numerous TV shows. It started with her participation last year’s New Year’s Eve on ‘Le 31 tout est permis avec Arthur’ in which she (unintentionally, but endearingly) ‘played’ the ‘dizzy blonde’ to perfection! Shortly after the New Year she did well on a musical quiz show ‘Le Grand Blind Test’. Other highlights included her TV appearance with Veronic DiCaire on the ‘DiCaire show’; her spoof of Patrick Sebastien on the show ‘C'est votre vie P. Sébastien [which really took place 12/15/15 but was re-shown to great acclaim on “Les Annees Bonheur” with Patrick Sebastien in March]; and a long interview with Thomas Van Hamme on "Le jounal intime de Lara Fabian". The latter emphasized Lara’s Sicilian roots, something that had not been done as much previously, but became a more common repeated theme during the year.
**Lara’s Belgian roots were also emphasized, as she had numerous appearances and events in the country, some not album-related. These included an appearance at the ‘combat dit Lumeçon', in Mons, Belgium to celebrate the local fair; an appearance on the show “C’est du Belge” , to celebrate Belgian National Day; and on a TV show for “I Like Belgium” week.
**This latter program also noted Lara’s cooking ability and Sicilian recipes. Perhaps this was in response to a comment she made on various shows. The song ‘Quand je ne chante pas’ included the lyric that if Lara couldn’t sing, there was nothing else she knew how to do. Hosts asked whether that was really true. Lara answered that, well, she can cook. Various shows during the year then emphasized that. And Lara also noted that it was true as well for her daughter Lou, now 9 years old, whom she indicated might have aspirations to become a chef (and definitely not a singer!).
**In addition, Belgian media also emphasized Lara’s status as a performer with international renown. It was noted that she is the all time best-selling Belgian artist, with record sales of (take your pick, they were all mentioned at one time or another): 14 million discs; 20 million discs; or 32 million discs. Regardless of the exact number, the home-town media found pride in the fact that one of their ‘own’ could sell out Carnegie Hall in New York and the Kremlin Theater in Moscow. Lara, on her part, often posted links to various local businesses in the Waterloo and Brussels area, generally with ‘selfies’.
**Speaking of Moscow, Lara and Igor Krutoi seemed to have healed whatever disagreement they had, and Lara journeyed to Russia a number of different times. In addition to her appearance at Krutoi’s ‘New Wave Festival’, where she performed with Sumi Jo and Dimitri Hvorostovsky [in one of his last public performances; he is retiring from live performing, at least for the time being due to a brain tumor], she also performed in Russia with Krutoi for Musa Bazhaev’s private (50th) birthday concert, and went back again late in the year for sold out concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
**Another place where she received renewed love was in Montreal. For both her appearances at Montreal Pride and her promotional tour there, she was treated almost like an expatriate, a once-loved natural resource who had moved away. One might say that their sentiment has changed from anger at her leaving, to a phase of complete indifference(as for example with the ‘Le Secret’ and ‘Best of’ tours, where she was practically ignored by the media), to appreciation at her ‘stopping by’. Lara so enjoys being there that she said she was considering moving back soon [though that’s not likely as long as her parents are alive]. Fans have pointed out that ‘Lara’s great return', as it was being called, was really only after an absence of one year, but because her outgoing attitude was so different, it seemed as if they were seeing her for the first time in a long while.
**And in fact, both there and in France/Belgium, Lara’s attitude had changed, which might help explain much of the positive responses she received whatever the locale. Lara adopted an attitude of humility, admitting past mistakes with a sense of humor, and remaining upbeat regardless of the circumstances. As a result, people responded to her in kind, praising her rather than criticizing, a change nowhere more obvious then in the French press. [It did help that one of her main accusers, ‘Le Petit Journal’ of Yann Barthes, came to an end]. Lara announced in an interview that she was ‘happier than ever’ (and not just about that!).
**One ‘circumstance’ that required her to maintain a positive point of view was the illnesses of her parents. After some months, Lara eventually admitted that “L’oubli” was about her mother, whom she acknowledged was suffering from “Dementia with Lewy Bodies”. Lara said she realized that many other people were hiding such problems in shame, and it was a subject that needed to be brought into the light. In addition, she also revealed her father was suffering from ‘fibromyalgia’, a condition that wracks the body with pain. Real challenges in this year of otherwise great successes.
