Post by davidhr on Dec 28, 2010 16:10:21 GMT -5
Year in Review 2010
After several years of aborted plans or partial frustrations, 2010 marked a time of accomplishment and growth for Lara, although it may not have been readily apparent to the general French public or media. And that may be appropriate, for it may also be the year Lara turned away from her focus on France, and to a more general audience.
At the very end of last year, Lara reportedly went to Moscow to sing at a concert attended by Russian president Dimitry Medvedev. This was actually an omen for the year as a whole, which would involve activity in Russia at the highest levels. The month also featured another omen: Lara turned 40 on January 9th; perhaps this momentous birthday gave her the impetus to move in new directions.
Back in France, as the year opened, Lara was on break from her concert tour in support of TLFM. However, as is the case this year, several of her pre-recorded appearances were shown on French TV. In particular, an excellent performance of “Mamy Bleu” with a group of young choral singers was presented (actually just before the new year), and on New Year’s Day Lara was on a quiz show, ”N'oubliez pas les paroles", where she won 20,000 euros for her charity AMTM. This turned out to be one of the few events she performed for the charity; a planned private concert to raise funds never materialized, reportedly because of a ‘disconnect’ between Lara’s new employees and the charity’s staff (they say it has now been attended to and Lara will be more active this coming year). During this month she was also on several other TV shows, most notably, 'Panique des les oreillettes’, where Lara and one other guest interacted with surprise long-time companions; and 'L’Ecole de fans', Lara’s 3rd appearance over the years with children singing her songs (each show is the essence of cuteness).
Mid-January featured the return of Lara’s concert tour, which found Lara, and the fans in fine form. Lara got fine reviews from both the public and the local print media for her singing and complicated show.
And a common denominator of the audience reception at each venue was that they came up with surprises for Lara; for example, in Nantes fans wore luminescent bracelets, and also had signs with the word 'thanks', tributes that seemed to delight Lara. The break had not changed the show to any great although some five songs were now usually missing – it was reported that Lara felt the necessity to conserve her voice on the extensive tour (the show had been running 2 hours and 20 minutes, and the cuts reduced it to an hour and a half).
Lara’s concert performances did not prevent her from participating in a charity event to help earthquake victims in Haiti (with the song “TLFM”), while during the month the video of another of her charity efforts, this time for the victims of AIDS, became available (the CD release with Lara’s contribution of the song “Amoureuse” occurred the following month). And she continued her almost innumerable radio and TV promotional appearances for TLFM, despite the fact that she gave the impression of wanting to move past this “parenthesis in her career” (her words).
In one of the ‘out-of-the blue ventures that go nowhere”, which Lara is occasionally involved with, the official site began playing a dance-beat English version of the single TLFM (called, appropriately enough EWIM). Lara worked with Dave Aude, who is known for remixing songs, because she wanted to ‘do something funny’. However, it was one of the few concrete actions Lara took during the year with regard to EWIM. Released in September 2009, it is sold only on Lara’s site and FNAC, it never had what would have been a very logical Canadian release, and as the year wore on, she mentioned it less and less, despite the excellent reviews from fans and the few media people who paid attention to it. She explicitly rejected the notion of touring to promote it, saying she didn’t have the time (although it got a bit of promotion during the TLFM tour, where it was also sold).
At various times during the first few months of the year, Lara suggested that an all-new French album, tentatively referred to as ‘Le Secret’ and thought to be done in conjunction with the Israeli, Giora Linenberg, was going to be released as a follow-up to TLFM, at some indeterminate date. Of course that may still happen, but to this point nothing concrete has materialized. Also on the ‘failed to materialize’ list: Lara’s intention to be in the play “Victor Victoria’ was put off ‘til next year, if not later, due to her time constraints, and the filming of ‘Charlie’, in which Lara plays a supporting role, was postponed ‘til next year (June, in the latest estimates) by financial constraints.
In early February Lara finished the last concerts of her current TLFM tour segment, with the standard occurrences: fine singing, the (generally) elaborate stage show that also meant little direct involvement with the fans, and the fans making up for that with their own surprises. In some of the (often smaller) venues Lara did substitute a more intimate acoustic show instead of TLFM, a change which had both positive and negative aspects for the fans – yes, they liked the more personable Lara, but they also missed the holograms, etc. Lara continued her media appearances throughout the month, including press interviews, radio and TV in Belgium and France – where would they be without people of Lara’s energy (and in her case, personality)? One novel approach was Lara’s being featured on the program ‘Nostalgie Belgique’, with the ‘Discotheque Ideale de Lara Fabian’, one song a day for 12 days representing different aspects of her life. A number of the songs Lara loves best were in English, which made fans wonder why Lara hasn’t sung more reprises in that language (e.g., ‘Bridge over Troubled Waters’).
Lara spent the last half of February touring Eastern Europe/Russia with her acoustic concert (not TLFM). One aspect of interest was that her set often contained more songs from EWIM than from TLFM; Lara at some point apparently concluded she was more understandable to this audience in English than in French (in previous years she had split the two languages). We got to see more of this approach later. She received great praise from both the public and press, obviously wetting her appetite for further interactions in these countries, which certainly did come to pass. This was in continued contrast with her reception from some media outlets in France, most notably “Le ptit journal” for whom Lara proved an irresistible object of ridicule (due primarily to her obvious emotional sensitivity). Of course to the ‘eastern’ markets Lara is new and a marvel; it is easy to forget how marvelous anything is once one becomes accustomed to it.
In a telling interview this month with ‘Paris Match’, Lara confessed that she now realizes her decision to restrain her voice to appease the French critics was wrong (something Serge Lama told her years ago). In particular, she noted the album “Neuf” as an example of this, and it is telling that she sang no songs from that disc on this tour. [Of course, some people like the more-restrained Lara, and to them, this album is no mistake at all]. Towards the end of the year Lara took another crack at critics, suggesting that the main attitude of 'Le ptit journal' was an inherent meanness, and they would be nothing without the people they criticize.
By the beginning of March, the last segment of the TLFM tour had resumed, with the fan surprises (for example, paper hearts in Amiens, and tee shirts with “ON T’M” on them plus rewritten words to that song which the fans sung in Porcieu) and Lara’s own surprise: the return of some of the missing songs, including the fan favorite ‘dessins animee’ (the show was now back up to two hours in length). The songs’ return was most likely in preparation for a filming of the concert on one night, March 8th at Forest National in Brussels. Despite this approach of ‘throwing all her chips in the pot” for that one show and the pressure it brought – Lara’s father told her fans that she hadn’t slept the night before - it came off without a hitch – the DVD was recorded, and as we found out later, was a wonderful production.
Again the different shows were either TLFM or the acoustic version, and in the latter, Lara sang the new song ‘Mirage’ (which fans think may be from the album ‘Le Secret’).
The TLFM tour ended in mid-March in Grenoble. Nathalie on Lara’s site suggested that fans surreptitiously bring a red rose (without thorns) to the concert, so that after (in another surprise) the various band members presented Lara with their roses, the fans could throw them onto the stage (to become known as the ‘rain of roses’). It worked as planned – there were few moments during the year as touching as seeing Lara’s reaction to this event, including her unmitigated joy when Gerard came out with his rose. It was suggested by fans that this scene be recorded as a bonus for the concert DVD – perhaps it was, but it was not in the first DVD release. The fans had their own surprise – they handed out lighters, which were lit in conjunction with Lara’s presentation of “Wind Beneath My Wings” (which she routinely dedicated to the fans) (and a version of that, done in Brussels, is seen on the DVD).
The TLFM tour was the most ambitious, technically, Lara had ever attempted, and it went on, with breaks, for six months. While it limited Lara’s personal interactions with fans, always a strong point that raises her concerts above mere vocalization, it motivated the fans to provide their own points of contact via the surprises. This may well have instigated Lara’s people to plan the surprise in Grenoble. Overall, one must say, it further cemented Lara’s mutual love affair with her ‘angels’, which will probably constrain any shift Lara may have in store toward a more international career.
As for how the TLFM album did, Lara indicated in an interview in Quebec later in the year that it had sold 250,000 copies despite some negative reviews. Relatively speaking it did better in Belgium than in France. When released later in the year in Quebec it did well when Lara was there to boost it, but dropped when she left.
