Post by davidhr on Mar 28, 2017 7:38:35 GMT -5
The big news this past week – and likely one of the highlights of the year – was Lara’s presentation of her song ‘RELÈVE-TOI’ at the ’22 mars Ensemble’ event on the one year anniversary of the bombings in Brussels. Her performance can be seen at
www.rtbf.be/auvio/detail_releve-toi-lara-fabian?id=2197016
or equivalently,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=inQDFdnoObM
The Lara Fabian Greece site had some appealing pictures of Lara on stage, available at
www.facebook.com/larafabiangreece/photos/ms.c.eJw1jckNwEAMAjuKjBd89N9YtI7zHDFAKE0mZuqc1BOX4YBVBH2YnXVzCl9u6GHY~_hbjK5cpEt3rswXSDfz3U7fv4u4V5p~;1AitqHQo~-.bps.a.657049217753508.1073741888.443548625770236/657050547753375/?type=3
And the entire event of more than two hours, with more than 200 people participating in one form or another can be seen at
www.facebook.com/RTBFTV/videos/10154273502416218/
with Lara’s performance coming at about the 1 hour 28 minute mark.
As we know, Lara’s album including this song came out in November 2015, five months before the events in question. When the bombings happened, and the time for the next single approached, we thought this would have been a perfect choice – not (primarily) to take advantage of the tragedy commercially, but to act as a rallying cry for the country. As we also know, that didn’t happen, although it had been used by ‘La page des fabianesk’ to honor the victims of the Paris bombing of November 13, 2015. That can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXCooEHc-cw
Knowingly, and appropriately, Lara used it in just that fashion for this event. For those who don’t remember the lyrics, here again is an English translation:
-----------------------------------
STAND UP
Lyrics: Gategno and Fabian
Music: Hesme and Fabian
I see the fogs that you traverse,
I feel this arrow that pierces you,
Like right in the heart,
What a pain!
I drank the poison of this pond,
I know that it remains in the blood,
To forget,
It takes time.
Stand up,
As a child would take his first step,
Do not let them take from you what you have,
Damn the words that one will say to you
Stand up,
Stand up,
I know, what does not kill you makes you stronger,
To this phrase, it will be necessary to lay the blame,
To suffer hell,
What is this for?
I saw the looks you hate,
I feel that which you flee like the plague,
The indifference,
Their arrogance.
Stand up,
It is through the cracks that the light passes,
And it is between them that they will make war,
As we lose ourselves in wanting to please,
We despair.
Stand up
Like a marching army that no one can stop,
And show them what wood you are made of,
To fall from the highest is to be reborn better,
Stand up,
Stand up.
-----------------------------------------------
Again, a wonderful song, not only uplifting but determined, with strength. And as usual, Lara does not settle for the obvious sentiments, but explores related issues.
The choice of song was the high point. And Lara’s performance received an enthusiastic audience response. It seems uncharitable to mention this, but for whatever reason, as in London, Lara didn’t seem to be in the best voice. There are reports that she is ill (and there were such reports for London, as well); ironically, her singing was somewhat better at the private concert in Budapest in-between these two events, where her vocal range was diagnosed in a video that can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqCXjPjC414. Nicolas Navarro, on the LIFAG-Select site, noted that one could compare Lara’s performance here of Releve-toi with a better one of October 2, 2016 at Le Grand Rex in Paris, which is available at (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Z2NmpfBjc). Perhaps she was overcome with the emotion of this occasion, since here she was singing in a closed room for the relatives of the deceased plus those who helped with rescuing and aid; that’s very different from the exuberant audience for her new album in Paris, where she was, if anything, defiant. While ‘standing up’ to incidents of terrorism may be right in the abstract, it may be hard to sing it with conviction when those right in front of you are grieving for a lost loved one.
About the overall event itself: while the intention was obviously to emphasize that life and culture goes on despite the efforts of the bombers, in fact it really was a sad day. A year ago three bombs went off, at the airport and in the subway, and 32 people died. As the daily newspaper ‘Le Soir’ wrote about it, “that day in March where we lost our innocence.”