**On the subject of illnesses, and people in need, Lara did help out with her favorite charities during the year, although it didn’t seem as big a part of her activities as in years past. As usual she participated in Sidaction activities, for the fight against AIDS; for “Le Télévie” to help in the fight against cancer and leukemia in children and adults; and for La Fondation Papillon’, noted earlier, which is mobilizing to provide shelter and living space for 40 children and mixed adolescents ages 6 to 18 years. Lara backed out of the Eva Longoria’s “Global Gift Gala” at the last moment, and overall may have been too busy to devote as much time to charity work.
**Lara’s own ‘illness’, her hearing problems, faded from public awareness during the year. Interviewers, and Lara herself, used the past tense in discussing it. She said she did lose some hearing in the lowest frequencies, but that her body picked up a new way of appreciating them. Nevertheless, the concerts were generally limited to 90 minutes, which Lara said was a precaution she needed to take; and she still might have to be using medicine for her ears (as she had initially said she would need after the concerts). It also might limit the number of concerts she can give in a short period of time. But it no longer seems the limitation that was feared just two years ago, and a number of her songs had loud (for her) rock instrumentation, further indicating the volume was no longer an issue.
**Lara did have other ‘causes’ which she fostered and wrote material for: the launch of her singing teacher Pierre-Yves Duchesne’s book “PY3.14, La Method”, concerned with the art of singing (and she still was active with his school for musical comedy, AICOM); the book “Ne marche pas si tu peux danser“ [Don’t Walk If You Can Dance] by Anne van Stappen, which promulgates ‘Non-violent communication’; and most recently, the book “Eat” written by Gilles Lartigot which teaches us about our diet and what happens behind the scenes of our food.
**In line with her attempt to re-ingratiate herself with the French public, Lara presented herself to them as an international artist who carried the French language with her. This seemed to be a winning message – her absences from Belgium and France, being ‘abroad’, could thus be framed as in fact promoting the French language. That approach appeared to be behind her release of ‘Un soir autour du monde’ with an accompanying French language interview (plus the removal of her English dialogue with the audience), and it permeated many of her interviews with the francophile press. However, there was some resistance; fans wrote in complaining that Lara was increasingly using English on her FB site, and in almost all of the foreign countries she visited, even while she sang mostly French songs, she generally talked to the audience in English. The situation will get even more ‘sticky’ in that regard when Lara releases her English album, in 2017.
**And that was a big story in 2016 – even while she was promoting her latest French disc (released in November 2015), on numerous occasions she made it known she was working on a new English album. She was periodically going off to Sweden to interact with her writing partners Sharon Vaughn and Moh Denebi, and she posted a picture indicating her team was already working on fairly advanced tasks in Los Angeles. The record is to appear sometime during this year; it is unlikely to be the spring, perhaps the summer, more likely the fall, although Lara said a single is anticipated in June. Efforts associated with it were stated to be behind the cancellation of the three concerts in Poland last May (and perhaps even the cancellations of the replacement concerts this coming February), as well as several other changes in her schedule. Lara said it had been more than a decade since her last major English album release (‘A Wonderful Life’, in 2004), and she felt it was time (the disc ‘Every Woman in Me’ not being counted as ‘major’). In addition, of course, it helps cement her image as an International Artist, towards which she has been trending more and more.
**Associated with this new release, 2017, and seemingly 2018 as well, will probably feature an extensive tour outside of France and Belgium. Fans from many ‘foreign’ countries wrote into Lara’s FB site asking if she would be coming to their location, and often her ‘team’ said “yes, in the 2017/2018 time frame”. This included some novel places: Lara says she will be giving 10 concerts in Asia, including Saigon, Hong Kong, and Beijing; and also 10 concerts in Brazil. Her ‘team’ had indicated that there would be an extensive tour of North America beginning ‘early in 2017’, but it looks like that will be delayed until closer to the time when the new English album is ready – and might even slip to 2018 (when the tour of Brazil appears more likely to take place). Also promised is a tour of western Europe, including London early on, eventually Germany, Amsterdam, Finland, etc. – maybe even Poland (eventually!). There’s been no indication that it would include Italy, which continues to be the strangest omission from Lara’s schedule, given that it is in one sense her native country and language. An English album opens many doors, practically speaking – but whether Lara really walks through them, and actually goes to all these venues, will help determine the course of events in 2017 and beyond.
