Post by davidhr on Oct 12, 2008 14:30:42 GMT -5
The news directly concerning Lara this week was dominated by information concerning Lara’s two important upcoming events, the meeting in Brussels with her fans and the new album. It turns out they are more entwined than anybody had imagined…
Concerning the new album, Lara put a new message on her website, which at this point in time has not been translated into English. Unless she has completely given up on any English interest in the new album, and her work in general, one would imagine a translation will eventually be there. It’s provided here just in case that doesn’t happen…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Angels,
How are you?
As you may have some doubts, I always work assiduously on my album, I can’t wait for you to hear it…Truly
I wonder moreover at this moment why there are only 24 hours in a day!!!
The result, I hope, will be at the height of the heart that I put into it... In the studio, I close my eyes, and I think about you, and I let myself be lulled by these stories that will be soon be yours...
And the Farfallina you ask me…I’m coming with it…I have thought to concoct for you a number a little special…It will arrive in your letter boxes at the beginning of December…With my new image…With my new desires…My new favorites…There also, I am impatient that you discover it…I make clear to you also that I count on you to give me some ideas, to actively participate in the elaboration of each magazine, because it is for you, and I am anxious that you find there, beyond the surprises that I will offer to you, some ingredients that would particularly please you... On your mark…Ready? …go!!!
We meet very quickly…
Tenderly
Lara
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara does seem anxious that people rediscover her, as this message suggests. With respect to her requesting suggestions for Farfallina, while not knowing what she has in mind for the latest issue, some pictures of the baby would be nice!
At the same time, the fan club sent around the following message from Lara, concerning the upcoming concert for the fans in Brussels (in translation).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Angels
Then…How are you?
To read you in the Gold Book, you are like me, impatient enough that we meet each other again…
Here exactly is the information…
Quite firstly as you have noted it, following your questions on the closure of the registrations for the meeting of October 16 in Brussels, I have reopened the registrations!
That will permit 200 additional people to come (I can’t do better given the size of the place…). Of course, each of these 200 people could be accompanied, as explained to you by the Webmaster.
The place where I receive you is a magnificent spot…a spot where usually artists follow one another every day and we make our dreams…This day then…the master of these premises and the artists offer us their “HOUSE’ and permit us to live a unique moment…
This will pass a little like a special rendezvous where all the members of the same family who haven’t seen each other for ages, meet again to celebrate a long awaited birth…
Around 1800 hours, you will calmly arrive and I will join you once you have made yourself comfortable in the place.
The evening will unwind under the sign that I have baptized “Private Listening”. This evening then, in effect the music that you will hear will be that which I work on for many months and months… you will hear with me as if we were together in my room…and this even before anyone else in the world has heard it…
This is that for me also, I want to sit and to relax with you. ... the mini concert that had been announced to you is transformed at my request, in this privileged moment where one will be able to be more intimately in contact. ..To speak, to exchange... one so rarely has the occasion. .. I have truly desired it…
For those who have waited to see me sing I ask for their patience…That will not be much later…The next time, I will sing, promise…This evening then, one will find…one will discover “TLFM”. We go together to discover a good portion of the album, I have equipped the place with a sound system that will permit us to travel in the music…I will present to you some moments of these numerous past months of work in Montreal on this album…You will see…
You could also ask me all the questions that pass through your head and write them on a small piece of carefully folded paper, that we will collect on your arrival and that we will put in a big box.
The master of ceremonies, Patrick Ridremont, will orchestrate these “questions-answers” with the charm which characterizes him. One will also be able to be astonished by some Surprises…I won’t tell you more…
But especially and principally we will be meeting to talk, to exchange, to laugh, to eat some cotton candy…and to leave with a head filled with multi-colored lights…
Ah to the fact we meet again where…?
In Bouglione Circus at the Heysel in Brussels.
My angels, soon somewhere…it is on its way…
LOV.L
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A message written with the charm and poeticism “that characterizes her”, it indicates that the upcoming concert will be quite different from what people had been led to expect. Instead of singing, she will let the audience hear good portions of her new album (still scheduled, presumably, for the beginning of December). Also, people will be able to ask questions – hopefully, they will choose wisely, and ask about future albums as well (like what happened to the Italian album, the multi-lingual album, the album of classical songs, an album of original songs, another English album, etc.). Also, hopefully, they will report the answers!
While this is very novel, it is consistent with Lara’s predilections concerning new songs. You may remember that as each new album comes out, Lara’s first TV performances of it are always lip-synched. When asked about that, she has said that she wanted the audience to first hear the songs under the most ideal conditions. And eventually she begins singing them live. The approach here reproduces that exactly.
And what was the response of people planning to go to the concert? Basically, it was mixed…The general preference was that people would have preferred to hear her sing. However, some were excited by this new approach, and were anxious to hear the new album. There was skepticism that a meaningful discussion could really be held with an audience of hundreds of people.
