Post by davidhr on Oct 10, 2017 8:07:55 GMT -5
This thread contains the text for various interviews Lara gave, or that appeared, this past week in Switzerland and Germany.
Last week we summarized Lara’s responses on the Swiss program “L’interview indiscrete!” In an article in ‘Le Matin’ (https://www.lematin.ch/people/Lara-Fabian-Je-prefere-me-planter-que-ne-rien-faire/story/14661373) there was a more complete transcript, translated below:
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INTERVIEW WITH LARA FABIAN: "I PREFER TO MESS UP RATHER THAN DO NOTHING"
The singer confided that she had "no regrets but remorse". Encounter with an artist who is not afraid to be wrong.
When one thinks of Lara Fabian, one imagines singing with full lungs "Je t’aime". A hit that sticks to the skin, like the 90s. But over the years, she has managed to adapt by changing, sometimes, completely of register. Met in Zurich for the promotion of her album in English "Camouflage", the singer of 47 years bet the natural card. Casual, very smiling, she answered all our questions frankly.
Lara Fabian, who are you?
LF: I would say an artist. A woman songwriter, Lou's mother and Gabriel's wife.
Your very first memory?
LF: It's a Christmas tree. It still exists. This is the moment when Mom put all the lights of St. Nicholas, in Belgium. And I remember the moment she turned them on. It was something very vibrant, very strong. I had to be about three years old.
Were you a wise child?
LF: Yes, quite. But I was talking a lot and, above all, I was asking too many questions. This is the case even today, although maybe I appreciate more the beaches of silence. But I like to be in relationship.
(As a) Child, what were you afraid of?
LF: I did not like Mom closing the door of the room completely. It took a few years to go beyond that step. Maybe I did not want to be alone ...
In childhood, what was your biggest shock?
LF: At 8, when I heard Barbra Streisand sing live "Evergreen". You know, when you have the impression of connecting to someone's voice, that it touches you deep down without understanding a word of the text. I had the feeling of being joined.
Is that the moment when there was a click for song?
LF: No, it was at my 5th birthday. It happened very naturally. I was in the car and I said to my dad, "You know, I'm a singer." And I started singing the vocals of Eve Brenner which passed on the radio. He was very surprised. (She smiles.)
Did your mother tell you "I love you"?
LF: Yes of course. And I also tell my daughter.
How did you earn your first money?
LF: I was 14 and wanted to buy a sweater. My dad said, "You know what? We're going to win it." He took his guitar and we went with a hat in the streets and restaurants of Brussels ... He wanted to teach me the value of money. The most incredible moment was at the Queen's gallery. There was another kid doing the same thing. We started singing with him. Once Dad saw that there was the exact amount, we stopped and we left.
Love for the first time. It was when and with whom?
LF: I never answered that question ... Joker? (She laughs, a little embarrassed.)
Your best quality?
LF: Generosity, probably.
Your greatest regret?
LF: I have none, I have only remorse. (Laughter.) I mean I'm not a girl who regrets, I hate it. You know why? This means that what you wanted to do, you did not realize it. I prefer to do something, mess up and say, "I should not have." Instead of: "What if?"
Is there any remorse you think of in particular?
LF: Yes of course, but it is rather deep, it is not necessarily shareable. It does not really regard anyone and that's part of the evolution of the human being ... There's another one that was an impulsive purchase. But what did I regret! I was blonde that day. It was a handbag, nothing very important, which for me represented a certain budget. And I had to have this thing ... In the end, I did not even keep it.
Have you ever stolen?
LF: I was a kid, but I did not know it was wrong. I was 11 years old. I had lost a bracelet my mother had offered me and when I saw it again, I thought to myself (she takes a child's voice): "Oh my bracelet!" I took it and I got caught. Mom got into a state ... Fortunately, the girl was understanding. This feeling of humiliation ... I was vaccinated.
Have you ever killed?
LF: No. Never ... Finally, a mosquito that annoys me? There, yes I bashed it. (Laughter.)
Have you ever lied to the person who shares your life?
LF: Not this time. But I really lied before. The problem is that you have to have a very good memory to be an excellent liar. But that's no use. I learned through my experiences and today I am a very sincere person.
Who would you like to spend a pleasant evening with?
LF: Again and always with my guy, he's the person with whom I have the most pleasure. (Editor: They have been together for 5 years and got married in 2013.)
For whom was your last kiss?
LF: Before leaving home, my 9 year old daughter. I have a little sun, very funny and very clown. A little tomboy, as I was too. She is my absolute joy.
Why did you cry last time?
LF: On listening to a story about the redwoods. I thought these trees had enormous roots seeing their size. But you know why they are always close to each other? For they support each other. It is not the roots that hold them up, but the proximity with the others that keep them on their feet. I do not know why, that moved me deeply. I may have made an analogy with humans.
What do you suffering from?
From impatience. Sometimes I'd like to know everything, right away. See or do it all right away.
Have you ever been close to death?
LF: Yes, in 2001, I was on a flight from Milan to Hamburg. All my team was on the plane and we were back from a transatlantic. There was a thunderstorm and the aircraft was hit by lightning. The captain put out everything. He had bottles of alcohol distributed and the hostess said "I wish you luck."
Do you believe in God?
LF: I have a hard time putting a word on this presence. I do not know if it is God, Hashem, Allah, Ganesha ... But I know that there is something that is infinitely greater.
Your sweet sin?