*Fan sites continued to be active in 2016, both francophone and others; with the renewed emphasis on her international career, a number of local fan club sites in the countries visited became highly relevant. But the most advantageous source for information came from Lara’s own FB site, where her ‘Team’ did a wonderful job providing information on her appearances, offered some videos, and responded quicker to fan’s questions and comments than had been the case previously. ‘Odacity’ ran Lara’s concert tour, and while things were not perfect, most would agree that the tour was a huge success. A resource that still needs work is the ‘boutique store’, which is not even on Lara’s standard (basically unused) URL, and does not offer most of her CDs or DVDs for sale. Perhaps that will undergo its own renaissance in 2017.
**Whether it was Lara’s FB site, or the tour, or the album, or her positive attitude, Lara’s popularity as indicated by (the somewhat unscientific measure of) Face Book ‘Likes’, continues to grow. Since August of 2015, she has gained 252,000 new ‘likes’, to her current impressive level of 1,206,000. One would suspect a new English album and large-scale tour might increase that substantially.
In summary, a number of press articles referred to 2016 as a ‘rebirth’ for Lara, and that is as good a term as any following her difficulties earlier this decade. A very successful year professionally and, despite her parents’ illnesses, personally as well, given how happy she seems. 2017, with the new English album and a tour to many new/different venues seems likely to offer its own opportunities and challenges, but if it is as successful as this past year was, Lara and her team – and her fans - will be overjoyed. Here’s hoping that’s the case!
David
On her FB site, Lara and her team wished people a Happy New Year and posted links to the videos of the last dance from the 1983 movie Flashdance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzALZjoIx0g), a favorite of Lara’s; and also Abba’s ‘Happy New Year’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRa8g-m4UNk). Both seemed excellent choices for ushering in what many people think will be a year of great challenges and change.
The various fan sites, and also personalities, all offered New Year’s wishes. The ‘Lara Fabian, 'Bien Plus Qu'une Passion’ site copied a New Year’s message from Gilles Lartigot (the author of ‘EAT’, the book Lara promoted last week). On his official Facebook account he wrote (in translation):
"Beyond the prejudice" nice surprise from the end of the year this meeting with Lara Fabian in Brussels. I discovered an endearing woman, sincere in her quest, awake to topics that go well beyond the simple issue of food. Her words confirm her words and actions, which is particularly rare in this business that I know well. Thank you Lara.”
Several photos of them together can be found at:
www.facebook.com/166959643357708/photos/pcb.1207368582650137/1207368529316809/?type=3&theater
Actually, Lara did have one appearance out in public, at ‘Burger Triple B in Brussels’ : www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343 201065806601591/1372966786078148/?type=3. Isabelle Kassis on the MZII FB site wondered whether that food would really jibe with the message the book EAT prescribes?
Some nice wishes for Lara this coming year can be found at various fan sites, e.g., from the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ site,
www.facebook.com/166959643357708/photos/a.168982793155393.43222.166959643357708/1208762935844035/?type=3&theater
From ‘Operation Fan Club Lara Fabian’,
www.facebook.com/OperationFanClubLaraFabian/photos/a.674006339373232.1073741828.673991206041412/1147520508688477/?type=3&theater
(which also qualifies as one of the interesting photos of the week)
from Lara Fabian Mexico,
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianfromMexico/photos/a.556367684417296.1073741826.556364357750962/1202743613113030/?type=3&theater
(which would be another of the interesting photos…)
And an exceptionally beautiful photo from the Lara Fabian Greece site, at
www.facebook.com/larafabiangreece/photos/a.443804005744698.1073741828.443548625770236/608684129256684/?type=3&theater
In the limited other news available, the MZ FB site noted that after being the 20th best-selling album in 1 and a half months in 2015, "Ma vie dans la tienne" is the 21th best-selling album in 2016 in French-speaking Belgium. This, of course, is Lara’s most reliable market.