As far as the new album itself is concerned, in the new Platine, released October 8th, a list was given of some of the people whose work Lara will be reprising. It includes Edith Piaf, France Gall, Catherine Lara, Maurane, Céline Dion, and Nana Mouskouri. It is obviously not complete, and since Lara’s fan meeting is next Friday, by the next update we should know more.
So far, what has been discussed is the news concerning Lara, but the update would not be complete without including news about the fans. This past week marked a degree of dissatisfaction with Lara and the new album on the official site forum that was unprecedented. Person after person writing in excoriated her for returning with an album of reprises. What’s more, they used the occasion to vent grievances that had been building up for the past several years or longer. A common theme was the decline in what they thought was the quality of her work and of her singing – not in her ability to sing, but what she has been putting out on albums. Hearing about the ‘Reprises’ appeared to be the last straw. In addition, some messages were apparently removed by the Webmaster, which provoked even more outrage. A number of well-known long-term fans indicated they were quitting the forum. Fans felt that while they respected Lara’s ability, she and her team had not shown equal respect for the Fans (remember, this surfaced in connection with the closing of several of her websites, including lara-fabian.net and larafabian.info).
We are all aware of the faults of Lara’s team, and there is certainly justification for those complaints. How much they represent Lara’s own insensitivity is hard to know, but she certainly has not helped her cause with the caustic remarks about the French that she delivers when not in that country. That her career has been going downhill seems to be the sad truth; record sales are down (though her last tour was well-received), and the inability to follow through on promised albums, which we’ve taken as indication of her “artistic temperament”, may really have been caused by commercial considerations. Nevertheless, the passion of the negative messages was truly astonishing – the writers acted like betrayed lovers, which considering how people have felt about Lara, is probably an apt analogy.
One has to think Lara must be hearing about this, and that may have provoked her new message (though not much of this sentiment seems to be sent to her directly in the “Gold Book”, which is the one section she says she reads).
Having said all of that, ultimately our relationship with Lara revolves mostly around her work. If the new album brings forth passionate singing, even of reprises, it will bring some fans back into the fold, and could well win her new supporters. If there are follow-up albums that fulfill her potential, this will be viewed as simply a lull in her career; many other artists have had similar situations. And of course it’s a cliché that fans come and go, with some dropping away and others getting on board. We know Lara still has immense talent – that’s evident every time she makes a public appearance. But ever since the release of ETI in 2004, it seems that Lara has been making bad career moves and alienating fans – that can’t continue forever. [There are parallels here with the economy - but in this case, Lara is still a valuable property!]. Hopefully, starting next Friday, it will begin to turn around.
David
Concerning the new album, Lara put a new message on her website, which at this point in time has not been translated into English. Unless she has completely given up on any English interest in the new album, and her work in general, one would imagine a translation will eventually be there. It’s provided here just in case that doesn’t happen…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Angels,
How are you?
As you may have some doubts, I always work assiduously on my album, I can’t wait for you to hear it…Truly
I wonder moreover at this moment why there are only 24 hours in a day!!!
The result, I hope, will be at the height of the heart that I put into it... In the studio, I close my eyes, and I think about you, and I let myself be lulled by these stories that will be soon be yours...
And the Farfallina you ask me…I’m coming with it…I have thought to concoct for you a number a little special…It will arrive in your letter boxes at the beginning of December…With my new image…With my new desires…My new favorites…There also, I am impatient that you discover it…I make clear to you also that I count on you to give me some ideas, to actively participate in the elaboration of each magazine, because it is for you, and I am anxious that you find there, beyond the surprises that I will offer to you, some ingredients that would particularly please you... On your mark…Ready? …go!!!
We meet very quickly…
Tenderly
Lara
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara does seem anxious that people rediscover her, as this message suggests. With respect to her requesting suggestions for Farfallina, while not knowing what she has in mind for the latest issue, some pictures of the baby would be nice!
At the same time, the fan club sent around the following message from Lara, concerning the upcoming concert for the fans in Brussels (in translation).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Angels
Then…How are you?
To read you in the Gold Book, you are like me, impatient enough that we meet each other again…
Here exactly is the information…
Quite firstly as you have noted it, following your questions on the closure of the registrations for the meeting of October 16 in Brussels, I have reopened the registrations!
That will permit 200 additional people to come (I can’t do better given the size of the place…). Of course, each of these 200 people could be accompanied, as explained to you by the Webmaster.
The place where I receive you is a magnificent spot…a spot where usually artists follow one another every day and we make our dreams…This day then…the master of these premises and the artists offer us their “HOUSE’ and permit us to live a unique moment…
This will pass a little like a special rendezvous where all the members of the same family who haven’t seen each other for ages, meet again to celebrate a long awaited birth…
Around 1800 hours, you will calmly arrive and I will join you once you have made yourself comfortable in the place.