According to a report in the NY Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/world/europe/brussels-attack-anniversary.html?_r=0), the Brussels transit authority called for commuters at the Maelbeek station to applaud and make noise at 9:11 a.m., the time when the bomb ripped through the station a year earlier. The noise was meant as an affirmation of life, to show “that we have not forgotten, but remain standing against hate and terror,” the authority said [and as the song lyrics suggest]. A large crowd gathered at the airport on Wednesday to observe a minute of silence at 7:58 a.m., the time when the first explosion went off in the departure terminal. Among those present were King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, Prime Minister Charles Michel and relatives of victims. Baggage carousels froze, takeoffs and landings were held off and all other activity at the airport ceased for the tribute. The names of the dead were read to the accompaniment of a single cello.
The trauma obviously still remains for many. As an indication of that , Belgium has still not come out of Level 3 threat, and there is no indication when that will happen [given recent events, undoubtedly later rather than sooner]. It was noted at (http://www.flair.be/fr/home-sorties/413568/attentats-du-22-mars-un-an-apres-la-belgique-se-souvient#) that this is because "the international and national context does not exclude the risk”, with the two sources of concern that remain being “the return of the Belgian jihadists from Syria on the one hand and, on the other, the radicalization that takes place on Belgian soil and encouraged by calls for hatred broadcast on encrypted messages.” Brussels has shown resilience over the last year, although “the scars from the attacks exposed endemic weaknesses in Belgian law enforcement and a lack of social cohesion”. Soldiers continue to patrol the streets, and the specter of radicalization still hangs over Molenbeek the immigrant neighborhood of Brussels. There is still a lot of work to do, and it can’t be done only, or even primarily, in Belgium…
Lara, in effect, tried to put a ‘coda’ to the event with a hopeful perspective, by putting a link to a video where adults and children try to match up couples. Apparently the children chose love over other, more divisive categories. It can be seen at:
www.higherperspectives.com/match-couples-2331549119.html?c=video
The idea being: that love for others is our inherent nature, all else has to be learned.
In other, happy news, Lara put the following picture on her FB page,
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/1493167354058090/?type=3&theater
with the caption (in English), “12 songs recorded... next step, finalizing arrangements and live recording sessions with additional musicians ... I love these new songs, and hope you will love them too”. She (or her Team) was asked whether these were all new songs, or were there some French songs that were translated into English (as occurred on ‘A Wonderful Life’). The answer was, “No, this is a new album with new songs…” One can compare the number of songs here with her first two English albums: the self-titled one had 13 songs for its American release, and 17 on its release in Europe; and ‘A Wonderful Life’ had 12 songs.
Given what Lara has indicated remains to be done, it is clear that the album will not be finished for a while. However, it would seem to be comfortably on track for a release, say, this coming fall, when Lara said the tour would start. And a single in, say, June, as Lara some time ago indicated might be in the offing, also would seem possible. The good news is that things seem to be moving along, and the new album is becoming more and more of a reality.
Interesting photo(s) of the week, honoring the two main stories; first from Lara’s site, of her at the memorial anniversary in Brussels,
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/1485697141471778/?type=3
And then, a video in celebration of the coming English album, a high quality ballad version of “I Will Love Again” from her concert in Sofia, 10-22-14
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr9msEYWmgk
As Lara explained it on the European edition of “From Lara With Love”, Rick Allison came up with the idea of creating the ballad version of this song, and convinced Lara that it could work. She was singing it during the fall of 2014 to avoid assaulting her ears with the instruments played on the rock version.
Unless Lara is actively involved in finalizing the arrangements and additional musician recording sessions – which would not be at all surprising – she would appear to be finished with her portions of the record construction: helping out with the writing, and of course the vocals. Hopefully her voice was in better shape recording the last songs of the album than we have heard recently. One gets the impression that Lara is in a sense ‘trying out’ another English album; if this one is well-received, perhaps one won’t have to wait another decade for the next one. The fact that Lara loves it is a good start (you may remember she had qualms about the two English albums with Sony). It helps to be in charge
.