The MZ II FB site reported that ‘People Incognito’, the program where celebrities (including Lara) dressed up to be unidentifiable, and then revealed themselves to fans, was actually ‘de-programmed’ by M6 at the last moment (http://www.programme-tv.net/news/tv/103717-people-incognito-pourquoi-m6-ne-diffusera-pas-ce-soir-sa-nouvelle-emission-avec-vianney-et-frederic-michalak/). The article says the problem lies with the ‘rights of broadcast’. No indication of whether it will be returned to the schedule…
There is a 58 second extract of Lara’s duet with Tony Carreira, available to some people (primarily in Belgium) at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGe58mC_BQc&feature=youtu.be Presumably at some point we’ll get to hear the whole recording.
Activity may well pick up this coming week, though Lara does not have any scheduled appearances before her London concert in March.
Now on to the year in review…
-------------------------------------------------------
2016 Year in Review: A very successful and happy year of ‘rebirth’
[Rather than a chronological recitation of the events of the year, we’ll emphasize the main themes].
**After having gradually ramped up her activities in the year following her hearing injury in 2014, 2016 featured the flourishing once again of Lara’s career, both for the francophone world and internationally.
**Lara’s main professional activity was the tour for her album (released the previous November), called: “Ma Vie Dans La Tienne – the concert”. It began in March and ended in December, taking most of the summer off. As listed on her official FB site, there were ~40 such concerts this year; 22 occurred in France or Belgium, 18 elsewhere, primarily in eastern Europe, Russia and the Ukraine. This breakdown showed Lara’s strengthening image of herself as an international artist, rather than primarily a French/Belgian performer.
**The concerts featured exceptional singing by Lara throughout, with vocal prowess that rivaled her capability of some 15 years ago. This commendation was made by reviewers, both professional and fans, throughout the tour.
**The concerts also had wonderful visuals on the screen behind her, including pictures of fans, and best-friend Nathalie, during the song ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’; and of couples of all sexual orientation from the photos of Olivier Ciappa (‘Imaginary Couples’) behind ‘La Difference’. Many other songs had accompanying, appealing light shows. Other nice touches were Lara’s husband Gabriel (pre-recorded) joining Lara for a duet on ‘Tue es mon autre’, and the heartfelt spoken tribute to her mother before “L’oubli”.
**The setlist also had numerous ‘dancing’ songs, including ‘Ton desir’, ‘I Will Love Again’, ‘Elle danse’ and, as a novelty, a medley of Abba songs.
**Lara’s outfits became a ‘subject’ this year. Her touring ‘costume’ on stage was simply a jacket, jeans and sneakers. It came under some criticism, especially in Russia and Turkey where they were used to less casual attire, including from Lara. She explained that since she had more dancing/rock songs, she decided she wanted to be comfortable. Ironically, in the beginning of the year, ‘puretrend.com’ had an article entitled “The six most notable looks of Lara Fabian”, with an article that began, ““Not a diva who wants, Lara Fabian has understood: sexy necklines to vestal gowns, the Belgian-Canadian singer has dared the most extravagant outfits.” And at the end of the year, it was noted that she was donating her concert dresses to support ‘la Fondation Papillon’, which is building an orphanage. [If her upcoming concerts continue to have 'more rock songs', she probably won't need them
].**There were some problems and cancellations. For a variety of reasons, some of them unexplained, concerts were cancelled in Poland, Strasbourg, Romania, Japan and at the Festival in Montauban; also an announced joint appearance with Natalia in west-Flanders never took place. Technical problems affected performances in Liege, Turkey, and the Romanian cancellation. Promoters’ organizational problems affected the concerts in Greece (which, independently of that, was rained out) and Ukraine (cold conditions). Most of the concerts, however, proceeded without such difficulties.
**The terrorist problems plaguing the world did not spare Lara. She had close calls with the bombing at the Brussels’ airport, and attacks in Turkey both prior to her appearance in Antalya, and just after in Istanbul. This followed a relatively close call last November in Paris. None of these were directed at Lara, of course, and she persevered despite them.
**Lara responded to the Brussels attack by singing ‘Voir un ami pleurer’ later that night in Marseilles – a performance which garnered great publicity and approval.
**Lara had other notable live performances during the year – at the Gay Pride Festival in Montreal (her first time appearing at such an event as a performer); at the New Wave Festival in Sochi (after having missed it last year); and at the opening of the ‘Parisian Macau’ in China.