LF: Right now, a strawberry from my Japanese friend.
Do you earn enough in relation to the work provided?
LF: In music it does not happen often. As a producer, an author, a composer, someone who really crafts everything that he does, it is not necessarily the case. If I had wanted to be rich, I would have chosen another trade.
What do you want from your worst enemies?
LF: Nothing. It is a loss of energy.
Who would you like to see answer this questionnaire?
LF: Amelie Nothomb. (Le Matin)
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Then there was an interview with TDG (Tribune de Geneve)
www.tdg.ch/culture/lara-fabian-devoile-spotlights/story/24862435. Here’s the translation:
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Lara Fabian unveils under spotlights
The encounter The singer has regained a communicative joie de vivre after her serious hearing accident, followed by a very personal album. She returns with an amazing electropop record.
The zone has an industrial beauty, the Zurich hotel room is bright. Just like Lara Fabian (48), who receives in good girlfriend mode on a comfortable sofa to promote her new album Camouflage , an electronic record in English.
Huge brown eyes with endless eyelashes, little black T-shirt and jeans, the Belgo-Quebecois is in a loquacious mood. Her voice is soft, light years from the image of the singer who screams conveyed in the days of the Guignols of the info of Canal + and her single ‘Je t'aime’. Even her frequent bursts of laughter are silent, except for the "clap" of her two hands that meet when she freely tilts her head back.
With a mechanical gesture, she puts a pearly pink gloss on her mouth. "I know it's a written press interview, but I talk so much that I have dry lips. And these things are flavored, so that when one licks them and we must repeat the gesture constantly! Ah, hard to be a girl!" She sighs with a smile as provocative as accomplice.
After a difficult passage and a very personal album in 2015, whose goal was to thank those near you, you feel a little like the Queen of Snows: released, delivered?
LF: (Burst of laughter) Well, now I have it in my head for the day! It is true that my music reflects me at every moment of my life. Even if Camouflage is an album that comes into resonance with the difficult period we're going through, with titles like We are the Storm or Communify, it is a record that took things with a little distance, of height. To take a step back to evoke the world as it is, but with a burst of joy. I have therefore gone from something extremely personal to a more universal one. I am no longer talking about my husband, my daughter, my mother's illness or my best friend, but a more general feeling. Let us share that faculty which we have to profit from life, in spite of this suffering.
Even though the lyrics of this 13th album are not always positive, the overall impression is colorful, festive, the cover sexy. You finally found yourself, Lara Fabian?
LF: Yes I think! It's time, right? I am not far from 50 years old and the process started around forty. There are little things that come off of us, those that we do not like and that we accept to give up, and in their place come to stick to us other little things that we appreciate. We are educated to always want to shine in the eyes of others. This is not induced by us. The punishment-reward system is terrible in this sense. I think in effect that the ultimate freedom is to detach oneself from the gaze of others, to follow his instinct and to assume. There is this phrase in the magnificent film La Grande Bellezza : "I do not have the time or the luxury to do what I do not like." For me, that sums it up.
Does this joie de vivre and these colors not come also from your move with your magician husband, Gabriel, and your daughter Lou (9 years) in Spain?
LF: Ah, light, it changes a life! When one exchanges 360 days of rain against 360 days of sun, nothing is the same. You know, I really wonder why I was so late before making that choice of life! The only explanation is the family, the friends, all of whom are in Belgium. But at one point, we said to ourselves: go, we go down to the ground floor, we put everything in the car and we leave. An excellent decision!
You abandon an organic sound to the benefit of electronic arrangements, but the voice always finds its place, right in the center...
LF: Yes, it is not drowned by the arrangements. On the contrary, I find that sometimes I am even more frontal in my vocal approach. Producer Moh Denebi wanted to use my voice as an additional instrument and I love what he did.
LF: He made me sing seated, quiet, just putting a microphone in front of my face and saying "Just sing". It nevertheless destabilized me in my habits of lyrically trained singer. It was very interesting to put me in danger. I went there, without asking myself too many questions and it is without a doubt thanks to that that you perceive the lightness and the colors.
You have an extremely loyal audience, especially in the Eastern countries. An album like "Camouflage" can expose you to another audience, right?
LF: I think that's already happening. I hear people say that Lara Fabian was not their cup of tea, but now it's different. My new songs are talking to other people. They are also broadcast on other radio stations, in other places. It's especially cool because it was not the goal. I did not wake up one day and said, "Well, I'm going to do a little market research." And, at my age, the only way to get into a nightclub is to be broadcast through the loudspeakers!
You are singing again in English. A language that seems less tortured to you than French?
LF: Not necessarily. But it's a very musical language, which swings (she flicks her fingers), a very pop language. Besides the sound of this word, pop, is so just. It is joyful and festive, it represents the sound of the cork of the champagne bottle that is opened up. But the coloring you speak of comes more from arrangements than from language. We followed all this atmosphere with the cover, the photos ... There is a kind of rupture, I agree, except that I am always the same Lara, but at a turning point in my life.
The stage, which you will find in February (the only Swiss date in April in Zurich), is what for you?
LF: Some capsules in a good mood. Every time I say "You know what? You have a sacred luck of being there!" I admit that every night I hide behind the curtain or the decor and I look at the people without their seeing me. Sometimes they are up to 7000! It is the moment when I become the little girl again before the show of her school. During the concert, energy flows so intensely. If that tells you to come, even if you have seen so many concerts, I promise you will be struck by what people give. They laugh, they cry. To be shaken up, you have to agree, and they accept these emotions. It's incredibly powerful.