David
www.rtbf.be/auvio/detail_releve-toi-lara-fabian?id=2197016
or equivalently,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=inQDFdnoObM
The Lara Fabian Greece site had some appealing pictures of Lara on stage, available at
www.facebook.com/larafabiangreece/photos/ms.c.eJw1jckNwEAMAjuKjBd89N9YtI7zHDFAKE0mZuqc1BOX4YBVBH2YnXVzCl9u6GHY~_hbjK5cpEt3rswXSDfz3U7fv4u4V5p~;1AitqHQo~-.bps.a.657049217753508.1073741888.443548625770236/657050547753375/?type=3
And the entire event of more than two hours, with more than 200 people participating in one form or another can be seen at
www.facebook.com/RTBFTV/videos/10154273502416218/
with Lara’s performance coming at about the 1 hour 28 minute mark.
As we know, Lara’s album including this song came out in November 2015, five months before the events in question. When the bombings happened, and the time for the next single approached, we thought this would have been a perfect choice – not (primarily) to take advantage of the tragedy commercially, but to act as a rallying cry for the country. As we also know, that didn’t happen, although it had been used by ‘La page des fabianesk’ to honor the victims of the Paris bombing of November 13, 2015. That can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXCooEHc-cw
Knowingly, and appropriately, Lara used it in just that fashion for this event. For those who don’t remember the lyrics, here again is an English translation:
-----------------------------------
STAND UP
Lyrics: Gategno and Fabian
Music: Hesme and Fabian
I see the fogs that you traverse,
I feel this arrow that pierces you,
Like right in the heart,
What a pain!
I drank the poison of this pond,
I know that it remains in the blood,
To forget,
It takes time.
Stand up,
As a child would take his first step,
Do not let them take from you what you have,
Damn the words that one will say to you
Stand up,
Stand up,
I know, what does not kill you makes you stronger,
To this phrase, it will be necessary to lay the blame,
To suffer hell,
What is this for?
I saw the looks you hate,
I feel that which you flee like the plague,
The indifference,
Their arrogance.
Stand up,
It is through the cracks that the light passes,
And it is between them that they will make war,
As we lose ourselves in wanting to please,
We despair.
Stand up
Like a marching army that no one can stop,
And show them what wood you are made of,
To fall from the highest is to be reborn better,
Stand up,
Stand up.
-----------------------------------------------
Again, a wonderful song, not only uplifting but determined, with strength. And as usual, Lara does not settle for the obvious sentiments, but explores related issues.
The choice of song was the high point. And Lara’s performance received an enthusiastic audience response. It seems uncharitable to mention this, but for whatever reason, as in London, Lara didn’t seem to be in the best voice. There are reports that she is ill (and there were such reports for London, as well); ironically, her singing was somewhat better at the private concert in Budapest in-between these two events, where her vocal range was diagnosed in a video that can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqCXjPjC414. Nicolas Navarro, on the LIFAG-Select site, noted that one could compare Lara’s performance here of Releve-toi with a better one of October 2, 2016 at Le Grand Rex in Paris, which is available at (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Z2NmpfBjc). Perhaps she was overcome with the emotion of this occasion, since here she was singing in a closed room for the relatives of the deceased plus those who helped with rescuing and aid; that’s very different from the exuberant audience for her new album in Paris, where she was, if anything, defiant. While ‘standing up’ to incidents of terrorism may be right in the abstract, it may be hard to sing it with conviction when those right in front of you are grieving for a lost loved one.
About the overall event itself: while the intention was obviously to emphasize that life and culture goes on despite the efforts of the bombers, in fact it really was a sad day. A year ago three bombs went off, at the airport and in the subway, and 32 people died. As the daily newspaper ‘Le Soir’ wrote about it, “that day in March where we lost our innocence.”