Once the tour had ended, Lara had more leeway to attend different venues, and she took advantage of that for the rest of the spring. Throughout the tour, Lara’s rendition of ‘Adagio’ as the closing song of her concert continued to garner great praise from all who heard it, and it got another airing as well. Christian Imparato, a (quite) young Italian singer, performed it at a singing contest; Lara sent him a note indicating how much she liked it, and during March actually joined him for a rendition (which then won the contest). By the end of the month Lara had left for Israel for two acoustic concerts. She was very well received – the press and fans seemed to be grateful that she would come, given their status as something of an international pariah. She ended each concert singing “Hurshat Ha Ekaliptus” (a song in Hebrew that she has now sung several times, including at the 60th ‘birthday party’ for Israel last May in Paris).
Lara began April in Moldavia (again to great applause). Otherwise, this was a light month for her, a welcome break from the havoc of the previous months of touring. Her one event was participating in an homage to the late Gregory Lemarchal, where she gave a complex interview extolling his great talent (and his ‘singing without any lungs’ due to cystic fibrosis). One thing that didn’t happen was the expected release of TLFM in Canada; it turned out that there was a conflict between Lara and the record companies in that country, which wasn’t resolved for a number of months.
During most of May, Lara remained out of the public eye, presumably enabling her to spend time with her family. One development that had subsequent and perhaps lasting implications was that Lara agreed to preside over the International Competition of Musical Comedy (singing, theatre and dance) (competition which took place in June), in effect becoming the sponsor of the organization (AICOM). Lara said she’s always loved musical comedy, and one day hopes to not only participate in it as an actress, but also as a writer. Hence with ‘Victor Victoria’ no longer on the active horizon, she could at least be involved in a play-related organization, although she noted that she was most attracted to their method of teaching singing, parallel to an approach she had developed with her own singing teacher. Lara also offered her time to teach a master class for one of the winners as a chief prize.
The last week in May, filming of the “musical movie” ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ began in the Ukraine. As we had learned in various interviews leading up to this, the movie was to be made as a series of 11 or 12 vignettes, each associated with a track on the upcoming ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ album, to be released (it turned out) in October. The connecting link is that each segment is one of the reincarnational lives of a particular woman (i.e., Lara), and we see how different the lives are: in a concentration camp, as a ‘woman of easy virtue’, as a battered wife, even as a vampire, etc. The movie has no dialogue, with the background music being the appropriate musical track (although the video segments are not literal presentations of the lyrics).
The filming of this movie dominated Lara’s life through the month of June. Alan Badoev, the director, put clips of the shooting of the movie on his website, so fans were kept up-to-date on the proceedings (something Lara’s official site never did, in fact it never mentioned this whole project, officially, at all – including the release of the Mlle. Zhivago album). In a subsequent interview in Lara’s quarterly magazine (“Farfallina”) she said that the experience of filming forced her to transcend boundaries she thought were inviolate, both psychologically and physically (e.g., 20 hour days). Some of the clips show her ‘going through the ringer’, appearing bedraggled and anything but glamorous. [Note that this is in direct contrast to the comments about her on ‘Le ptit journal’]. The movie is not for the ‘faint of heart’ – as Lara indicated, it involves our ‘eternal companions, Love and Death’.
The film was originally budgeted for $2 million but the costs rose, perhaps to double that by the time it was finished (which actually didn’t really happen until December). In one of those strange twists that Lara always seems to be involved with, it was reportedly financed by Universal Music France (although this has not been verified); but when the album eventually came out, it was not a Universal album at all. The movie is obviously not yet out, and whether it will be a real cinematic release, for example shown at film festivals, or simply a glorified (and expensive) set of music videos remains to be seen.
One incident associated with Badoev’s clips that evoked response from both the fans and Lara was that she had her family (Gerard and Lou) in the Ukraine for at least part of the month of June, and one of the ad hoc clips showed Lara walking with Lou. This was after all Lara had done to keep Lou’s picture out of the press, including threatening to sue publications that showed her. Clearly Badoev was not privy to this extreme sensitivity. Lara was reportedly furious, and the clip was soon removed but not before it was widely disseminated on youtube. The whole thing eventually passed by, but maybe because of it, Lara has dropped the protective mantle she had been using. Lou appeared on Russian TV at Lara’s concert, her face appeared in a Russian publication, and Lara recently answered questions about Lou in various venues including last week on Europe 1. It’s unclear whether she will maintain that same attitude when back in Belgium and France, but once the cat is out of the bag…
The Mlle. Zhivago enterprise, along with the subsequent album, made her a very public figure in the Ukraine and Russia, with numerous TV/press appearances, usually at the side of the well-known (in those countries) composer Igor Krutoi. In effect, he acted as her sponsor to the media there, in addition to writing the music for the album (Lara wrote the lyrics). As an example, Lara joined the ‘Successful Woman’s Club’ in Kiev. In an interview Lara suggested that women are by nature mediators rather than the bosses, and that family will always be most important to them. One wonders whether this is what the ‘successful women’ in that club wanted to hear! Then she was invited to sing at the birthday party of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, also in Kiev, reminiscent of her concert for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the beginning of the year.
Promotion for the “Mlle. Zhivago” album was already starting in Russia this month with Lara recording songs from it for the popular Russian show “Saturday Night”. Her taped appearances were parceled out over the next four months, leading up to the album’s release. Lara lost no opportunity to mention that the whole project was ‘fated to be’ – as we know, her mother named her for the character in the “Dr. Zhivago” movie. Lara also said that she had a special relationship to Russia, including her sharing with the Russian people the emotions of nostalgia and melancholy.
As a break from the filming, during June Lara hosted the AICOM competition, with the second prize winner receiving singing lessons with Lara. This obviously required Lara to return to France; the back-and-forth nature of her dual lives proved to be a constant theme during the fall and early winter.
By July, Lara’s filming responsibilities had decreased, so she was free to engage in other projects. She gave an acoustic concert in Turkey, which got great reviews from fans and the local press, even though it was in an out-of-the-way venue. But the big surprise was that seemingly out of nowhere, Lara returned to Quebec for a big concert on July 10th at the Festival d'été. Apparently the festival had a hard time getting French language performers despite its venue, and the performer scheduled for that time backed out. At the last minute they asked Lara, who agreed (which required her flying from the Ukraine where she had performed for the president on July 9th). It was an extraordinary set list of songs, focusing on Lara’s career in Canada, and including many she hasn’t sung in more than a decade (e.g., “Saisir le jour”). Lara was very emotional about her return to Canada, calling it ‘her first love, her great love’, and this was the place she grew from a young woman with dreams to an accomplished performer (without the constant sniping from the press). In fact the press gave her great reviews for her still-perfect voice although it noted that the 15-20,000 people attending was less than what might have been expected had there been a performer with more recent Canadian affiliations (Lara’s given only a handful of concerts in Canada over the last decade). Lara would return again to this country, that she calls her favorite place to live, a few months later.
For most of the rest of July, Lara was largely out of sight, although some additional filming of the Mlle Zhivago movie may have been occurring for her. At the beginning of August she was back in eastern Europe, with an appearance at the New Wave festival in Latvia. At the news conference associated with this program, Lara apparently understood the Russian questions without a translator – she indicated that having spent a month with so much Russian being spoken during the filming, she had picked it up. In a later interview, however, she noted that given the amount of time she has available to learn it, she will probably never become a fluent Russian speaker. Nevertheless, once again she commented on her affiliation to Russia, by saying in an interview, “You know it's funny, but I'm really starting to feel at home here and understand something. I feel a certain connection between passion, which the Italians have [Lara considers herself basically Italian, from her mother’s side], and the drama that is inherent in the Russian soul. And I feel a connection with this soul.” It was later reported that she is in the process of buying a home in either Kiev or Moscow.