What is it that puts you to sleep?
LF: I almost want to be cynical and to answer you in the first degree: a very good lullaby. Are you okay?
A dish you will never eat?
LF: An empty dish! Yes, I admit, I like to eat.
What flaw have you inherited from your parents?
LF: Impulsiveness and impatience. Good, and perfectionism too; even if I do not think it is a defect in itself, it becomes so. It is real suffering.
Which character would you have wanted to live life?
LF: I do not know if I would have wanted to live her life, but I would have liked to be able to contribute to this change in humanity, so I will answer Marie Curie. An exciting, fascinating woman. And I'm not feminist at all. I see feminism as another form of confinement. I am a lover of women.
On holiday, are you rather lazing around, scrabble, rock climbing?
LF: Very important: I, on vacation, I am "gougounes and pliers to connasse". I translate for you from Quebec: the gougounes is the flip-flops, and the pliers to connasse is this trick in ugly plastic that allows to tie all one’s hair at once. I bring thirty T-shirts, shorts and that’s enough!. I do not care about my appearance. And everywhere with me I bring a super big bag with a sunscreen, a bottle of water, an apple, a reader with all kinds of stuff, a bathing suit and a towel. I stop thinking; I do not know where I'm going but I know where I am!
Bio Express
1970 Lara Crokaert was born on 9 January in Brussels. Her dad is the guitarist of Petula Clark. At 8 years old, she receives a piano.
1986 Winner of her first singing competition. Records ‘The Aziza is in tears’ as a tribute to Balavoine.
1990 A personal and professional thunderbolt for Rick Allison. The couple flew to Quebec.
1997 Back in Europe and release of Pure , the album of her greatest hits.
2013 An accident on television causes her to lose hearing.
2017 Named coach of The Voice in Quebec. Camouflage released Friday, her 13th album.
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Very literate interview.
And then an interesting interview in ‘Le Matin Dimanche’ (thanks to Jeremy CH from the LFIAG Select site):
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“We Are All In Great Pain”
Song. Nearly 30 years after her beginnings in the Eurovision Contest, Lara Fabian signs a 13th album sober and coherent which encourages us to overcome our prejudices. Interview.
The name of Lara Fabian still remains attached to a period, the years of the 90s, where the planet of song was dominated by powerful and emphatic voices. Like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and some others, the singer has to evolve with her times while remaining loyal to her artistic identity. With “Camouflage”, her new album, Lara Fabian plays the Anglophone card again, a card which gives again to this Belgian-Canadian artist the international dimension which is hers. The choice of city where she gives us our meeting to speak of this disc (Zurich rather than Geneva) is also a means of underlining that she is not a francophone artist. And the tour which will occupy her during the first six months of 2018 is already announced for Berlin, Minsk, Miami or Sofia. One would almost try to start the conversation in English.
The camouflage which is the question in the title of your album concerns the feelings that one tries to mask.
LF: Yes, it speaks of this capacity that we have to be able to show only a part of the story. Without wanting to summarize the album with this simple word, I wanted to enter into resonance with that which is happening in the world. We are all in great pain and, in the course of almost 50 years that I have spent on this earth, I even feel that the things are constantly getting worse. In this camouflage, there is for me the modesty but there is also a means of inviting the other to look further, to dig into this unveiled feeling and to go look for this zone which for me is vital, that of empathy. The camouflage of feelings can become an invitation to establish a link.
How has the desire to sing again in English manifested for this album?
LF: All began with a musical desire, the desire to do something different and to explore a register more elecro pop. I have the feeling that it is a musical color which is better accommodated in English. One can do electro pop in other languages, certainly that has happened very well, but for my part, English corresponds better. On another part, after having published ‘Ma vie dans la tienne” (released in 2015), a completely francophone album, I had the desire to turn towards other territories and there towards English which is a common language of many countries.
You do not sing as loudly as before, does that translate to a global desire of saying things without having to spell them out?
LF: On certain songs, there are one or two contrary examples because, as a singer, that remains my prerogative. But when we decided to make electro-pop, the voice became an element among others and it should not arrive to you up front. I believe that this choice to sing less strong corresponds to the content of the album as well as to the time. In the years of the 90s, it was a good tone to deploy the voice at the maximum of its capacities, but I believe that the doing of singing consists of being in phase with its time and, today, we are more in nuance than the years of the 90s. Perhaps also my voice has transformed with the years and that certain notes which were very vibrant twenty years ago are a little less today.
The accident which damaged your ears some years ago has it changed your manner of singing?
LF: During certain times, I could no longer technically sing as before, quite simply because I couldn’t hear myself. Today, thank God, it is completely repaired and I can again sing like I want. I always take care to not expose my ears to some high level sounds. You always live things with gratitude when you recover what you lost and it is valid for any accident that comes to damage this formidable machine that is the human body.
From Belgium to Quebec, you have been marked very early by regions whose linguistic questions are fundamental because conflictual.
LF: Between the different linguistic communities, Belgian and Canadian, there is a floating area that speaks to me because it reminds me not of a problem but an identity. These are places where we define ourselves by language. I dissociate myself a little because I come from an Italian mother, a Dutch-speaking grandmother, an American grandfather and a family where one spoke Spanish. So all these languages make the unique identity that I really attach to is the music that I want to do at a given moment. Depending on this desire, I choose a language that seems to me to be fair and that will enter in resonance with the music.
