Post by davidhr on Mar 14, 2017 7:44:07 GMT -5
Lara’s concert in London takes place tomorrow, her first ever in the country. A few weeks ago she gave an interview to “Ici”, the magazine for the French living in England. She has now followed that up with another interview with a French publication for the English, ‘London Macadam” (http://www.londonmacadam.com/single-post/2017/01/30/Lara-Fabian-en-concert-%C3%A0-Londres-). Here is the translation:
------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian in concert in London!
March 13, 2017
Wednesday, March 15 Lara Fabian is in London at the Eventim Apollo Hammersmith.
"A part of my intimacy never revealed is found inside this album".
The singer, who has been interested in music from an early age and has been singing love to us for over 20 years, offers her first show in London.
Born in a musical family in Belgium, Lara Fabian spent the first five years of her life in Italy before settling in Brussels where she began singing, playing the piano and composing at the age of 8 years. At 16, she released her first single and in 1988 she represented Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 1997, Lara signed with Polydor France, released the album "Pure", sold more than two million copies in France and toured France and Belgium for the first time.
Her "Live" album of 1999 was n ° 1 in the French charts, led to an international contract with Sony Music and allowed her to win a World Music Award in Monaco.
Since then, Lara Fabian has recorded a host of multi-platinum albums in her favorite languages; collaborated with Josh Groban on a track for the film AI: Artificial Intelligence; with producer David Foster in the recording of an English version of the Canadian national anthem "O Canada"; and with many other great names.
London Macadam met her on the streets of London. Interview.
London Macadam: Lara Fabian hello, thank you for accepting an interview for London Macadam magazine, the magazine of the 300 000 French of London www.londonmacadam.com.
Lara Fabian: Good morning!
London Macadam: After more than 2 years of absence, you made your big comeback with a new opus "Ma vie dans la tienne", tell us about this record, its tone, its inspiration, its title?
Lara Fabian: This is a fairly simple narrative that revolves around several letters addressed to all the people who are very important and who matter in my life. ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’ is the story of what we all go through, our great choices, our great sorrows, our great loves and our great joys. It is an album that allows to pose things without artifice, with much simplicity. ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’ I wrote it as it is told, without filter, not as we try to make a pop song, not as we pass a message, but really rather as we would make a dedication, with much transparency, of gratitude to those who make us what we are.
London Macadam: I read: "This album is a part of my intimacy never revealed ...", can you tell me more?
Lara Fabian: Actually, if you analyze each song on this album, there's a song for my best friend, a song for my mom, experiencing a quite sad neurodegenerative disease, a song for my husband, and one for my girl. I had rarely made an album that included so many letters of love and gratitude for my family. It is for that reason that a part of my intimacy never revealed is found inside this album, while preserving, of course, both the limit of a certain modesty and at the same time, a will for me to tell something that brings us all together. Since we are all the daughter, the brother, the sister or the mummy of someone, we all have one of these links and finally by my telling that way, I interconnect all the more simply to the public who, too, lives the same thing.
London Macadam: Are there any singers who have influenced the way you write or sing your songs?
Lara Fabian: Not necessarily no, I've always written and sung my songs for more than twenty years. Simply David Gategno and Élodie Hesme, with whom I wrote this album "with six hands", have been very important in its elaboration.
London Macadam: Projects for 2017? A tour ? An album ? A collaboration ?
Lara Fabian: Yes, I have a new album in English for 2017 and also a tour project that will take shape towards the end of September 2017. I just finished writing this album, we are in the process of fine-tuning it, to arrange it for a concrete realization.
London Macadam: We are waiting for you in London on March 15th. Is this your first time in London? For you, playing in London is ...?
Lara Fabian: Yes, this is the first time with an audience, I have already sung in London as part of some show-case that I did at the time with Sony Music but as part of a concert. Ticketing for an audience is a first for me in London.
London Macadam: Surprises for this concert, a little word for the 300,000 French of London?
Lara Fabian: I am delighted to be able to bring a little taste of our francophonie to London. It is a city that I particularly appreciate and I await many of them there.
My London by Lara Fabian: Do you know this city, does it inspire you? Neighborhoods you like, an inspiration for a song ...?
Lara Fabian: I love this city very much, I spent a lot of time there throughout my life. I went there regularly, whether for work or out of affection for the city itself, for the cultural context from which it is nourished. It is a city that I really like, I do not hide that I am a lover of the theater area, it is a place that I like to frequent to be able to go to sit in certain theaters and observe the works or the artists. I have often spent weekends in London to see musicals or plays, it is a particularly rich city on this side.
Thanks and see you soon on the streets of London!