At this event, in contrast to the concerts Lara has done every spring in Russia, her Mlle. Zhivago songs were lip-synched. This became a sore subject for the French fans, and to a lesser extent the Russian fans, because most of the subsequent performances of the televised ‘Mlle Zhivago’ tracks were done the same way. In Canada Lara never used that approach, and in fact looked down upon it, in addition to saying that she was so poor at it that she could never fool anyone. However, she’s gotten better, and obviously has dropped her objections. When pressed on the issue at the time of the release of ‘Neuf’, Lara explained it by saying that she wanted the first presentation of new songs on TV to have the greatest possible impact. Fans offered other explanations – the sound system isn’t as good in those countries, Lara hasn’t had time to practice the new songs given her busy schedule, the contract called for it, etc. Perhaps also factoring in as that some of these songs are hard to sing, stretching her range. [However, she’s even lip-synched songs from that album that seem much easier, and sung older songs that are equally hard – Adagio, for example. And not all songs from it are lip-synched in concert]. If the album is ever released in France and Lara tours there, fans will be watching this very closely. In Russia, it seems to be the case that almost everyone does it, and the fans were less concerned.
While Lara’s appearances for the general public were at a minimum during the month of August (a quiet month usually in France), there was one memorable event. Lara’s fan club met in a bar in Brussels one Saturday night, and first Gerard (Lara’s significant other) and Pierre (her father) appeared. They apologized for Lara’s absence, explaining she had an engagement elsewhere, but claimed she had instead sent a video (fans really had not expected her, as it had been years since she had attended a fan club meeting). When the lights went out for the video presentation, who stepped out into the club but Lara herself, as a surprise for the fans (perhaps to mimic the surprises they had given her during her tour). Justin Henin, the tennis player and Lara’s good friend, came with her (maybe for support). Lara actually had to reschedule a singing event in Nice to be there, and Pierre had to alter his vacation plans, but it was clearly a thank you to Lara’s fans for their great loyalty and affection – and to show that even though she has been giving attention to Russia, and even Canada, part of her will always be with them.
Meanwhile, Lara’s previously recorded appearances on ‘Russia Saturday Night’ continued to be aired, keeping her in the public eye. Of particular note was the presentation of the song ‘Mamaya’, a paean to her mother, with the theme so appealing to the Russian psyche (“Mother Russia”). IMHO it is one of her best songs ever. Alan Badoev also released a number of additional clips for the ‘Mlle Zhivago’ movie. In the various segments you can see her: almost drowned, whirled and thrown around, have punches aimed in her direction, have bruises painted on her (in association with the punches) as well as fake blood, be knocked about inhaling smoke (and even cut up) in a car bomb scene, have some very physical and sexy scenes in low cut dresses, be required to scream/cry on cue, dance, fall, and in general go through the complete range of extreme emotions. When asked whether the filming of ‘DeLovely’ had prepared her for these activities, Lara responded that “no, it had not”, and if she had known what she would have to go through, she would certainly have had second thoughts. But in retrospect, she said she was happy she did it, and had grown immensely from it in many ways. [She should have done a little more research – Alan Badoev is known for his physically demanding shoots.]
‘La rentre’ for Lara in September started slowly, but eventually picked up steam. News did trickle out that Lara would release a ‘best of’ album through Universal, which eventually occurred in mid-November. The fans reaction to the news was fairly negative, viewing it perhaps as a sign of desperation to provide something for the French market (or at least an attempt by Universal to cash in on her production one more time). Many pointed out that Lara had previously reacted with scorn when asked about a ‘best of’ release (consistent with her oft-repeated comment that she is continually looking forward, not backward). Fans also noted that this will not help Lara’s reputation – to release an album of reprises, followed by a ‘best of’ disc, seems to suggest the performer is ‘over-the-hill’. The timeline for release would also closely follow the expected release of ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ in the Ukraine/Russia and require a tricky promotional two-step, which has certainly proven to be the case.
In the second week of September, Lara’s now year-old TLFM album was finally released in Canada, the record company issues having been solved. One interesting aspect was that “Nuit Magique” was different – the TLFM1 version (done with Matt Herskowitz) had been substituted for the standard one. If one thought this signified the upcoming release of the full album of TLFM1, that turned out to be premature – it’s still not out, despite persistent rumors. Most likely the substitution was done to ensure that the North American release was different from the European one, something many artists have now taken to doing.
Lara was not in Canada for the release, although she sent a letter to Quebec media and fans, expressing her continued devotion to that province and the country. Lara finally did return to Canada for some 9 days beginning September 27th, and as usual she got caught up in a big media whirl, with some 10 radio and TV shows and numerous interviews in the press. Lara did all she could in the allotted time to tie herself back to the country that she proclaims she loves above all others. And in general her deep affection was returned; you could see the hosts adored her, and why not: she’s articulate, friendly, humorous, and clearly was extremely happy to be there. And, as fans pointed out, much more at ease with the media than she is anywhere else. After watching this, one got the impression that if Lara were to settle down in Montreal, she could straightforwardly raise herself back up into being one of the pre-eminent entertainment personalities. She is just that good with the media in this country. However, after this series of ‘one-night stands’, Lara’s Canadian ‘circus’ (as one host referred to it) ended, and she left, who knows when to return. In fact, Lara has sold her home in Montreal (she said she was rarely there), and when asked if she envisioned moving back to this country, she said she would like to, but it would have to be much later, most likely after Lou “finishes her studies”. A long wait. She repeatedly indicated the need to be near her parents in Belgium, and the need to work in France – despite her distaste for that country (Paris, in particular), a point of view that continues to irritate her French fans.
Lara’s greater freedom with the press was also expressed in her willingness to discuss her personal life. She discussed her thoughts of suicide with champagne and pills; in a previous interview she noted that there is a considerable distance between the thought and the deed. She continued to talk about Lou in public, saying that she would not push Lou into being a singer, but would not discourage it, either, and that the only time in her life she has felt beautiful was when she was pregnant. She said she would like to have another child but didn’t know if there would be time for it. When asked if Gerard was the man of her dreams, Lara did not say yes. She said he was her companion, and she hoped they would take the long path of life together. She indicated that she had reconciled with Rick Allison, “with dignity”, and as to the possibility of working together again, she didn’t rule out a musical reconciliation somewhere down the line. She discussed her ‘letter’ to Celine Dion as part of the TLFM liner notes, including the comment that she thought of her as her ‘secret friend’ – this got a lot of play in the Canadian press. When asked if she could have taken Celine’s path (to greater commercial success) she said she made some choices that turned that possibility away from her, presumably associated with her U.S. career, a decision she justified as necessary to ‘save her soul’ from the commercialism, extreme scheduling, the conflicts with Sony/Columbia, attempts to remake her into a ‘dance music’ singer, etc. And she even discussed (for the first time in public) her relationship with Patrick Fiori, noting it was important not to confuse passion with love.
Lara even caused an inadvertent media blip by describing her ailment in 2004 as a tumor in the liver, without emphasizing that it was benign. She then had to issue an apology and clarification. She repeated what she has said in the past, she felt it was the result of too much anger on her part, and she had to face that in herself in order to be cured.
Lara’s trip to Canada with its media blitz seems to have worked wonders for sales of TLFM there. It jumped to #1 on Archambault, jumped 43 places to #26 in Canada overall, up to 7th in Montreal, 5th in Quebec and 2nd for French records overall. It stayed high in the charts for a couple of weeks, but with Lara no longer there to publicize it, sank out of sight the following month.
By mid-October, Lara was back in the promotional mode in both France and Russia, recording shows to be broadcast in conjunction with both albums’ release. And she made one more side-trip, this time going to appear in Las Vegas on the show ‘David Foster and Friends’, which is to be broadcast on PBS in March 2011, and be made available on CD and DVD. The list of invitees was quite long; suffice it to say that it was certainly an honor for Lara to have been invited. Her history with David Foster is a complicated one; you may know he produced her recording of “Oh Canada”, complete with symphonic orchestration. However, Lara apparently refused the chance to have her career guided by David Foster, the way many others have (e.g., Josh Groban); as we know, Lara does not subjugate herself to anyone else’s will, although she has no problem working with others as an equal. This does not seem to have stood in the way of her invitation, and on Friday, there was Lara at the show, having, as David Foster announced, just arrived from the airport after traveling for 48 hours straight from Moscow (the duration caused in part by a French air traffic controller’s strike), changing clothes in the limousine on the way in from the airport, without even the time for rehearsals or a sound check. She sang several songs, including “Caruso” and a duet with Michael Bolton, ‘The Prayer’ (their recorded duet is also supposed to appear on his upcoming album, which has apparently been delayed).