We have long defined ourselves through our language, do you think that this is less and less the case in our world?
LF: I am badly placed to respond to this question because my life has always been multilingual, since my childhood. I have never chosen one language to identify myself, but I have had to explain a lot who I am. The fact of speaking many languages is important to express the multiplicity of feelings, but also for the pleasure of the lightness. You know, it is incredible to arrive in a country and to be able to express oneself in the language of the people that you find there. In these moments, you don’t think of your identity, you simply say that it is awesome to be able to communicate with the people.
Few people imagine that you can have a discourse and an engaged initiative. Do these prejudices hurt you?
LF: Human beings are all full of ‘a priori’, we all need some points of comparison to understand who is who. We make shortcuts for lack of time. Therefore it is normal. I understand that one can have prejudices, but there are also some people who make the effort of interesting themselves in an artist and making their own idea. In all cases, it’s necessary not to take offense. It would be like saying “I have a problem with people who don’t like Japanese food”. Well no, there are people who don’t like Japanese food and who never wondered if it is ancestral and if it is one of the biggest gastronomies in the world. They do not have time, they do not like. You cannot blame someone for that. It is a little the same thing for people who haven’t had the time to learn about an artist. They feed on prejudices and it is like that, that’s life.
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There’s also a review of the album from this source, which was included in Part 1 of this Update.
Then a (google) translated interview from Germany (http://mobil.n-tv.de/leute/musik/Lara-Fabian-blickt-ueber-den-Tellerrand-article20073345.html) [thanks to Sil Vério on the LFIAG Select site for the link] :
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Lara Fabian looks beyond the box
Lara Fabian opens a new chapter.
(Photo: Mehmet-Turgut)
Lara Fabian has sold more than 20 million records in the past 30 years. However, only a few music lovers tiptoe at the name of the native Belgian woman who resides somewhere in Canada. The reason: Lara Fabian has, in her previous career, been primarily concerned with the musical needs of all those people who are powerful in the French language. From her 12 studio albums released so far, Lara Fabian has only two with the button "Songs in English!" provided. With her new album "Camouflage" the third, completely English-language work is finally coming to the start. The objective of the mission is clear: Lara will no longer "shine" only in Belgium, France and Canada in the Megastar spotlight. In the autumn of 2017, the rest of the music world will also be convinced of her ability. n-tv.de met the female ‘bard’, who gave her live debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin in 1988, for the interview and spoke to her about new sounds, Pink and boundless gratitude.
n-tv.de: Lara, you sold more than 20 million records with your French-language albums. Now, under the title "Camouflage" you bring your third English-speaking studio album to the start. What influences you when it comes to the language in which you sing your new songs?
Lara Fabian: I am not bothering about a concept during the production phase of a new album. I would rather be guided by my feelings. This time, the English version simply fit better into the overall package.
Does writing and singing in English present a greater challenge?
LF: Not really. Both languages are a part of me. They belong to my life as the day and the night. I feel at home in both universes.
You recorded and produced the new album together with the internationally renowned songwriters Moh Denebi and Sharon Vaughn. The two have been among the most prominent representatives for years in the case of American and European charts. How did the cooperation come about?
LF: I've been watching Sharon and Moh for many years. When the opportunity came to work with them, I had to strike. I did not have to think about it for long. Sharon is a songwriter legend. I learned a lot from her during the production process. Also from Moh I can take a lot off. He is a top producer who also fascinates me. It was a lot of fun to work with the two.
The result of the collaboration is perhaps the most poppy production of your career so far.
LF: Yes that's true. It was important for me to open a new chapter. And with Moh and Sharon, I had the best companions at my side. Our goal was to transport the intensity and the emotionality of my past works into a contemporary sound sphere. This is, I think, very successful.
Have you been inspired by current productions in terms of sound?
LF: I am currently listening to a lot of current music. I would not say that I have been guided by any band or any particular sound. I think that the impressions from the outside are rather unconsciously processed. Unless one is concerned quite consistently with a certain direction. But I did not.
You've worked with many artists over the course of your career. Is there still a dream that has not been fulfilled so far?
LF: I would like to work with Pink. That would be great. She is currently my absolute favorite artist. But there are also many other great musicians out there, with whom I would like to be in the studio. At the very moment, I am in a phase where I want to try a lot. And fortunately many doors are opening for me at the moment. In the near future, I will be working as a juror at "The Voice" in Canada. This will be a whole new experience for me.
Your new album, "The Voice", an upcoming world tour: the next weeks and months have it all.
LF: Oh yeah. (laughs) And I'm looking forward to everything. It's going really well.
It has not been too long since your world was quite different.
LF: Yes that's true. Three years ago I was miles away from such challenges.
You almost lost your entire hearing during a TV appearance. Something worse can not happen to a musician, right?
LF: It was the horror. This sound engineering accident has not only shaken my music career. What was at least as bad was the fact that I could not hear the voices of my family and my friends at times. One feels in such a situation just helpless and alone. Luckily everything has turned out to be a good thing. My left ear does not function properly. But I can work normally, listen and communicate with all people normally.
Millions of fans around the world were very happy when they heard that you were back to being a singer.
LF: I really appreciate this affection. I am eternally grateful to all the people who accompany me on my artistic path. When you reach people with music and move something into the hearts of strangers, this is the greatest gift for an artist. I sold more than 20 million albums. But I do not feel like a star looking down on the crowd from above. I am just happy that my music gives people something.