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is further indication, if any is needed, that Lara expects her audience in London to be primarily French speaking, and so one should probably be prepared for her standard ‘best of’ setlist (as suggested in last week’s Update, but maybe with even more French songs). The few brief indications I’ve seen of any press notice in English is, first, the following, from London Downtown (http://www.londontown.com/London/Londons-Live-Music-VenuesLara Fabian):
--------------------------------------------------------
ON SOON Wednesday 15th March 2017 - 7.30pm | £54.25-£65.25
The Belgian-Canadian singer with more than 25 million albums sold worldwide performs her first show ever in the UK including some of her greatest hits, such as I Will Love Again, Broken Vow, Adagio or ...
-------------------------------------------------------
And then the ‘Lara Fabian Is Here’ site shared Piu’s Entertainment UK’s video promotion blurb (of 14 seconds), at
www.facebook.com/piuint/videos/424869964514073/
And perhaps Lara is right – maybe she doesn’t need any English language promotion in London for this particular concert, being that it is the first of its kind. The seating capacity of the ‘Hammersmith Apollo’ concert hall is some 3357. As suggested by the available seats (http://hammersmithapollo.s3.amazonaws.com/img/SeatingPlan3.jpg), as of yesterday, it was at least 80% full, and may be more so by now. However, Lara does want to sell her new English album when it comes out, so failure to promote herself to the English speaking media is probably not a good strategy for the longer term. And given that perspective, delivering what she promises to be a concert for "francophonies" would seem short-sighted.
And concerning the new album: a few days ago, Lara posted a picture of ‘snowy Stockholm’ with the caption, “Waking up in snowy Stockholm.. a few days of studio sessions to record last songs for the English album.. I am so excited about this album.” It can be seen at,
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/1469821563059336/?type=3&theater
With it she accomplished two things: she informed us of the status of the new album, which is then not quite finished; and she indirectly indicated not to expect anything truly novel at the London concert, since it didn’t require her presence until the last moment.
Then today Lara posted a picture from London of the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens,
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/1475128082528684/?type=3&theater
with the caption, “New album in English almost ready, tour dates shaping up, a nice walk in Hyde Park, meeting Peter Pan before my first concert in London tomorrow. Brexit? Not for me !” This immediately got her embroiled in the Brexit controversy, with one person (and, as far as I can see, one only) accusing her of not understanding what Brexit was all about. Her Team responded by questioning whether that person had a sense of humor. However…“many a truth is said in jest”; Lara is all about bringing people together, and anything that appears to separate people is bound to alienate her. [If one is looking for a link between the statue and Lara’s comment, the Peter Pan statue features squirrels, rabbits, mice and fairies all climbing up to Peter; substitute different nationalities for these creatures, and, there you have it!
].
Assuming the album is finished in the next month, give it several more weeks for mixing and mastering, and then several more months (at least) for promotion and delivery, one imagines it would be ready by early summer at the earliest. But no one wants to release an album in summer, other than ‘oldies’ summer hits…so it would appear as if a fall release would be in the cards, as has been speculated for some time. In the article above, Lara indicated that the tour for the album would start in late September, which would fit with this scenario. It remains to be seen if a single is released in June, as Lara had once indicated, and whether any promotion for the album would be done in conjunction with it. At the very least though, expectations should be minimal for any active promotion, or touring, before then, even though the "tour is taking shape".
In other news, it was reported that Lara will be joining more than 200 other singers at the Cirque Royal in Brussels on Wednesday March 22 for an evening of tributes to the victims of the March 22, 2016 attacks (victims, relative and rescue services, police, army, etc). (http://www.dhnet.be/actu/belgique/attentats-raphael-adamo-lara-fabian-pour-un-hommage-en-chansons-58c19be1cd70a15c9a09b855#.WMLnTzVXh9Q.facebook). The concert has been organized by RTBF. As the article notes, “The general public will also be able to attend a tribute organized by the City of Brussels on March 22: a minute of silence will be organized in the morning, music at noon time at the foot of the Bourse and a presentation of medals to staff working with victims.”
Interesting photo(s) of the week: from the Lara Fabian Voice of Passion site,
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianTheVoiceOfPassion/photos/a.722339551114856.1073741831.720473304634814/1724643917551076/?type=3&theater
And in case you didn’t see it, a youtube video of Lara from very early in her career (and also the career of Sonia Benezra), singing a rousing rendition of “Saisir le jour”, at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXO6660bDmA&app=desktop
This is as far from the previous ‘interesting photo’ as one could get!
Given Lara’s caption (to the Peter Pan picture) that the tour is shaping up, it seems possible that we will start hearing about new "events” from Odacity in the relatively near future. Meanwhile, in the short term, it’s most likely that the only novel aspect of Lara’s concert in London tomorrow is that it will be in London. Nevertheless, it will be good to see her in action again, after several months away from the concert stage. Hopefully there will be some videos made available, and that the audience will truly appreciate seeing her there for the first time. And that she will enjoy it as well as she did her first concert in New York, or Moscow. Perhaps on her English album tour, she will get to go to other places of interest for the first time. After some 25 years in the music business, it’s nice that she can still have new experiences.