The importance of this event is hard to gauge: either it is indicative of what will come to be a real push into the international (including North American) market, perhaps with the Mlle. Zhivago album/movie, or it is just one of those things Lara does on the spur of the moment, with no follow through. Clearly it’s impossible for her to be everywhere, though she seems to be trying. She received rare praise at this event: David Foster said she was at the very top of his list of great singers, and Michael Bolton said she was a very sincere person and he would go anywhere in the world to sing with her. [This seems to be her year for receiving praise: Mario Frangoulis earlier had stated that singing with Lara was one of the highlights of his life, and Igor Krutoi said she was the best singer he had ever worked with. These types of comments are usually reserved for the ‘dearly departed’ ☺].
The end of October featured the highlight of the year, the release of “Mlle Zhivago”, the multi-lingual album, in the Ukraine, right on schedule (Igor Krutoi seems to be a very responsible musical partner). Of course once it was out there, it was out everywhere, given the Internet, and fans who put mp3 versions of the songs on-line. To show how far Lara’s official site has come in its allowing fan’s leniency (they now put links to videos from live concerts, etc.), the link to download for free these songs was actually given in the official site forum. [But then again, the official site never included the album’s release in their events list, and it is still not listed in Lara’s Discography.] As expected the album was not a Universal Records product – it seems to be a joint release of Lara’s own production company and a Russian or Ukrainian one associated with Krutoi.
“Candydo” on the official site noted that for each disc, Lara acts as the producer, pays for the creation of her albums and owns their rights under her own label (“9 Productions”). She then signs a license with the record labels for distribution and dissemination of them. Under this arrangement she is free to record what she wants with the musicians she wants. [This is different from her situation with Sony who controlled – and paid for – the complete process. Her lack of freedom, and the distribution problems she encountered, compelled her to buy out her contract from them.] For distribution in France it is Universal (Polydor, actually, a Universal subsidiary), but she is free to find different record companies for the distribution in different countries.
We don’t really know what happened with Mlle. Zhivago’s eventual distribution, but there are plenty of rumors. One is that when the album was finished, Universal (Pascal Negre) initially turned it down, so Lara and Igor Krutoi signed with a Russian company (perhaps associated with Krutoi) for exclusive distribution rights in Asia. After hearing the album and seeing the response, the rumor continues, Universal changed their mind, but at that point Lara refused them. As we know the album is amazing, with Lara singing as she hasn’t done in years (on recordings, anyway), and with wonderful florid music. It has been very successful in Russia – in the top 5 albums for the last five weeks - and the Ukraine, where it was number one. These are the only two countries in which it has been officially released, but both Lara and Krutoi have indicated that it is meant for international distribution, to be released next in Italy and Germany. It is already available on amazon.com (the US version) as an import (while there are five languages represented, six of the songs are in English).
The promotion for it got into full swing, with Lara being once again featured on ‘Russia Saturday Night’. She also started a concert series, first in the Ukraine and then Belarus, before going on to Russia in early November with four generally sold out performances in the Kremlin (seating 6,000 people each night). The Moscow performances were filmed for showing on Russian TV and an eventual DVD release. Lara then moved on to St. Petersburg for several more concerts. At each stop she was featured on TV shows, with interviews (Lara speaking exclusively in English), almost always accompanied by Igor Krutoi. The audiences were packed with notable people from both countries (the president of the Ukraine came for one concert, and many well-known [in Russia] entertainment figures showed up for the Kremlin concerts).
The album and Lara have received great praise in these countries, and Lara herself is different. She wears beautiful gowns, with much more makeup, and is an elegant figure. She is clearly enjoying the reception, as she noted in Quebec, and has said that this is the project of her life. In all respects, this is quite different from her recent experiences in France – so much so that she is reportedly unwilling to consider releasing the album in France, at least in the foreseeable future.
However, France (and Universal Records) did beckon once again, for in mid-November, the ‘best of’ album (with the TLFM font leur show DVD as a bonus) was released in that country. The album contains two previously unrecorded songs – a new song written for her (at Universal’s bequest), and a ‘virtual’ duet with Ray Charles (for which Lara had to send the Charles’ estate evidence of her work in order for them to give their approval). It is also a unique compilation in that it contains songs from both her French and English careers, for the first time together (possible since Lara bought out the rights to her Sony era recordings). While those who have all her albums could put together the same selections (plus the new songs, available on youtube), it proves to be a very powerful 2 CD collection – the first CD from songs done earlier in her career, showcasing her power vocals, and the second CD from the latter part, softer with more subtlety. The accompanying booklet has pictures of Lara from various stages of her career. Overall it is a high quality production, not something simply thrown together.
Although the DVD was not promoted as part of the package (one can buy the CDs without it), that proved to be the biggest hit among fans. The one-night filming in Brussels was completely successful, the holograms work perfectly, Lara’s singing is strong and the fans highly enthusiastic – all the elements necessary for a concert DVD. In fact it has proven so popular that the DVD is to be released by itself shortly after the New Year begins.
As might be expected, Lara had numerous promotional appearances for this release too, on various French/Belgian TV and radio shows. Chief among them was the program ‘Dans le universe de…Lara Fabian’, which provided a review of her life/career with special guests. And chief among those were her father and mother, who Lara joined in singing a song from her childhood. This is the first time anyone can remember Lara’s mother appearing on TV or at any promotional event.
The album started strong in the French charts, at number one for compilations, although it has faded over time. There is a real question as to how many fans Lara has left in France, or whether there are incipient fans who can be brought back into the fold with a new French album. In that respect it is interesting that Lara’s pianist in Russia for her own songs was Giora Linenberg, who is thought to be the composer for the songs on the (so-far mythical) album “Le Secret”.
At the end of November, Lara’s Moscow concert(s) was televised on Russian TV. A wonderfully recorded program, it alleviated fans concerns that the Russians ‘weren’t up to it’, technically. It did, however, include some lip-synch versions of songs, despite the presence of an orchestra on stage, and child singers for one song. The televised concert is supposed to come out as a DVD next year, perhaps with some more aspects (bonus, etc.). Lara’s success in Russia has also lifted sales of some of her other albums in that country, and throughout December she appeared on a number of awards shows there, either performing or presenting.
Back in France, she recorded several additional programs for the ‘best of’ promo, and when people reported that she looked tired, it is completely understandable. Of most interest was her appearance on “500 Choristes” on Christmas Day. Before a TV audience of reportedly 5 million people she (and the chorus) performed a rendition of ‘Je t’aime’. Both the choice of song and the performance got mixed reviews from fans, acknowledging that it was in promotion of the ‘best of’, but afraid it would continue the stereotype people have of Lara.
Finally, in December, a new biography of Lara appeared, written by Jeremy Patinier, a journalist who has been a fan of hers for the past 10 years. Those who have read it are of conflicting opinions as to whether it contains anything new; perhaps it depends upon how much one knows ahead of time. It did not have Lara’s active participation, but it doesn’t appear as if Lara was against it, either. At 245 pages it is likely an upgrade over the previous (unauthorized) biography of Lara by ‘Kathy’ which appeared a decade ago.
As the New Year dawns, Lara is once again to be on Russian TV, perhaps an omen for what is to come. It has been reported that Lara’s official website will be changed, and that the Russian organizers of her fan site there will play a part in the new one. This may only be a rumor, but that would be a welcome change, given the deficiencies of the current site, particularly the lack of attention paid to it by those in charge. On the other hand, great praise is to be extended to the sites providing us with sometimes hard-to-get videos and information, Tarcisio (in 3 languages) on larafabiannews.com, and Christina (in 2 languages) on her Music Treasure Box sites. Also to be noted is that Laetitia appears to have recovered her health, as has her website, larafabianweb.com, and the pure-lara facebook site is valuable with its insights and links. And of course there is the excellent Russian web site www.larafabian.borda.ru [Please excuse me if I’ve overlooked other sites of interest…]
2010 was a very active and perhaps pivotal year for Lara, with many releases, many concerts, her usual plethora of media appearances, and her continued very strong connection with her ‘angels’. It may well have marked the beginning of a change away from her focus on France and Belgium commercially. We will only know that by the end of 2011, when presumably the actual “Mlle. Zhivago” movie will be out, the international release of the album will have taken place, she may well have filmed her part in the movie “Charlie’, and we’ll see if a new French album or tour materializes.