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Last week we summarized Lara’s responses on the Swiss program “L’interview indiscrete!” In an article in ‘Le Matin’ (https://www.lematin.ch/people/Lara-Fabian-Je-prefere-me-planter-que-ne-rien-faire/story/14661373) there was a more complete transcript, translated below:
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INTERVIEW WITH LARA FABIAN: "I PREFER TO MESS UP RATHER THAN DO NOTHING"
The singer confided that she had "no regrets but remorse". Encounter with an artist who is not afraid to be wrong.
When one thinks of Lara Fabian, one imagines singing with full lungs "Je t’aime". A hit that sticks to the skin, like the 90s. But over the years, she has managed to adapt by changing, sometimes, completely of register. Met in Zurich for the promotion of her album in English "Camouflage", the singer of 47 years bet the natural card. Casual, very smiling, she answered all our questions frankly.
Lara Fabian, who are you?
LF: I would say an artist. A woman songwriter, Lou's mother and Gabriel's wife.
Your very first memory?
LF: It's a Christmas tree. It still exists. This is the moment when Mom put all the lights of St. Nicholas, in Belgium. And I remember the moment she turned them on. It was something very vibrant, very strong. I had to be about three years old.
Were you a wise child?
LF: Yes, quite. But I was talking a lot and, above all, I was asking too many questions. This is the case even today, although maybe I appreciate more the beaches of silence. But I like to be in relationship.
(As a) Child, what were you afraid of?
LF: I did not like Mom closing the door of the room completely. It took a few years to go beyond that step. Maybe I did not want to be alone ...
In childhood, what was your biggest shock?
LF: At 8, when I heard Barbra Streisand sing live "Evergreen". You know, when you have the impression of connecting to someone's voice, that it touches you deep down without understanding a word of the text. I had the feeling of being joined.
Is that the moment when there was a click for song?
LF: No, it was at my 5th birthday. It happened very naturally. I was in the car and I said to my dad, "You know, I'm a singer." And I started singing the vocals of Eve Brenner which passed on the radio. He was very surprised. (She smiles.)
Did your mother tell you "I love you"?
LF: Yes of course. And I also tell my daughter.
How did you earn your first money?
LF: I was 14 and wanted to buy a sweater. My dad said, "You know what? We're going to win it." He took his guitar and we went with a hat in the streets and restaurants of Brussels ... He wanted to teach me the value of money. The most incredible moment was at the Queen's gallery. There was another kid doing the same thing. We started singing with him. Once Dad saw that there was the exact amount, we stopped and we left.
Love for the first time. It was when and with whom?
LF: I never answered that question ... Joker? (She laughs, a little embarrassed.)
Your best quality?
LF: Generosity, probably.
Your greatest regret?
LF: I have none, I have only remorse. (Laughter.) I mean I'm not a girl who regrets, I hate it. You know why? This means that what you wanted to do, you did not realize it. I prefer to do something, mess up and say, "I should not have." Instead of: "What if?"
Is there any remorse you think of in particular?
LF: Yes of course, but it is rather deep, it is not necessarily shareable. It does not really regard anyone and that's part of the evolution of the human being ... There's another one that was an impulsive purchase. But what did I regret! I was blonde that day. It was a handbag, nothing very important, which for me represented a certain budget. And I had to have this thing ... In the end, I did not even keep it.
Have you ever stolen?
LF: I was a kid, but I did not know it was wrong. I was 11 years old. I had lost a bracelet my mother had offered me and when I saw it again, I thought to myself (she takes a child's voice): "Oh my bracelet!" I took it and I got caught. Mom got into a state ... Fortunately, the girl was understanding. This feeling of humiliation ... I was vaccinated.
Have you ever killed?
LF: No. Never ... Finally, a mosquito that annoys me? There, yes I bashed it. (Laughter.)
Have you ever lied to the person who shares your life?
LF: Not this time. But I really lied before. The problem is that you have to have a very good memory to be an excellent liar. But that's no use. I learned through my experiences and today I am a very sincere person.
Who would you like to spend a pleasant evening with?
LF: Again and always with my guy, he's the person with whom I have the most pleasure. (Editor: They have been together for 5 years and got married in 2013.)
For whom was your last kiss?
LF: Before leaving home, my 9 year old daughter. I have a little sun, very funny and very clown. A little tomboy, as I was too. She is my absolute joy.
Why did you cry last time?
LF: On listening to a story about the redwoods. I thought these trees had enormous roots seeing their size. But you know why they are always close to each other? For they support each other. It is not the roots that hold them up, but the proximity with the others that keep them on their feet. I do not know why, that moved me deeply. I may have made an analogy with humans.
What do you suffering from?
From impatience. Sometimes I'd like to know everything, right away. See or do it all right away.
Have you ever been close to death?
LF: Yes, in 2001, I was on a flight from Milan to Hamburg. All my team was on the plane and we were back from a transatlantic. There was a thunderstorm and the aircraft was hit by lightning. The captain put out everything. He had bottles of alcohol distributed and the hostess said "I wish you luck."
Do you believe in God?
LF: I have a hard time putting a word on this presence. I do not know if it is God, Hashem, Allah, Ganesha ... But I know that there is something that is infinitely greater.
Your sweet sin?
LF: Right now, a strawberry from my Japanese friend.
Do you earn enough in relation to the work provided?