**Lara’s first-time-ever full concert performance in the Flemish portion of Belgium, in Antwerp, got very positive reviews. In an interview associated with that concert, she mentioned she would like to sing a duet with Flemish star Natalia. Natalia’s people then called Lara, and they subsequently recorded and released a single ‘Raozrblade’, with a video produced as well. Natalia then joined her for concerts in Turkey and at Forest National in Brussels. This was part of Lara’s hope to have the two cultural/linguistic sides of Belgium come closer, musically.
**As far as the album ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’ is concerned, it achieved platinum status, with more than 100,000 discs sold (not just shipped), which counts as a success in this era’s market. Of course, even with the change in buying habits, it was not as great a success as Pure or Nue in terms of influencing French culture. Indicative of that was that the singles released this year, ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’, Ton desir, or even the ‘aborted’ single “L’oubli” made no impact on the charts.
**A re-release of the album occurred in March, which included two new ‘bonuses’, “Non coupable” and “Voce” (replacing the two bonuses written by Igor Krutoi that had been on the initial release), and also a DVD of her ‘world tour’, “Un soir autour du monde”, the live show filmed in Prague. It provided a momentary spark in the charts, and was the version that Lara went to promote for a few days in Montreal – somewhat ironically, because one of the replaced bonus songs, ‘Je vais revoir l’hiver’ was about her love of Quebec, which was then completely overlooked.
**’Non coupable’, Lara’s answer to her past critics, turned out to be a fan favorite and was included in her regular concert set. In retrospect, one wonders whether Lara does not regret removing it from the initial album release (it had been on a preliminary version). The impression was left that she didn’t want to alienate the critics, and indeed, she and the album (without that song) were critically acclaimed. Nevertheless, when Lara’s primary discography is displayed, this album will be missing a powerful song.
**Another regret that fans have, and one would suspect Lara might as well, was that there was no professional filming of her wonderful tour. When the ‘Le Secret’ tour was cut short, Lara said she was very sorry that they had not gotten a chance to film it, and this latest tour was, if anything, much more impressive and much better received. The general feeling of fans was that Warner France did not want to pay for another DVD release (following the bonus DVD ‘Un soir autour du monde’). Although not a complete substitute, we do have many videos from her concerts made by fans from the audience, including some whole shows (e.g., Moscow, Paris, Brussels) – the advantages of modern technology!
**At least partly for the promotion of the album and the tour, Lara was on numerous TV shows. It started with her participation last year’s New Year’s Eve on ‘Le 31 tout est permis avec Arthur’ in which she (unintentionally, but endearingly) ‘played’ the ‘dizzy blonde’ to perfection! Shortly after the New Year she did well on a musical quiz show ‘Le Grand Blind Test’. Other highlights included her TV appearance with Veronic DiCaire on the ‘DiCaire show’; her spoof of Patrick Sebastien on the show ‘C'est votre vie P. Sébastien [which really took place 12/15/15 but was re-shown to great acclaim on “Les Annees Bonheur” with Patrick Sebastien in March]; and a long interview with Thomas Van Hamme on "Le jounal intime de Lara Fabian". The latter emphasized Lara’s Sicilian roots, something that had not been done as much previously, but became a more common repeated theme during the year.
**Lara’s Belgian roots were also emphasized, as she had numerous appearances and events in the country, some not album-related. These included an appearance at the ‘combat dit Lumeçon', in Mons, Belgium to celebrate the local fair; an appearance on the show “C’est du Belge” , to celebrate Belgian National Day; and on a TV show for “I Like Belgium” week.
**This latter program also noted Lara’s cooking ability and Sicilian recipes. Perhaps this was in response to a comment she made on various shows. The song ‘Quand je ne chante pas’ included the lyric that if Lara couldn’t sing, there was nothing else she knew how to do. Hosts asked whether that was really true. Lara answered that, well, she can cook. Various shows during the year then emphasized that. And Lara also noted that it was true as well for her daughter Lou, now 9 years old, whom she indicated might have aspirations to become a chef (and definitely not a singer!).