David
After several years of aborted plans or partial frustrations, 2010 marked a time of accomplishment and growth for Lara, although it may not have been readily apparent to the general French public or media. And that may be appropriate, for it may also be the year Lara turned away from her focus on France, and to a more general audience.
At the very end of last year, Lara reportedly went to Moscow to sing at a concert attended by Russian president Dimitry Medvedev. This was actually an omen for the year as a whole, which would involve activity in Russia at the highest levels. The month also featured another omen: Lara turned 40 on January 9th; perhaps this momentous birthday gave her the impetus to move in new directions.
Back in France, as the year opened, Lara was on break from her concert tour in support of TLFM. However, as is the case this year, several of her pre-recorded appearances were shown on French TV. In particular, an excellent performance of “Mamy Bleu” with a group of young choral singers was presented (actually just before the new year), and on New Year’s Day Lara was on a quiz show, ”N'oubliez pas les paroles", where she won 20,000 euros for her charity AMTM. This turned out to be one of the few events she performed for the charity; a planned private concert to raise funds never materialized, reportedly because of a ‘disconnect’ between Lara’s new employees and the charity’s staff (they say it has now been attended to and Lara will be more active this coming year). During this month she was also on several other TV shows, most notably, 'Panique des les oreillettes’, where Lara and one other guest interacted with surprise long-time companions; and 'L’Ecole de fans', Lara’s 3rd appearance over the years with children singing her songs (each show is the essence of cuteness).
Mid-January featured the return of Lara’s concert tour, which found Lara, and the fans in fine form. Lara got fine reviews from both the public and the local print media for her singing and complicated show.
And a common denominator of the audience reception at each venue was that they came up with surprises for Lara; for example, in Nantes fans wore luminescent bracelets, and also had signs with the word 'thanks', tributes that seemed to delight Lara. The break had not changed the show to any great although some five songs were now usually missing – it was reported that Lara felt the necessity to conserve her voice on the extensive tour (the show had been running 2 hours and 20 minutes, and the cuts reduced it to an hour and a half).
Lara’s concert performances did not prevent her from participating in a charity event to help earthquake victims in Haiti (with the song “TLFM”), while during the month the video of another of her charity efforts, this time for the victims of AIDS, became available (the CD release with Lara’s contribution of the song “Amoureuse” occurred the following month). And she continued her almost innumerable radio and TV promotional appearances for TLFM, despite the fact that she gave the impression of wanting to move past this “parenthesis in her career” (her words).
In one of the ‘out-of-the blue ventures that go nowhere”, which Lara is occasionally involved with, the official site began playing a dance-beat English version of the single TLFM (called, appropriately enough EWIM). Lara worked with Dave Aude, who is known for remixing songs, because she wanted to ‘do something funny’. However, it was one of the few concrete actions Lara took during the year with regard to EWIM. Released in September 2009, it is sold only on Lara’s site and FNAC, it never had what would have been a very logical Canadian release, and as the year wore on, she mentioned it less and less, despite the excellent reviews from fans and the few media people who paid attention to it. She explicitly rejected the notion of touring to promote it, saying she didn’t have the time (although it got a bit of promotion during the TLFM tour, where it was also sold).
At various times during the first few months of the year, Lara suggested that an all-new French album, tentatively referred to as ‘Le Secret’ and thought to be done in conjunction with the Israeli, Giora Linenberg, was going to be released as a follow-up to TLFM, at some indeterminate date. Of course that may still happen, but to this point nothing concrete has materialized. Also on the ‘failed to materialize’ list: Lara’s intention to be in the play “Victor Victoria’ was put off ‘til next year, if not later, due to her time constraints, and the filming of ‘Charlie’, in which Lara plays a supporting role, was postponed ‘til next year (June, in the latest estimates) by financial constraints.
In early February Lara finished the last concerts of her current TLFM tour segment, with the standard occurrences: fine singing, the (generally) elaborate stage show that also meant little direct involvement with the fans, and the fans making up for that with their own surprises. In some of the (often smaller) venues Lara did substitute a more intimate acoustic show instead of TLFM, a change which had both positive and negative aspects for the fans – yes, they liked the more personable Lara, but they also missed the holograms, etc. Lara continued her media appearances throughout the month, including press interviews, radio and TV in Belgium and France – where would they be without people of Lara’s energy (and in her case, personality)? One novel approach was Lara’s being featured on the program ‘Nostalgie Belgique’, with the ‘Discotheque Ideale de Lara Fabian’, one song a day for 12 days representing different aspects of her life. A number of the songs Lara loves best were in English, which made fans wonder why Lara hasn’t sung more reprises in that language (e.g., ‘Bridge over Troubled Waters’).
Lara spent the last half of February touring Eastern Europe/Russia with her acoustic concert (not TLFM). One aspect of interest was that her set often contained more songs from EWIM than from TLFM; Lara at some point apparently concluded she was more understandable to this audience in English than in French (in previous years she had split the two languages). We got to see more of this approach later. She received great praise from both the public and press, obviously wetting her appetite for further interactions in these countries, which certainly did come to pass. This was in continued contrast with her reception from some media outlets in France, most notably “Le ptit journal” for whom Lara proved an irresistible object of ridicule (due primarily to her obvious emotional sensitivity). Of course to the ‘eastern’ markets Lara is new and a marvel; it is easy to forget how marvelous anything is once one becomes accustomed to it.
In a telling interview this month with ‘Paris Match’, Lara confessed that she now realizes her decision to restrain her voice to appease the French critics was wrong (something Serge Lama told her years ago). In particular, she noted the album “Neuf” as an example of this, and it is telling that she sang no songs from that disc on this tour. [Of course, some people like the more-restrained Lara, and to them, this album is no mistake at all]. Towards the end of the year Lara took another crack at critics, suggesting that the main attitude of 'Le ptit journal' was an inherent meanness, and they would be nothing without the people they criticize.
By the beginning of March, the last segment of the TLFM tour had resumed, with the fan surprises (for example, paper hearts in Amiens, and tee shirts with “ON T’M” on them plus rewritten words to that song which the fans sung in Porcieu) and Lara’s own surprise: the return of some of the missing songs, including the fan favorite ‘dessins animee’ (the show was now back up to two hours in length). The songs’ return was most likely in preparation for a filming of the concert on one night, March 8th at Forest National in Brussels. Despite this approach of ‘throwing all her chips in the pot” for that one show and the pressure it brought – Lara’s father told her fans that she hadn’t slept the night before - it came off without a hitch – the DVD was recorded, and as we found out later, was a wonderful production.
Again the different shows were either TLFM or the acoustic version, and in the latter, Lara sang the new song ‘Mirage’ (which fans think may be from the album ‘Le Secret’).
The TLFM tour ended in mid-March in Grenoble. Nathalie on Lara’s site suggested that fans surreptitiously bring a red rose (without thorns) to the concert, so that after (in another surprise) the various band members presented Lara with their roses, the fans could throw them onto the stage (to become known as the ‘rain of roses’). It worked as planned – there were few moments during the year as touching as seeing Lara’s reaction to this event, including her unmitigated joy when Gerard came out with his rose. It was suggested by fans that this scene be recorded as a bonus for the concert DVD – perhaps it was, but it was not in the first DVD release. The fans had their own surprise – they handed out lighters, which were lit in conjunction with Lara’s presentation of “Wind Beneath My Wings” (which she routinely dedicated to the fans) (and a version of that, done in Brussels, is seen on the DVD).
The TLFM tour was the most ambitious, technically, Lara had ever attempted, and it went on, with breaks, for six months. While it limited Lara’s personal interactions with fans, always a strong point that raises her concerts above mere vocalization, it motivated the fans to provide their own points of contact via the surprises. This may well have instigated Lara’s people to plan the surprise in Grenoble. Overall, one must say, it further cemented Lara’s mutual love affair with her ‘angels’, which will probably constrain any shift Lara may have in store toward a more international career.
As for how the TLFM album did, Lara indicated in an interview in Quebec later in the year that it had sold 250,000 copies despite some negative reviews. Relatively speaking it did better in Belgium than in France. When released later in the year in Quebec it did well when Lara was there to boost it, but dropped when she left.