LF: In music it does not happen often. As a producer, an author, a composer, someone who really crafts everything that he does, it is not necessarily the case. If I had wanted to be rich, I would have chosen another trade.
What do you want from your worst enemies?
LF: Nothing. It is a loss of energy.
Who would you like to see answer this questionnaire?
LF: Amelie Nothomb. (Le Matin)
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Then there was an interview with TDG (Tribune de Geneve)
www.tdg.ch/culture/lara-fabian-devoile-spotlights/story/24862435. Here’s the translation:
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Lara Fabian unveils under spotlights
The encounter The singer has regained a communicative joie de vivre after her serious hearing accident, followed by a very personal album. She returns with an amazing electropop record.
The zone has an industrial beauty, the Zurich hotel room is bright. Just like Lara Fabian (48), who receives in good girlfriend mode on a comfortable sofa to promote her new album Camouflage , an electronic record in English.
Huge brown eyes with endless eyelashes, little black T-shirt and jeans, the Belgo-Quebecois is in a loquacious mood. Her voice is soft, light years from the image of the singer who screams conveyed in the days of the Guignols of the info of Canal + and her single ‘Je t'aime’. Even her frequent bursts of laughter are silent, except for the "clap" of her two hands that meet when she freely tilts her head back.
With a mechanical gesture, she puts a pearly pink gloss on her mouth. "I know it's a written press interview, but I talk so much that I have dry lips. And these things are flavored, so that when one licks them and we must repeat the gesture constantly! Ah, hard to be a girl!" She sighs with a smile as provocative as accomplice.
After a difficult passage and a very personal album in 2015, whose goal was to thank those near you, you feel a little like the Queen of Snows: released, delivered?
LF: (Burst of laughter) Well, now I have it in my head for the day! It is true that my music reflects me at every moment of my life. Even if Camouflage is an album that comes into resonance with the difficult period we're going through, with titles like We are the Storm or Communify, it is a record that took things with a little distance, of height. To take a step back to evoke the world as it is, but with a burst of joy. I have therefore gone from something extremely personal to a more universal one. I am no longer talking about my husband, my daughter, my mother's illness or my best friend, but a more general feeling. Let us share that faculty which we have to profit from life, in spite of this suffering.
Even though the lyrics of this 13th album are not always positive, the overall impression is colorful, festive, the cover sexy. You finally found yourself, Lara Fabian?
LF: Yes I think! It's time, right? I am not far from 50 years old and the process started around forty. There are little things that come off of us, those that we do not like and that we accept to give up, and in their place come to stick to us other little things that we appreciate. We are educated to always want to shine in the eyes of others. This is not induced by us. The punishment-reward system is terrible in this sense. I think in effect that the ultimate freedom is to detach oneself from the gaze of others, to follow his instinct and to assume. There is this phrase in the magnificent film La Grande Bellezza : "I do not have the time or the luxury to do what I do not like." For me, that sums it up.
Does this joie de vivre and these colors not come also from your move with your magician husband, Gabriel, and your daughter Lou (9 years) in Spain?
LF: Ah, light, it changes a life! When one exchanges 360 days of rain against 360 days of sun, nothing is the same. You know, I really wonder why I was so late before making that choice of life! The only explanation is the family, the friends, all of whom are in Belgium. But at one point, we said to ourselves: go, we go down to the ground floor, we put everything in the car and we leave. An excellent decision!
You abandon an organic sound to the benefit of electronic arrangements, but the voice always finds its place, right in the center...
LF: Yes, it is not drowned by the arrangements. On the contrary, I find that sometimes I am even more frontal in my vocal approach. Producer Moh Denebi wanted to use my voice as an additional instrument and I love what he did.
LF: He made me sing seated, quiet, just putting a microphone in front of my face and saying "Just sing". It nevertheless destabilized me in my habits of lyrically trained singer. It was very interesting to put me in danger. I went there, without asking myself too many questions and it is without a doubt thanks to that that you perceive the lightness and the colors.
You have an extremely loyal audience, especially in the Eastern countries. An album like "Camouflage" can expose you to another audience, right?
LF: I think that's already happening. I hear people say that Lara Fabian was not their cup of tea, but now it's different. My new songs are talking to other people. They are also broadcast on other radio stations, in other places. It's especially cool because it was not the goal. I did not wake up one day and said, "Well, I'm going to do a little market research." And, at my age, the only way to get into a nightclub is to be broadcast through the loudspeakers!
You are singing again in English. A language that seems less tortured to you than French?
LF: Not necessarily. But it's a very musical language, which swings (she flicks her fingers), a very pop language. Besides the sound of this word, pop, is so just. It is joyful and festive, it represents the sound of the cork of the champagne bottle that is opened up. But the coloring you speak of comes more from arrangements than from language. We followed all this atmosphere with the cover, the photos ... There is a kind of rupture, I agree, except that I am always the same Lara, but at a turning point in my life.
The stage, which you will find in February (the only Swiss date in April in Zurich), is what for you?
LF: Some capsules in a good mood. Every time I say "You know what? You have a sacred luck of being there!" I admit that every night I hide behind the curtain or the decor and I look at the people without their seeing me. Sometimes they are up to 7000! It is the moment when I become the little girl again before the show of her school. During the concert, energy flows so intensely. If that tells you to come, even if you have seen so many concerts, I promise you will be struck by what people give. They laugh, they cry. To be shaken up, you have to agree, and they accept these emotions. It's incredibly powerful.
