Post by davidhr on Feb 22, 2009 14:29:19 GMT -5
Lara did not appear to sing her duet in San Remo with Marco Masini on Friday night. Earlier in the week Nathalie on the official site said Lara would be there, but as noted by Ely in her latest post, on Thursday Nathalie announced that Lara had withdrawn. Instead Marco sang the song by himself.
There were two interpretations being forwarded for this latest annulment.
(1)The song she was to sing, “L’italia”, was pretty rough. Not only did it disparage Italy, pointing out many things that were wrong with the country, it also had a strong homophobic element. In fact, the comedian Robert Benigni, the day before Lara withdrew, had given a public condemnation of it for that reason. So perhaps Lara had not sufficiently considered what her apparent endorsement of the lyrics meant – she has said many times that she will not sing a song whose lyrics she disagrees with.
(2)The other interpretation is that Lara is not in Europe but in Quebec, working on the new album. This was fostered by a report on Belgian TV that Armelle (who presented the ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ show Lara was on two years ago) is currently in Quebec working on a program dedicated to Lara.
Neither explanation really satisfied hard-to-please fans. Some suggested that once Lara makes a commitment she should fulfill it, for it leaves the audience in the lurch. Increasingly, it seems, Lara does not show up for events. The ones that were cancelled when the album was postponed were presumably for that reason, but this was a commitment she had agreed to earlier in the week. Of the two explanations, the first is obviously more in Lara’s favor but given that her appearance was widely advertised (even more so when her official site said she would be there), it smacked of unprofessionalism. And of course, no explanation was offered, which just makes things worse (the hope is that there is not a third possibility, associated with health problems).
Another point made by fans is that this is yet one more time that Lara has disappointed her Italian audience. Far from making the concerted entry into the Italian market that she has spoken of, Lara seems to back out of many opportunities. Not to be too much of an amateur psychologist, but one wonders whether she is conflicted/afraid of attempting it.
Concerning the program dedicated to Lara on Belgian TV – reports have it scheduled for March 25th. It would be great if it does occur, but given recent events, fans were practically unanimous in being skeptical.
Continuing in the same uncertain vein, it was reported by a fan that FNAC had listed Lara’s new album for release on April 15th. This is the third date that has been offered in the past two weeks (the others being April 13 and 27). I personally could not find any such listing, even under the ‘new albums’ category, but perhaps I’ve missed it. If it is really there it is a step towards believability (it was not there before the December 1st scheduled release), but still would not guarantee that particular date. There is also a report that the new album can be pre-ordered on ebay, but fans think it’s probably a con, perhaps left over from the previous release date.
Finally, people are becoming a little bit less skeptical about the reality of the auditions for a fan to sing with Lara on a still-to-be-scheduled show for France TF1. Several people have actually gotten phone calls and asked to sing over the phone, and one at least was invited to come to Paris for a further audition. The songs apparently being suggested are ‘J’y crois encore’ and “Je t’aime” (neither of which is easy to sing!). This still doesn’t fully guarantee that it is on the up-and-up; given the previous items in this news update, a doubting mood is understandable.
David
There were two interpretations being forwarded for this latest annulment.
(1)The song she was to sing, “L’italia”, was pretty rough. Not only did it disparage Italy, pointing out many things that were wrong with the country, it also had a strong homophobic element. In fact, the comedian Robert Benigni, the day before Lara withdrew, had given a public condemnation of it for that reason. So perhaps Lara had not sufficiently considered what her apparent endorsement of the lyrics meant – she has said many times that she will not sing a song whose lyrics she disagrees with.
(2)The other interpretation is that Lara is not in Europe but in Quebec, working on the new album. This was fostered by a report on Belgian TV that Armelle (who presented the ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ show Lara was on two years ago) is currently in Quebec working on a program dedicated to Lara.
Neither explanation really satisfied hard-to-please fans. Some suggested that once Lara makes a commitment she should fulfill it, for it leaves the audience in the lurch. Increasingly, it seems, Lara does not show up for events. The ones that were cancelled when the album was postponed were presumably for that reason, but this was a commitment she had agreed to earlier in the week. Of the two explanations, the first is obviously more in Lara’s favor but given that her appearance was widely advertised (even more so when her official site said she would be there), it smacked of unprofessionalism. And of course, no explanation was offered, which just makes things worse (the hope is that there is not a third possibility, associated with health problems).
Another point made by fans is that this is yet one more time that Lara has disappointed her Italian audience. Far from making the concerted entry into the Italian market that she has spoken of, Lara seems to back out of many opportunities. Not to be too much of an amateur psychologist, but one wonders whether she is conflicted/afraid of attempting it.
Concerning the program dedicated to Lara on Belgian TV – reports have it scheduled for March 25th. It would be great if it does occur, but given recent events, fans were practically unanimous in being skeptical.
Continuing in the same uncertain vein, it was reported by a fan that FNAC had listed Lara’s new album for release on April 15th. This is the third date that has been offered in the past two weeks (the others being April 13 and 27). I personally could not find any such listing, even under the ‘new albums’ category, but perhaps I’ve missed it. If it is really there it is a step towards believability (it was not there before the December 1st scheduled release), but still would not guarantee that particular date. There is also a report that the new album can be pre-ordered on ebay, but fans think it’s probably a con, perhaps left over from the previous release date.
Finally, people are becoming a little bit less skeptical about the reality of the auditions for a fan to sing with Lara on a still-to-be-scheduled show for France TF1. Several people have actually gotten phone calls and asked to sing over the phone, and one at least was invited to come to Paris for a further audition. The songs apparently being suggested are ‘J’y crois encore’ and “Je t’aime” (neither of which is easy to sing!). This still doesn’t fully guarantee that it is on the up-and-up; given the previous items in this news update, a doubting mood is understandable.
David