Once the tour had ended, Lara had more leeway to attend different venues, and she took advantage of that for the rest of the spring. Throughout the tour, Lara’s rendition of ‘Adagio’ as the closing song of her concert continued to garner great praise from all who heard it, and it got another airing as well. Christian Imparato, a (quite) young Italian singer, performed it at a singing contest; Lara sent him a note indicating how much she liked it, and during March actually joined him for a rendition (which then won the contest). By the end of the month Lara had left for Israel for two acoustic concerts. She was very well received – the press and fans seemed to be grateful that she would come, given their status as something of an international pariah. She ended each concert singing “Hurshat Ha Ekaliptus” (a song in Hebrew that she has now sung several times, including at the 60th ‘birthday party’ for Israel last May in Paris).
Lara began April in Moldavia (again to great applause). Otherwise, this was a light month for her, a welcome break from the havoc of the previous months of touring. Her one event was participating in an homage to the late Gregory Lemarchal, where she gave a complex interview extolling his great talent (and his ‘singing without any lungs’ due to cystic fibrosis). One thing that didn’t happen was the expected release of TLFM in Canada; it turned out that there was a conflict between Lara and the record companies in that country, which wasn’t resolved for a number of months.
During most of May, Lara remained out of the public eye, presumably enabling her to spend time with her family. One development that had subsequent and perhaps lasting implications was that Lara agreed to preside over the International Competition of Musical Comedy (singing, theatre and dance) (competition which took place in June), in effect becoming the sponsor of the organization (AICOM). Lara said she’s always loved musical comedy, and one day hopes to not only participate in it as an actress, but also as a writer. Hence with ‘Victor Victoria’ no longer on the active horizon, she could at least be involved in a play-related organization, although she noted that she was most attracted to their method of teaching singing, parallel to an approach she had developed with her own singing teacher. Lara also offered her time to teach a master class for one of the winners as a chief prize.
The last week in May, filming of the “musical movie” ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ began in the Ukraine. As we had learned in various interviews leading up to this, the movie was to be made as a series of 11 or 12 vignettes, each associated with a track on the upcoming ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ album, to be released (it turned out) in October. The connecting link is that each segment is one of the reincarnational lives of a particular woman (i.e., Lara), and we see how different the lives are: in a concentration camp, as a ‘woman of easy virtue’, as a battered wife, even as a vampire, etc. The movie has no dialogue, with the background music being the appropriate musical track (although the video segments are not literal presentations of the lyrics).
The filming of this movie dominated Lara’s life through the month of June. Alan Badoev, the director, put clips of the shooting of the movie on his website, so fans were kept up-to-date on the proceedings (something Lara’s official site never did, in fact it never mentioned this whole project, officially, at all – including the release of the Mlle. Zhivago album). In a subsequent interview in Lara’s quarterly magazine (“Farfallina”) she said that the experience of filming forced her to transcend boundaries she thought were inviolate, both psychologically and physically (e.g., 20 hour days). Some of the clips show her ‘going through the ringer’, appearing bedraggled and anything but glamorous. [Note that this is in direct contrast to the comments about her on ‘Le ptit journal’]. The movie is not for the ‘faint of heart’ – as Lara indicated, it involves our ‘eternal companions, Love and Death’.
The film was originally budgeted for $2 million but the costs rose, perhaps to double that by the time it was finished (which actually didn’t really happen until December). In one of those strange twists that Lara always seems to be involved with, it was reportedly financed by Universal Music France (although this has not been verified); but when the album eventually came out, it was not a Universal album at all. The movie is obviously not yet out, and whether it will be a real cinematic release, for example shown at film festivals, or simply a glorified (and expensive) set of music videos remains to be seen.
One incident associated with Badoev’s clips that evoked response from both the fans and Lara was that she had her family (Gerard and Lou) in the Ukraine for at least part of the month of June, and one of the ad hoc clips showed Lara walking with Lou. This was after all Lara had done to keep Lou’s picture out of the press, including threatening to sue publications that showed her. Clearly Badoev was not privy to this extreme sensitivity. Lara was reportedly furious, and the clip was soon removed but not before it was widely disseminated on youtube. The whole thing eventually passed by, but maybe because of it, Lara has dropped the protective mantle she had been using. Lou appeared on Russian TV at Lara’s concert, her face appeared in a Russian publication, and Lara recently answered questions about Lou in various venues including last week on Europe 1. It’s unclear whether she will maintain that same attitude when back in Belgium and France, but once the cat is out of the bag…
The Mlle. Zhivago enterprise, along with the subsequent album, made her a very public figure in the Ukraine and Russia, with numerous TV/press appearances, usually at the side of the well-known (in those countries) composer Igor Krutoi. In effect, he acted as her sponsor to the media there, in addition to writing the music for the album (Lara wrote the lyrics). As an example, Lara joined the ‘Successful Woman’s Club’ in Kiev. In an interview Lara suggested that women are by nature mediators rather than the bosses, and that family will always be most important to them. One wonders whether this is what the ‘successful women’ in that club wanted to hear! Then she was invited to sing at the birthday party of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, also in Kiev, reminiscent of her concert for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the beginning of the year.
Promotion for the “Mlle. Zhivago” album was already starting in Russia this month with Lara recording songs from it for the popular Russian show “Saturday Night”. Her taped appearances were parceled out over the next four months, leading up to the album’s release. Lara lost no opportunity to mention that the whole project was ‘fated to be’ – as we know, her mother named her for the character in the “Dr. Zhivago” movie. Lara also said that she had a special relationship to Russia, including her sharing with the Russian people the emotions of nostalgia and melancholy.
As a break from the filming, during June Lara hosted the AICOM competition, with the second prize winner receiving singing lessons with Lara. This obviously required Lara to return to France; the back-and-forth nature of her dual lives proved to be a constant theme during the fall and early winter.
By July, Lara’s filming responsibilities had decreased, so she was free to engage in other projects. She gave an acoustic concert in Turkey, which got great reviews from fans and the local press, even though it was in an out-of-the-way venue. But the big surprise was that seemingly out of nowhere, Lara returned to Quebec for a big concert on July 10th at the Festival d'été. Apparently the festival had a hard time getting French language performers despite its venue, and the performer scheduled for that time backed out. At the last minute they asked Lara, who agreed (which required her flying from the Ukraine where she had performed for the president on July 9th). It was an extraordinary set list of songs, focusing on Lara’s career in Canada, and including many she hasn’t sung in more than a decade (e.g., “Saisir le jour”). Lara was very emotional about her return to Canada, calling it ‘her first love, her great love’, and this was the place she grew from a young woman with dreams to an accomplished performer (without the constant sniping from the press). In fact the press gave her great reviews for her still-perfect voice although it noted that the 15-20,000 people attending was less than what might have been expected had there been a performer with more recent Canadian affiliations (Lara’s given only a handful of concerts in Canada over the last decade). Lara would return again to this country, that she calls her favorite place to live, a few months later.
For most of the rest of July, Lara was largely out of sight, although some additional filming of the Mlle Zhivago movie may have been occurring for her. At the beginning of August she was back in eastern Europe, with an appearance at the New Wave festival in Latvia. At the news conference associated with this program, Lara apparently understood the Russian questions without a translator – she indicated that having spent a month with so much Russian being spoken during the filming, she had picked it up. In a later interview, however, she noted that given the amount of time she has available to learn it, she will probably never become a fluent Russian speaker. Nevertheless, once again she commented on her affiliation to Russia, by saying in an interview, “You know it's funny, but I'm really starting to feel at home here and understand something. I feel a certain connection between passion, which the Italians have [Lara considers herself basically Italian, from her mother’s side], and the drama that is inherent in the Russian soul. And I feel a connection with this soul.” It was later reported that she is in the process of buying a home in either Kiev or Moscow.