What is it that puts you to sleep?
LF: I almost want to be cynical and to answer you in the first degree: a very good lullaby. Are you okay?
A dish you will never eat?
LF: An empty dish! Yes, I admit, I like to eat.
What flaw have you inherited from your parents?
LF: Impulsiveness and impatience. Good, and perfectionism too; even if I do not think it is a defect in itself, it becomes so. It is real suffering.
Which character would you have wanted to live life?
LF: I do not know if I would have wanted to live her life, but I would have liked to be able to contribute to this change in humanity, so I will answer Marie Curie. An exciting, fascinating woman. And I'm not feminist at all. I see feminism as another form of confinement. I am a lover of women.
On holiday, are you rather lazing around, scrabble, rock climbing?
LF: Very important: I, on vacation, I am "gougounes and pliers to connasse". I translate for you from Quebec: the gougounes is the flip-flops, and the pliers to connasse is this trick in ugly plastic that allows to tie all one’s hair at once. I bring thirty T-shirts, shorts and that’s enough!. I do not care about my appearance. And everywhere with me I bring a super big bag with a sunscreen, a bottle of water, an apple, a reader with all kinds of stuff, a bathing suit and a towel. I stop thinking; I do not know where I'm going but I know where I am!
Bio Express
1970 Lara Crokaert was born on 9 January in Brussels. Her dad is the guitarist of Petula Clark. At 8 years old, she receives a piano.
1986 Winner of her first singing competition. Records ‘The Aziza is in tears’ as a tribute to Balavoine.
1990 A personal and professional thunderbolt for Rick Allison. The couple flew to Quebec.
1997 Back in Europe and release of Pure , the album of her greatest hits.
2013 An accident on television causes her to lose hearing.
2017 Named coach of The Voice in Quebec. Camouflage released Friday, her 13th album.
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Very literate interview.
And then an interesting interview in ‘Le Matin Dimanche’ (thanks to Jeremy CH from the LFIAG Select site):
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“We Are All In Great Pain”
Song. Nearly 30 years after her beginnings in the Eurovision Contest, Lara Fabian signs a 13th album sober and coherent which encourages us to overcome our prejudices. Interview.
The name of Lara Fabian still remains attached to a period, the years of the 90s, where the planet of song was dominated by powerful and emphatic voices. Like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and some others, the singer has to evolve with her times while remaining loyal to her artistic identity. With “Camouflage”, her new album, Lara Fabian plays the Anglophone card again, a card which gives again to this Belgian-Canadian artist the international dimension which is hers. The choice of city where she gives us our meeting to speak of this disc (Zurich rather than Geneva) is also a means of underlining that she is not a francophone artist. And the tour which will occupy her during the first six months of 2018 is already announced for Berlin, Minsk, Miami or Sofia. One would almost try to start the conversation in English.
The camouflage which is the question in the title of your album concerns the feelings that one tries to mask.
LF: Yes, it speaks of this capacity that we have to be able to show only a part of the story. Without wanting to summarize the album with this simple word, I wanted to enter into resonance with that which is happening in the world. We are all in great pain and, in the course of almost 50 years that I have spent on this earth, I even feel that the things are constantly getting worse. In this camouflage, there is for me the modesty but there is also a means of inviting the other to look further, to dig into this unveiled feeling and to go look for this zone which for me is vital, that of empathy. The camouflage of feelings can become an invitation to establish a link.
How has the desire to sing again in English manifested for this album?
LF: All began with a musical desire, the desire to do something different and to explore a register more elecro pop. I have the feeling that it is a musical color which is better accommodated in English. One can do electro pop in other languages, certainly that has happened very well, but for my part, English corresponds better. On another part, after having published ‘Ma vie dans la tienne” (released in 2015), a completely francophone album, I had the desire to turn towards other territories and there towards English which is a common language of many countries.
You do not sing as loudly as before, does that translate to a global desire of saying things without having to spell them out?
LF: On certain songs, there are one or two contrary examples because, as a singer, that remains my prerogative. But when we decided to make electro-pop, the voice became an element among others and it should not arrive to you up front. I believe that this choice to sing less strong corresponds to the content of the album as well as to the time. In the years of the 90s, it was a good tone to deploy the voice at the maximum of its capacities, but I believe that the doing of singing consists of being in phase with its time and, today, we are more in nuance than the years of the 90s. Perhaps also my voice has transformed with the years and that certain notes which were very vibrant twenty years ago are a little less today.
The accident which damaged your ears some years ago has it changed your manner of singing?
LF: During certain times, I could no longer technically sing as before, quite simply because I couldn’t hear myself. Today, thank God, it is completely repaired and I can again sing like I want. I always take care to not expose my ears to some high level sounds. You always live things with gratitude when you recover what you lost and it is valid for any accident that comes to damage this formidable machine that is the human body.
From Belgium to Quebec, you have been marked very early by regions whose linguistic questions are fundamental because conflictual.
LF: Between the different linguistic communities, Belgian and Canadian, there is a floating area that speaks to me because it reminds me not of a problem but an identity. These are places where we define ourselves by language. I dissociate myself a little because I come from an Italian mother, a Dutch-speaking grandmother, an American grandfather and a family where one spoke Spanish. So all these languages make the unique identity that I really attach to is the music that I want to do at a given moment. Depending on this desire, I choose a language that seems to me to be fair and that will enter in resonance with the music.