**In addition, Belgian media also emphasized Lara’s status as a performer with international renown. It was noted that she is the all time best-selling Belgian artist, with record sales of (take your pick, they were all mentioned at one time or another): 14 million discs; 20 million discs; or 32 million discs. Regardless of the exact number, the home-town media found pride in the fact that one of their ‘own’ could sell out Carnegie Hall in New York and the Kremlin Theater in Moscow. Lara, on her part, often posted links to various local businesses in the Waterloo and Brussels area, generally with ‘selfies’.
**Speaking of Moscow, Lara and Igor Krutoi seemed to have healed whatever disagreement they had, and Lara journeyed to Russia a number of different times. In addition to her appearance at Krutoi’s ‘New Wave Festival’, where she performed with Sumi Jo and Dimitri Hvorostovsky [in one of his last public performances; he is retiring from live performing, at least for the time being due to a brain tumor], she also performed in Russia with Krutoi for Musa Bazhaev’s private (50th) birthday concert, and went back again late in the year for sold out concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
**Another place where she received renewed love was in Montreal. For both her appearances at Montreal Pride and her promotional tour there, she was treated almost like an expatriate, a once-loved natural resource who had moved away. One might say that their sentiment has changed from anger at her leaving, to a phase of complete indifference(as for example with the ‘Le Secret’ and ‘Best of’ tours, where she was practically ignored by the media), to appreciation at her ‘stopping by’. Lara so enjoys being there that she said she was considering moving back soon [though that’s not likely as long as her parents are alive]. Fans have pointed out that ‘Lara’s great return', as it was being called, was really only after an absence of one year, but because her outgoing attitude was so different, it seemed as if they were seeing her for the first time in a long while.
**And in fact, both there and in France/Belgium, Lara’s attitude had changed, which might help explain much of the positive responses she received whatever the locale. Lara adopted an attitude of humility, admitting past mistakes with a sense of humor, and remaining upbeat regardless of the circumstances. As a result, people responded to her in kind, praising her rather than criticizing, a change nowhere more obvious then in the French press. [It did help that one of her main accusers, ‘Le Petit Journal’ of Yann Barthes, came to an end]. Lara announced in an interview that she was ‘happier than ever’ (and not just about that!).
**One ‘circumstance’ that required her to maintain a positive point of view was the illnesses of her parents. After some months, Lara eventually admitted that “L’oubli” was about her mother, whom she acknowledged was suffering from “Dementia with Lewy Bodies”. Lara said she realized that many other people were hiding such problems in shame, and it was a subject that needed to be brought into the light. In addition, she also revealed her father was suffering from ‘fibromyalgia’, a condition that wracks the body with pain. Real challenges in this year of otherwise great successes.
**On the subject of illnesses, and people in need, Lara did help out with her favorite charities during the year, although it didn’t seem as big a part of her activities as in years past. As usual she participated in Sidaction activities, for the fight against AIDS; for “Le Télévie” to help in the fight against cancer and leukemia in children and adults; and for La Fondation Papillon’, noted earlier, which is mobilizing to provide shelter and living space for 40 children and mixed adolescents ages 6 to 18 years. Lara backed out of the Eva Longoria’s “Global Gift Gala” at the last moment, and overall may have been too busy to devote as much time to charity work.
**Lara’s own ‘illness’, her hearing problems, faded from public awareness during the year. Interviewers, and Lara herself, used the past tense in discussing it. She said she did lose some hearing in the lowest frequencies, but that her body picked up a new way of appreciating them. Nevertheless, the concerts were generally limited to 90 minutes, which Lara said was a precaution she needed to take; and she still might have to be using medicine for her ears (as she had initially said she would need after the concerts). It also might limit the number of concerts she can give in a short period of time. But it no longer seems the limitation that was feared just two years ago, and a number of her songs had loud (for her) rock instrumentation, further indicating the volume was no longer an issue.
**Lara did have other ‘causes’ which she fostered and wrote material for: the launch of her singing teacher Pierre-Yves Duchesne’s book “PY3.14, La Method”, concerned with the art of singing (and she still was active with his school for musical comedy, AICOM); the book “Ne marche pas si tu peux danser“ [Don’t Walk If You Can Dance] by Anne van Stappen, which promulgates ‘Non-violent communication’; and most recently, the book “Eat” written by Gilles Lartigot which teaches us about our diet and what happens behind the scenes of our food.