The evening will unwind under the sign that I have baptized “Private Listening”. This evening then, in effect the music that you will hear will be that which I work on for many months and months… you will hear with me as if we were together in my room…and this even before anyone else in the world has heard it…
This is that for me also, I want to sit and to relax with you. ... the mini concert that had been announced to you is transformed at my request, in this privileged moment where one will be able to be more intimately in contact. ..To speak, to exchange... one so rarely has the occasion. .. I have truly desired it…
For those who have waited to see me sing I ask for their patience…That will not be much later…The next time, I will sing, promise…This evening then, one will find…one will discover “TLFM”. We go together to discover a good portion of the album, I have equipped the place with a sound system that will permit us to travel in the music…I will present to you some moments of these numerous past months of work in Montreal on this album…You will see…
You could also ask me all the questions that pass through your head and write them on a small piece of carefully folded paper, that we will collect on your arrival and that we will put in a big box.
The master of ceremonies, Patrick Ridremont, will orchestrate these “questions-answers” with the charm which characterizes him. One will also be able to be astonished by some Surprises…I won’t tell you more…
But especially and principally we will be meeting to talk, to exchange, to laugh, to eat some cotton candy…and to leave with a head filled with multi-colored lights…
Ah to the fact we meet again where…?
In Bouglione Circus at the Heysel in Brussels.
My angels, soon somewhere…it is on its way…
LOV.L
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A message written with the charm and poeticism “that characterizes her”, it indicates that the upcoming concert will be quite different from what people had been led to expect. Instead of singing, she will let the audience hear good portions of her new album (still scheduled, presumably, for the beginning of December). Also, people will be able to ask questions – hopefully, they will choose wisely, and ask about future albums as well (like what happened to the Italian album, the multi-lingual album, the album of classical songs, an album of original songs, another English album, etc.). Also, hopefully, they will report the answers!
While this is very novel, it is consistent with Lara’s predilections concerning new songs. You may remember that as each new album comes out, Lara’s first TV performances of it are always lip-synched. When asked about that, she has said that she wanted the audience to first hear the songs under the most ideal conditions. And eventually she begins singing them live. The approach here reproduces that exactly.
And what was the response of people planning to go to the concert? Basically, it was mixed…The general preference was that people would have preferred to hear her sing. However, some were excited by this new approach, and were anxious to hear the new album. There was skepticism that a meaningful discussion could really be held with an audience of hundreds of people.
As far as the new album itself is concerned, in the new Platine, released October 8th, a list was given of some of the people whose work Lara will be reprising. It includes Edith Piaf, France Gall, Catherine Lara, Maurane, Céline Dion, and Nana Mouskouri. It is obviously not complete, and since Lara’s fan meeting is next Friday, by the next update we should know more.
So far, what has been discussed is the news concerning Lara, but the update would not be complete without including news about the fans. This past week marked a degree of dissatisfaction with Lara and the new album on the official site forum that was unprecedented. Person after person writing in excoriated her for returning with an album of reprises. What’s more, they used the occasion to vent grievances that had been building up for the past several years or longer. A common theme was the decline in what they thought was the quality of her work and of her singing – not in her ability to sing, but what she has been putting out on albums. Hearing about the ‘Reprises’ appeared to be the last straw. In addition, some messages were apparently removed by the Webmaster, which provoked even more outrage. A number of well-known long-term fans indicated they were quitting the forum. Fans felt that while they respected Lara’s ability, she and her team had not shown equal respect for the Fans (remember, this surfaced in connection with the closing of several of her websites, including lara-fabian.net and larafabian.info).
We are all aware of the faults of Lara’s team, and there is certainly justification for those complaints. How much they represent Lara’s own insensitivity is hard to know, but she certainly has not helped her cause with the caustic remarks about the French that she delivers when not in that country. That her career has been going downhill seems to be the sad truth; record sales are down (though her last tour was well-received), and the inability to follow through on promised albums, which we’ve taken as indication of her “artistic temperament”, may really have been caused by commercial considerations. Nevertheless, the passion of the negative messages was truly astonishing – the writers acted like betrayed lovers, which considering how people have felt about Lara, is probably an apt analogy.
One has to think Lara must be hearing about this, and that may have provoked her new message (though not much of this sentiment seems to be sent to her directly in the “Gold Book”, which is the one section she says she reads).
Having said all of that, ultimately our relationship with Lara revolves mostly around her work. If the new album brings forth passionate singing, even of reprises, it will bring some fans back into the fold, and could well win her new supporters. If there are follow-up albums that fulfill her potential, this will be viewed as simply a lull in her career; many other artists have had similar situations. And of course it’s a cliché that fans come and go, with some dropping away and others getting on board. We know Lara still has immense talent – that’s evident every time she makes a public appearance. But ever since the release of ETI in 2004, it seems that Lara has been making bad career moves and alienating fans – that can’t continue forever. [There are parallels here with the economy - but in this case, Lara is still a valuable property!]. Hopefully, starting next Friday, it will begin to turn around.
David