David
------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian in concert in London!
March 13, 2017
Wednesday, March 15 Lara Fabian is in London at the Eventim Apollo Hammersmith.
"A part of my intimacy never revealed is found inside this album".
The singer, who has been interested in music from an early age and has been singing love to us for over 20 years, offers her first show in London.
Born in a musical family in Belgium, Lara Fabian spent the first five years of her life in Italy before settling in Brussels where she began singing, playing the piano and composing at the age of 8 years. At 16, she released her first single and in 1988 she represented Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 1997, Lara signed with Polydor France, released the album "Pure", sold more than two million copies in France and toured France and Belgium for the first time.
Her "Live" album of 1999 was n ° 1 in the French charts, led to an international contract with Sony Music and allowed her to win a World Music Award in Monaco.
Since then, Lara Fabian has recorded a host of multi-platinum albums in her favorite languages; collaborated with Josh Groban on a track for the film AI: Artificial Intelligence; with producer David Foster in the recording of an English version of the Canadian national anthem "O Canada"; and with many other great names.
London Macadam met her on the streets of London. Interview.
London Macadam: Lara Fabian hello, thank you for accepting an interview for London Macadam magazine, the magazine of the 300 000 French of London www.londonmacadam.com.
Lara Fabian: Good morning!
London Macadam: After more than 2 years of absence, you made your big comeback with a new opus "Ma vie dans la tienne", tell us about this record, its tone, its inspiration, its title?
Lara Fabian: This is a fairly simple narrative that revolves around several letters addressed to all the people who are very important and who matter in my life. ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’ is the story of what we all go through, our great choices, our great sorrows, our great loves and our great joys. It is an album that allows to pose things without artifice, with much simplicity. ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’ I wrote it as it is told, without filter, not as we try to make a pop song, not as we pass a message, but really rather as we would make a dedication, with much transparency, of gratitude to those who make us what we are.
London Macadam: I read: "This album is a part of my intimacy never revealed ...", can you tell me more?
Lara Fabian: Actually, if you analyze each song on this album, there's a song for my best friend, a song for my mom, experiencing a quite sad neurodegenerative disease, a song for my husband, and one for my girl. I had rarely made an album that included so many letters of love and gratitude for my family. It is for that reason that a part of my intimacy never revealed is found inside this album, while preserving, of course, both the limit of a certain modesty and at the same time, a will for me to tell something that brings us all together. Since we are all the daughter, the brother, the sister or the mummy of someone, we all have one of these links and finally by my telling that way, I interconnect all the more simply to the public who, too, lives the same thing.
London Macadam: Are there any singers who have influenced the way you write or sing your songs?
Lara Fabian: Not necessarily no, I've always written and sung my songs for more than twenty years. Simply David Gategno and Élodie Hesme, with whom I wrote this album "with six hands", have been very important in its elaboration.
London Macadam: Projects for 2017? A tour ? An album ? A collaboration ?
Lara Fabian: Yes, I have a new album in English for 2017 and also a tour project that will take shape towards the end of September 2017. I just finished writing this album, we are in the process of fine-tuning it, to arrange it for a concrete realization.
London Macadam: We are waiting for you in London on March 15th. Is this your first time in London? For you, playing in London is ...?
Lara Fabian: Yes, this is the first time with an audience, I have already sung in London as part of some show-case that I did at the time with Sony Music but as part of a concert. Ticketing for an audience is a first for me in London.
London Macadam: Surprises for this concert, a little word for the 300,000 French of London?
Lara Fabian: I am delighted to be able to bring a little taste of our francophonie to London. It is a city that I particularly appreciate and I await many of them there.
My London by Lara Fabian: Do you know this city, does it inspire you? Neighborhoods you like, an inspiration for a song ...?
Lara Fabian: I love this city very much, I spent a lot of time there throughout my life. I went there regularly, whether for work or out of affection for the city itself, for the cultural context from which it is nourished. It is a city that I really like, I do not hide that I am a lover of the theater area, it is a place that I like to frequent to be able to go to sit in certain theaters and observe the works or the artists. I have often spent weekends in London to see musicals or plays, it is a particularly rich city on this side.
Thanks and see you soon on the streets of London!
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is further indication, if any is needed, that Lara expects her audience in London to be primarily French speaking, and so one should probably be prepared for her standard ‘best of’ setlist (as suggested in last week’s Update, but maybe with even more French songs). The few brief indications I’ve seen of any press notice in English is, first, the following, from London Downtown (http://www.londontown.com/London/Londons-Live-Music-VenuesLara Fabian):
--------------------------------------------------------
ON SOON Wednesday 15th March 2017 - 7.30pm | £54.25-£65.25
The Belgian-Canadian singer with more than 25 million albums sold worldwide performs her first show ever in the UK including some of her greatest hits, such as I Will Love Again, Broken Vow, Adagio or ...