At this event, in contrast to the concerts Lara has done every spring in Russia, her Mlle. Zhivago songs were lip-synched. This became a sore subject for the French fans, and to a lesser extent the Russian fans, because most of the subsequent performances of the televised ‘Mlle Zhivago’ tracks were done the same way. In Canada Lara never used that approach, and in fact looked down upon it, in addition to saying that she was so poor at it that she could never fool anyone. However, she’s gotten better, and obviously has dropped her objections. When pressed on the issue at the time of the release of ‘Neuf’, Lara explained it by saying that she wanted the first presentation of new songs on TV to have the greatest possible impact. Fans offered other explanations – the sound system isn’t as good in those countries, Lara hasn’t had time to practice the new songs given her busy schedule, the contract called for it, etc. Perhaps also factoring in as that some of these songs are hard to sing, stretching her range. [However, she’s even lip-synched songs from that album that seem much easier, and sung older songs that are equally hard – Adagio, for example. And not all songs from it are lip-synched in concert]. If the album is ever released in France and Lara tours there, fans will be watching this very closely. In Russia, it seems to be the case that almost everyone does it, and the fans were less concerned.
While Lara’s appearances for the general public were at a minimum during the month of August (a quiet month usually in France), there was one memorable event. Lara’s fan club met in a bar in Brussels one Saturday night, and first Gerard (Lara’s significant other) and Pierre (her father) appeared. They apologized for Lara’s absence, explaining she had an engagement elsewhere, but claimed she had instead sent a video (fans really had not expected her, as it had been years since she had attended a fan club meeting). When the lights went out for the video presentation, who stepped out into the club but Lara herself, as a surprise for the fans (perhaps to mimic the surprises they had given her during her tour). Justin Henin, the tennis player and Lara’s good friend, came with her (maybe for support). Lara actually had to reschedule a singing event in Nice to be there, and Pierre had to alter his vacation plans, but it was clearly a thank you to Lara’s fans for their great loyalty and affection – and to show that even though she has been giving attention to Russia, and even Canada, part of her will always be with them.
Meanwhile, Lara’s previously recorded appearances on ‘Russia Saturday Night’ continued to be aired, keeping her in the public eye. Of particular note was the presentation of the song ‘Mamaya’, a paean to her mother, with the theme so appealing to the Russian psyche (“Mother Russia”). IMHO it is one of her best songs ever. Alan Badoev also released a number of additional clips for the ‘Mlle Zhivago’ movie. In the various segments you can see her: almost drowned, whirled and thrown around, have punches aimed in her direction, have bruises painted on her (in association with the punches) as well as fake blood, be knocked about inhaling smoke (and even cut up) in a car bomb scene, have some very physical and sexy scenes in low cut dresses, be required to scream/cry on cue, dance, fall, and in general go through the complete range of extreme emotions. When asked whether the filming of ‘DeLovely’ had prepared her for these activities, Lara responded that “no, it had not”, and if she had known what she would have to go through, she would certainly have had second thoughts. But in retrospect, she said she was happy she did it, and had grown immensely from it in many ways. [She should have done a little more research – Alan Badoev is known for his physically demanding shoots.]
‘La rentre’ for Lara in September started slowly, but eventually picked up steam. News did trickle out that Lara would release a ‘best of’ album through Universal, which eventually occurred in mid-November. The fans reaction to the news was fairly negative, viewing it perhaps as a sign of desperation to provide something for the French market (or at least an attempt by Universal to cash in on her production one more time). Many pointed out that Lara had previously reacted with scorn when asked about a ‘best of’ release (consistent with her oft-repeated comment that she is continually looking forward, not backward). Fans also noted that this will not help Lara’s reputation – to release an album of reprises, followed by a ‘best of’ disc, seems to suggest the performer is ‘over-the-hill’. The timeline for release would also closely follow the expected release of ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ in the Ukraine/Russia and require a tricky promotional two-step, which has certainly proven to be the case.
In the second week of September, Lara’s now year-old TLFM album was finally released in Canada, the record company issues having been solved. One interesting aspect was that “Nuit Magique” was different – the TLFM1 version (done with Matt Herskowitz) had been substituted for the standard one. If one thought this signified the upcoming release of the full album of TLFM1, that turned out to be premature – it’s still not out, despite persistent rumors. Most likely the substitution was done to ensure that the North American release was different from the European one, something many artists have now taken to doing.
Lara was not in Canada for the release, although she sent a letter to Quebec media and fans, expressing her continued devotion to that province and the country. Lara finally did return to Canada for some 9 days beginning September 27th, and as usual she got caught up in a big media whirl, with some 10 radio and TV shows and numerous interviews in the press. Lara did all she could in the allotted time to tie herself back to the country that she proclaims she loves above all others. And in general her deep affection was returned; you could see the hosts adored her, and why not: she’s articulate, friendly, humorous, and clearly was extremely happy to be there. And, as fans pointed out, much more at ease with the media than she is anywhere else. After watching this, one got the impression that if Lara were to settle down in Montreal, she could straightforwardly raise herself back up into being one of the pre-eminent entertainment personalities. She is just that good with the media in this country. However, after this series of ‘one-night stands’, Lara’s Canadian ‘circus’ (as one host referred to it) ended, and she left, who knows when to return. In fact, Lara has sold her home in Montreal (she said she was rarely there), and when asked if she envisioned moving back to this country, she said she would like to, but it would have to be much later, most likely after Lou “finishes her studies”. A long wait. She repeatedly indicated the need to be near her parents in Belgium, and the need to work in France – despite her distaste for that country (Paris, in particular), a point of view that continues to irritate her French fans.
Lara’s greater freedom with the press was also expressed in her willingness to discuss her personal life. She discussed her thoughts of suicide with champagne and pills; in a previous interview she noted that there is a considerable distance between the thought and the deed. She continued to talk about Lou in public, saying that she would not push Lou into being a singer, but would not discourage it, either, and that the only time in her life she has felt beautiful was when she was pregnant. She said she would like to have another child but didn’t know if there would be time for it. When asked if Gerard was the man of her dreams, Lara did not say yes. She said he was her companion, and she hoped they would take the long path of life together. She indicated that she had reconciled with Rick Allison, “with dignity”, and as to the possibility of working together again, she didn’t rule out a musical reconciliation somewhere down the line. She discussed her ‘letter’ to Celine Dion as part of the TLFM liner notes, including the comment that she thought of her as her ‘secret friend’ – this got a lot of play in the Canadian press. When asked if she could have taken Celine’s path (to greater commercial success) she said she made some choices that turned that possibility away from her, presumably associated with her U.S. career, a decision she justified as necessary to ‘save her soul’ from the commercialism, extreme scheduling, the conflicts with Sony/Columbia, attempts to remake her into a ‘dance music’ singer, etc. And she even discussed (for the first time in public) her relationship with Patrick Fiori, noting it was important not to confuse passion with love.
Lara even caused an inadvertent media blip by describing her ailment in 2004 as a tumor in the liver, without emphasizing that it was benign. She then had to issue an apology and clarification. She repeated what she has said in the past, she felt it was the result of too much anger on her part, and she had to face that in herself in order to be cured.
Lara’s trip to Canada with its media blitz seems to have worked wonders for sales of TLFM there. It jumped to #1 on Archambault, jumped 43 places to #26 in Canada overall, up to 7th in Montreal, 5th in Quebec and 2nd for French records overall. It stayed high in the charts for a couple of weeks, but with Lara no longer there to publicize it, sank out of sight the following month.
By mid-October, Lara was back in the promotional mode in both France and Russia, recording shows to be broadcast in conjunction with both albums’ release. And she made one more side-trip, this time going to appear in Las Vegas on the show ‘David Foster and Friends’, which is to be broadcast on PBS in March 2011, and be made available on CD and DVD. The list of invitees was quite long; suffice it to say that it was certainly an honor for Lara to have been invited. Her history with David Foster is a complicated one; you may know he produced her recording of “Oh Canada”, complete with symphonic orchestration. However, Lara apparently refused the chance to have her career guided by David Foster, the way many others have (e.g., Josh Groban); as we know, Lara does not subjugate herself to anyone else’s will, although she has no problem working with others as an equal. This does not seem to have stood in the way of her invitation, and on Friday, there was Lara at the show, having, as David Foster announced, just arrived from the airport after traveling for 48 hours straight from Moscow (the duration caused in part by a French air traffic controller’s strike), changing clothes in the limousine on the way in from the airport, without even the time for rehearsals or a sound check. She sang several songs, including “Caruso” and a duet with Michael Bolton, ‘The Prayer’ (their recorded duet is also supposed to appear on his upcoming album, which has apparently been delayed).