We have long defined ourselves through our language, do you think that this is less and less the case in our world?
LF: I am badly placed to respond to this question because my life has always been multilingual, since my childhood. I have never chosen one language to identify myself, but I have had to explain a lot who I am. The fact of speaking many languages is important to express the multiplicity of feelings, but also for the pleasure of the lightness. You know, it is incredible to arrive in a country and to be able to express oneself in the language of the people that you find there. In these moments, you don’t think of your identity, you simply say that it is awesome to be able to communicate with the people.
Few people imagine that you can have a discourse and an engaged initiative. Do these prejudices hurt you?
LF: Human beings are all full of ‘a priori’, we all need some points of comparison to understand who is who. We make shortcuts for lack of time. Therefore it is normal. I understand that one can have prejudices, but there are also some people who make the effort of interesting themselves in an artist and making their own idea. In all cases, it’s necessary not to take offense. It would be like saying “I have a problem with people who don’t like Japanese food”. Well no, there are people who don’t like Japanese food and who never wondered if it is ancestral and if it is one of the biggest gastronomies in the world. They do not have time, they do not like. You cannot blame someone for that. It is a little the same thing for people who haven’t had the time to learn about an artist. They feed on prejudices and it is like that, that’s life.
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There’s also a review of the album from this source, which was included in Part 1 of this Update.
Then a (google) translated interview from Germany (http://mobil.n-tv.de/leute/musik/Lara-Fabian-blickt-ueber-den-Tellerrand-article20073345.html) [thanks to Sil Vério on the LFIAG Select site for the link] :
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Lara Fabian looks beyond the box
Lara Fabian opens a new chapter.
(Photo: Mehmet-Turgut)
Lara Fabian has sold more than 20 million records in the past 30 years. However, only a few music lovers tiptoe at the name of the native Belgian woman who resides somewhere in Canada. The reason: Lara Fabian has, in her previous career, been primarily concerned with the musical needs of all those people who are powerful in the French language. From her 12 studio albums released so far, Lara Fabian has only two with the button "Songs in English!" provided. With her new album "Camouflage" the third, completely English-language work is finally coming to the start. The objective of the mission is clear: Lara will no longer "shine" only in Belgium, France and Canada in the Megastar spotlight. In the autumn of 2017, the rest of the music world will also be convinced of her ability. n-tv.de met the female ‘bard’, who gave her live debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin in 1988, for the interview and spoke to her about new sounds, Pink and boundless gratitude.
n-tv.de: Lara, you sold more than 20 million records with your French-language albums. Now, under the title "Camouflage" you bring your third English-speaking studio album to the start. What influences you when it comes to the language in which you sing your new songs?
Lara Fabian: I am not bothering about a concept during the production phase of a new album. I would rather be guided by my feelings. This time, the English version simply fit better into the overall package.
Does writing and singing in English present a greater challenge?
LF: Not really. Both languages are a part of me. They belong to my life as the day and the night. I feel at home in both universes.
You recorded and produced the new album together with the internationally renowned songwriters Moh Denebi and Sharon Vaughn. The two have been among the most prominent representatives for years in the case of American and European charts. How did the cooperation come about?
LF: I've been watching Sharon and Moh for many years. When the opportunity came to work with them, I had to strike. I did not have to think about it for long. Sharon is a songwriter legend. I learned a lot from her during the production process. Also from Moh I can take a lot off. He is a top producer who also fascinates me. It was a lot of fun to work with the two.
The result of the collaboration is perhaps the most poppy production of your career so far.
LF: Yes that's true. It was important for me to open a new chapter. And with Moh and Sharon, I had the best companions at my side. Our goal was to transport the intensity and the emotionality of my past works into a contemporary sound sphere. This is, I think, very successful.
Have you been inspired by current productions in terms of sound?
LF: I am currently listening to a lot of current music. I would not say that I have been guided by any band or any particular sound. I think that the impressions from the outside are rather unconsciously processed. Unless one is concerned quite consistently with a certain direction. But I did not.
You've worked with many artists over the course of your career. Is there still a dream that has not been fulfilled so far?
LF: I would like to work with Pink. That would be great. She is currently my absolute favorite artist. But there are also many other great musicians out there, with whom I would like to be in the studio. At the very moment, I am in a phase where I want to try a lot. And fortunately many doors are opening for me at the moment. In the near future, I will be working as a juror at "The Voice" in Canada. This will be a whole new experience for me.
Your new album, "The Voice", an upcoming world tour: the next weeks and months have it all.
LF: Oh yeah. (laughs) And I'm looking forward to everything. It's going really well.
It has not been too long since your world was quite different.
LF: Yes that's true. Three years ago I was miles away from such challenges.
You almost lost your entire hearing during a TV appearance. Something worse can not happen to a musician, right?
LF: It was the horror. This sound engineering accident has not only shaken my music career. What was at least as bad was the fact that I could not hear the voices of my family and my friends at times. One feels in such a situation just helpless and alone. Luckily everything has turned out to be a good thing. My left ear does not function properly. But I can work normally, listen and communicate with all people normally.
Millions of fans around the world were very happy when they heard that you were back to being a singer.
LF: I really appreciate this affection. I am eternally grateful to all the people who accompany me on my artistic path. When you reach people with music and move something into the hearts of strangers, this is the greatest gift for an artist. I sold more than 20 million albums. But I do not feel like a star looking down on the crowd from above. I am just happy that my music gives people something.
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