**In line with her attempt to re-ingratiate herself with the French public, Lara presented herself to them as an international artist who carried the French language with her. This seemed to be a winning message – her absences from Belgium and France, being ‘abroad’, could thus be framed as in fact promoting the French language. That approach appeared to be behind her release of ‘Un soir autour du monde’ with an accompanying French language interview (plus the removal of her English dialogue with the audience), and it permeated many of her interviews with the francophile press. However, there was some resistance; fans wrote in complaining that Lara was increasingly using English on her FB site, and in almost all of the foreign countries she visited, even while she sang mostly French songs, she generally talked to the audience in English. The situation will get even more ‘sticky’ in that regard when Lara releases her English album, in 2017.
**And that was a big story in 2016 – even while she was promoting her latest French disc (released in November 2015), on numerous occasions she made it known she was working on a new English album. She was periodically going off to Sweden to interact with her writing partners Sharon Vaughn and Moh Denebi, and she posted a picture indicating her team was already working on fairly advanced tasks in Los Angeles. The record is to appear sometime during this year; it is unlikely to be the spring, perhaps the summer, more likely the fall, although Lara said a single is anticipated in June. Efforts associated with it were stated to be behind the cancellation of the three concerts in Poland last May (and perhaps even the cancellations of the replacement concerts this coming February), as well as several other changes in her schedule. Lara said it had been more than a decade since her last major English album release (‘A Wonderful Life’, in 2004), and she felt it was time (the disc ‘Every Woman in Me’ not being counted as ‘major’). In addition, of course, it helps cement her image as an International Artist, towards which she has been trending more and more.
**Associated with this new release, 2017, and seemingly 2018 as well, will probably feature an extensive tour outside of France and Belgium. Fans from many ‘foreign’ countries wrote into Lara’s FB site asking if she would be coming to their location, and often her ‘team’ said “yes, in the 2017/2018 time frame”. This included some novel places: Lara says she will be giving 10 concerts in Asia, including Saigon, Hong Kong, and Beijing; and also 10 concerts in Brazil. Her ‘team’ had indicated that there would be an extensive tour of North America beginning ‘early in 2017’, but it looks like that will be delayed until closer to the time when the new English album is ready – and might even slip to 2018 (when the tour of Brazil appears more likely to take place). Also promised is a tour of western Europe, including London early on, eventually Germany, Amsterdam, Finland, etc. – maybe even Poland (eventually!). There’s been no indication that it would include Italy, which continues to be the strangest omission from Lara’s schedule, given that it is in one sense her native country and language. An English album opens many doors, practically speaking – but whether Lara really walks through them, and actually goes to all these venues, will help determine the course of events in 2017 and beyond.
*Fan sites continued to be active in 2016, both francophone and others; with the renewed emphasis on her international career, a number of local fan club sites in the countries visited became highly relevant. But the most advantageous source for information came from Lara’s own FB site, where her ‘Team’ did a wonderful job providing information on her appearances, offered some videos, and responded quicker to fan’s questions and comments than had been the case previously. ‘Odacity’ ran Lara’s concert tour, and while things were not perfect, most would agree that the tour was a huge success. A resource that still needs work is the ‘boutique store’, which is not even on Lara’s standard (basically unused) URL, and does not offer most of her CDs or DVDs for sale. Perhaps that will undergo its own renaissance in 2017.
**Whether it was Lara’s FB site, or the tour, or the album, or her positive attitude, Lara’s popularity as indicated by (the somewhat unscientific measure of) Face Book ‘Likes’, continues to grow. Since August of 2015, she has gained 252,000 new ‘likes’, to her current impressive level of 1,206,000. One would suspect a new English album and large-scale tour might increase that substantially.
In summary, a number of press articles referred to 2016 as a ‘rebirth’ for Lara, and that is as good a term as any following her difficulties earlier this decade. A very successful year professionally and, despite her parents’ illnesses, personally as well, given how happy she seems. 2017, with the new English album and a tour to many new/different venues seems likely to offer its own opportunities and challenges, but if it is as successful as this past year was, Lara and her team – and her fans - will be overjoyed. Here’s hoping that’s the case!
David