According to a report in the NY Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/world/europe/brussels-attack-anniversary.html?_r=0), the Brussels transit authority called for commuters at the Maelbeek station to applaud and make noise at 9:11 a.m., the time when the bomb ripped through the station a year earlier. The noise was meant as an affirmation of life, to show “that we have not forgotten, but remain standing against hate and terror,” the authority said [and as the song lyrics suggest]. A large crowd gathered at the airport on Wednesday to observe a minute of silence at 7:58 a.m., the time when the first explosion went off in the departure terminal. Among those present were King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, Prime Minister Charles Michel and relatives of victims. Baggage carousels froze, takeoffs and landings were held off and all other activity at the airport ceased for the tribute. The names of the dead were read to the accompaniment of a single cello.
The trauma obviously still remains for many. As an indication of that , Belgium has still not come out of Level 3 threat, and there is no indication when that will happen [given recent events, undoubtedly later rather than sooner]. It was noted at (http://www.flair.be/fr/home-sorties/413568/attentats-du-22-mars-un-an-apres-la-belgique-se-souvient#) that this is because "the international and national context does not exclude the risk”, with the two sources of concern that remain being “the return of the Belgian jihadists from Syria on the one hand and, on the other, the radicalization that takes place on Belgian soil and encouraged by calls for hatred broadcast on encrypted messages.” Brussels has shown resilience over the last year, although “the scars from the attacks exposed endemic weaknesses in Belgian law enforcement and a lack of social cohesion”. Soldiers continue to patrol the streets, and the specter of radicalization still hangs over Molenbeek the immigrant neighborhood of Brussels. There is still a lot of work to do, and it can’t be done only, or even primarily, in Belgium…
Lara, in effect, tried to put a ‘coda’ to the event with a hopeful perspective, by putting a link to a video where adults and children try to match up couples. Apparently the children chose love over other, more divisive categories. It can be seen at:
www.higherperspectives.com/match-couples-2331549119.html?c=video
The idea being: that love for others is our inherent nature, all else has to be learned.
In other, happy news, Lara put the following picture on her FB page,
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/1493167354058090/?type=3&theater
with the caption (in English), “12 songs recorded... next step, finalizing arrangements and live recording sessions with additional musicians ... I love these new songs, and hope you will love them too”. She (or her Team) was asked whether these were all new songs, or were there some French songs that were translated into English (as occurred on ‘A Wonderful Life’). The answer was, “No, this is a new album with new songs…” One can compare the number of songs here with her first two English albums: the self-titled one had 13 songs for its American release, and 17 on its release in Europe; and ‘A Wonderful Life’ had 12 songs.
Given what Lara has indicated remains to be done, it is clear that the album will not be finished for a while. However, it would seem to be comfortably on track for a release, say, this coming fall, when Lara said the tour would start. And a single in, say, June, as Lara some time ago indicated might be in the offing, also would seem possible. The good news is that things seem to be moving along, and the new album is becoming more and more of a reality.
Interesting photo(s) of the week, honoring the two main stories; first from Lara’s site, of her at the memorial anniversary in Brussels,
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/1485697141471778/?type=3
And then, a video in celebration of the coming English album, a high quality ballad version of “I Will Love Again” from her concert in Sofia, 10-22-14
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr9msEYWmgk
As Lara explained it on the European edition of “From Lara With Love”, Rick Allison came up with the idea of creating the ballad version of this song, and convinced Lara that it could work. She was singing it during the fall of 2014 to avoid assaulting her ears with the instruments played on the rock version.
Unless Lara is actively involved in finalizing the arrangements and additional musician recording sessions – which would not be at all surprising – she would appear to be finished with her portions of the record construction: helping out with the writing, and of course the vocals. Hopefully her voice was in better shape recording the last songs of the album than we have heard recently. One gets the impression that Lara is in a sense ‘trying out’ another English album; if this one is well-received, perhaps one won’t have to wait another decade for the next one. The fact that Lara loves it is a good start (you may remember she had qualms about the two English albums with Sony). It helps to be in charge
.David