The importance of this event is hard to gauge: either it is indicative of what will come to be a real push into the international (including North American) market, perhaps with the Mlle. Zhivago album/movie, or it is just one of those things Lara does on the spur of the moment, with no follow through. Clearly it’s impossible for her to be everywhere, though she seems to be trying. She received rare praise at this event: David Foster said she was at the very top of his list of great singers, and Michael Bolton said she was a very sincere person and he would go anywhere in the world to sing with her. [This seems to be her year for receiving praise: Mario Frangoulis earlier had stated that singing with Lara was one of the highlights of his life, and Igor Krutoi said she was the best singer he had ever worked with. These types of comments are usually reserved for the ‘dearly departed’ ☺].
The end of October featured the highlight of the year, the release of “Mlle Zhivago”, the multi-lingual album, in the Ukraine, right on schedule (Igor Krutoi seems to be a very responsible musical partner). Of course once it was out there, it was out everywhere, given the Internet, and fans who put mp3 versions of the songs on-line. To show how far Lara’s official site has come in its allowing fan’s leniency (they now put links to videos from live concerts, etc.), the link to download for free these songs was actually given in the official site forum. [But then again, the official site never included the album’s release in their events list, and it is still not listed in Lara’s Discography.] As expected the album was not a Universal Records product – it seems to be a joint release of Lara’s own production company and a Russian or Ukrainian one associated with Krutoi.
“Candydo” on the official site noted that for each disc, Lara acts as the producer, pays for the creation of her albums and owns their rights under her own label (“9 Productions”). She then signs a license with the record labels for distribution and dissemination of them. Under this arrangement she is free to record what she wants with the musicians she wants. [This is different from her situation with Sony who controlled – and paid for – the complete process. Her lack of freedom, and the distribution problems she encountered, compelled her to buy out her contract from them.] For distribution in France it is Universal (Polydor, actually, a Universal subsidiary), but she is free to find different record companies for the distribution in different countries.
We don’t really know what happened with Mlle. Zhivago’s eventual distribution, but there are plenty of rumors. One is that when the album was finished, Universal (Pascal Negre) initially turned it down, so Lara and Igor Krutoi signed with a Russian company (perhaps associated with Krutoi) for exclusive distribution rights in Asia. After hearing the album and seeing the response, the rumor continues, Universal changed their mind, but at that point Lara refused them. As we know the album is amazing, with Lara singing as she hasn’t done in years (on recordings, anyway), and with wonderful florid music. It has been very successful in Russia – in the top 5 albums for the last five weeks - and the Ukraine, where it was number one. These are the only two countries in which it has been officially released, but both Lara and Krutoi have indicated that it is meant for international distribution, to be released next in Italy and Germany. It is already available on amazon.com (the US version) as an import (while there are five languages represented, six of the songs are in English).
The promotion for it got into full swing, with Lara being once again featured on ‘Russia Saturday Night’. She also started a concert series, first in the Ukraine and then Belarus, before going on to Russia in early November with four generally sold out performances in the Kremlin (seating 6,000 people each night). The Moscow performances were filmed for showing on Russian TV and an eventual DVD release. Lara then moved on to St. Petersburg for several more concerts. At each stop she was featured on TV shows, with interviews (Lara speaking exclusively in English), almost always accompanied by Igor Krutoi. The audiences were packed with notable people from both countries (the president of the Ukraine came for one concert, and many well-known [in Russia] entertainment figures showed up for the Kremlin concerts).
The album and Lara have received great praise in these countries, and Lara herself is different. She wears beautiful gowns, with much more makeup, and is an elegant figure. She is clearly enjoying the reception, as she noted in Quebec, and has said that this is the project of her life. In all respects, this is quite different from her recent experiences in France – so much so that she is reportedly unwilling to consider releasing the album in France, at least in the foreseeable future.
However, France (and Universal Records) did beckon once again, for in mid-November, the ‘best of’ album (with the TLFM font leur show DVD as a bonus) was released in that country. The album contains two previously unrecorded songs – a new song written for her (at Universal’s bequest), and a ‘virtual’ duet with Ray Charles (for which Lara had to send the Charles’ estate evidence of her work in order for them to give their approval). It is also a unique compilation in that it contains songs from both her French and English careers, for the first time together (possible since Lara bought out the rights to her Sony era recordings). While those who have all her albums could put together the same selections (plus the new songs, available on youtube), it proves to be a very powerful 2 CD collection – the first CD from songs done earlier in her career, showcasing her power vocals, and the second CD from the latter part, softer with more subtlety. The accompanying booklet has pictures of Lara from various stages of her career. Overall it is a high quality production, not something simply thrown together.
Although the DVD was not promoted as part of the package (one can buy the CDs without it), that proved to be the biggest hit among fans. The one-night filming in Brussels was completely successful, the holograms work perfectly, Lara’s singing is strong and the fans highly enthusiastic – all the elements necessary for a concert DVD. In fact it has proven so popular that the DVD is to be released by itself shortly after the New Year begins.
As might be expected, Lara had numerous promotional appearances for this release too, on various French/Belgian TV and radio shows. Chief among them was the program ‘Dans le universe de…Lara Fabian’, which provided a review of her life/career with special guests. And chief among those were her father and mother, who Lara joined in singing a song from her childhood. This is the first time anyone can remember Lara’s mother appearing on TV or at any promotional event.
The album started strong in the French charts, at number one for compilations, although it has faded over time. There is a real question as to how many fans Lara has left in France, or whether there are incipient fans who can be brought back into the fold with a new French album. In that respect it is interesting that Lara’s pianist in Russia for her own songs was Giora Linenberg, who is thought to be the composer for the songs on the (so-far mythical) album “Le Secret”.
At the end of November, Lara’s Moscow concert(s) was televised on Russian TV. A wonderfully recorded program, it alleviated fans concerns that the Russians ‘weren’t up to it’, technically. It did, however, include some lip-synch versions of songs, despite the presence of an orchestra on stage, and child singers for one song. The televised concert is supposed to come out as a DVD next year, perhaps with some more aspects (bonus, etc.). Lara’s success in Russia has also lifted sales of some of her other albums in that country, and throughout December she appeared on a number of awards shows there, either performing or presenting.
Back in France, she recorded several additional programs for the ‘best of’ promo, and when people reported that she looked tired, it is completely understandable. Of most interest was her appearance on “500 Choristes” on Christmas Day. Before a TV audience of reportedly 5 million people she (and the chorus) performed a rendition of ‘Je t’aime’. Both the choice of song and the performance got mixed reviews from fans, acknowledging that it was in promotion of the ‘best of’, but afraid it would continue the stereotype people have of Lara.
Finally, in December, a new biography of Lara appeared, written by Jeremy Patinier, a journalist who has been a fan of hers for the past 10 years. Those who have read it are of conflicting opinions as to whether it contains anything new; perhaps it depends upon how much one knows ahead of time. It did not have Lara’s active participation, but it doesn’t appear as if Lara was against it, either. At 245 pages it is likely an upgrade over the previous (unauthorized) biography of Lara by ‘Kathy’ which appeared a decade ago.
As the New Year dawns, Lara is once again to be on Russian TV, perhaps an omen for what is to come. It has been reported that Lara’s official website will be changed, and that the Russian organizers of her fan site there will play a part in the new one. This may only be a rumor, but that would be a welcome change, given the deficiencies of the current site, particularly the lack of attention paid to it by those in charge. On the other hand, great praise is to be extended to the sites providing us with sometimes hard-to-get videos and information, Tarcisio (in 3 languages) on larafabiannews.com, and Christina (in 2 languages) on her Music Treasure Box sites. Also to be noted is that Laetitia appears to have recovered her health, as has her website, larafabianweb.com, and the pure-lara facebook site is valuable with its insights and links. And of course there is the excellent Russian web site www.larafabian.borda.ru [Please excuse me if I’ve overlooked other sites of interest…]
2010 was a very active and perhaps pivotal year for Lara, with many releases, many concerts, her usual plethora of media appearances, and her continued very strong connection with her ‘angels’. It may well have marked the beginning of a change away from her focus on France and Belgium commercially. We will only know that by the end of 2011, when presumably the actual “Mlle. Zhivago” movie will be out, the international release of the album will have taken place, she may well have filmed her part in the movie “Charlie’, and we’ll see if a new French album or tour materializes.
David