-------------------------------------------------------
And then the ‘Lara Fabian Is Here’ site shared Piu’s Entertainment UK’s video promotion blurb (of 14 seconds), at
www.facebook.com/piuint/videos/424869964514073/
And perhaps Lara is right – maybe she doesn’t need any English language promotion in London for this particular concert, being that it is the first of its kind. The seating capacity of the ‘Hammersmith Apollo’ concert hall is some 3357. As suggested by the available seats (http://hammersmithapollo.s3.amazonaws.com/img/SeatingPlan3.jpg), as of yesterday, it was at least 80% full, and may be more so by now. However, Lara does want to sell her new English album when it comes out, so failure to promote herself to the English speaking media is probably not a good strategy for the longer term. And given that perspective, delivering what she promises to be a concert for "francophonies" would seem short-sighted.
And concerning the new album: a few days ago, Lara posted a picture of ‘snowy Stockholm’ with the caption, “Waking up in snowy Stockholm.. a few days of studio sessions to record last songs for the English album.. I am so excited about this album.” It can be seen at,
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/1469821563059336/?type=3&theater
With it she accomplished two things: she informed us of the status of the new album, which is then not quite finished; and she indirectly indicated not to expect anything truly novel at the London concert, since it didn’t require her presence until the last moment.
Then today Lara posted a picture from London of the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens,
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/1475128082528684/?type=3&theater
with the caption, “New album in English almost ready, tour dates shaping up, a nice walk in Hyde Park, meeting Peter Pan before my first concert in London tomorrow. Brexit? Not for me !” This immediately got her embroiled in the Brexit controversy, with one person (and, as far as I can see, one only) accusing her of not understanding what Brexit was all about. Her Team responded by questioning whether that person had a sense of humor. However…“many a truth is said in jest”; Lara is all about bringing people together, and anything that appears to separate people is bound to alienate her. [If one is looking for a link between the statue and Lara’s comment, the Peter Pan statue features squirrels, rabbits, mice and fairies all climbing up to Peter; substitute different nationalities for these creatures, and, there you have it!
].Assuming the album is finished in the next month, give it several more weeks for mixing and mastering, and then several more months (at least) for promotion and delivery, one imagines it would be ready by early summer at the earliest. But no one wants to release an album in summer, other than ‘oldies’ summer hits…so it would appear as if a fall release would be in the cards, as has been speculated for some time. In the article above, Lara indicated that the tour for the album would start in late September, which would fit with this scenario. It remains to be seen if a single is released in June, as Lara had once indicated, and whether any promotion for the album would be done in conjunction with it. At the very least though, expectations should be minimal for any active promotion, or touring, before then, even though the "tour is taking shape".
In other news, it was reported that Lara will be joining more than 200 other singers at the Cirque Royal in Brussels on Wednesday March 22 for an evening of tributes to the victims of the March 22, 2016 attacks (victims, relative and rescue services, police, army, etc). (http://www.dhnet.be/actu/belgique/attentats-raphael-adamo-lara-fabian-pour-un-hommage-en-chansons-58c19be1cd70a15c9a09b855#.WMLnTzVXh9Q.facebook). The concert has been organized by RTBF. As the article notes, “The general public will also be able to attend a tribute organized by the City of Brussels on March 22: a minute of silence will be organized in the morning, music at noon time at the foot of the Bourse and a presentation of medals to staff working with victims.”
Interesting photo(s) of the week: from the Lara Fabian Voice of Passion site,
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianTheVoiceOfPassion/photos/a.722339551114856.1073741831.720473304634814/1724643917551076/?type=3&theater
And in case you didn’t see it, a youtube video of Lara from very early in her career (and also the career of Sonia Benezra), singing a rousing rendition of “Saisir le jour”, at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXO6660bDmA&app=desktop
This is as far from the previous ‘interesting photo’ as one could get!
Given Lara’s caption (to the Peter Pan picture) that the tour is shaping up, it seems possible that we will start hearing about new "events” from Odacity in the relatively near future. Meanwhile, in the short term, it’s most likely that the only novel aspect of Lara’s concert in London tomorrow is that it will be in London. Nevertheless, it will be good to see her in action again, after several months away from the concert stage. Hopefully there will be some videos made available, and that the audience will truly appreciate seeing her there for the first time. And that she will enjoy it as well as she did her first concert in New York, or Moscow. Perhaps on her English album tour, she will get to go to other places of interest for the first time. After some 25 years in the music business, it’s nice that she can still have new experiences.
David
