Post by davidhr on Jan 31, 2012 11:21:16 GMT -5
A week of twists and turns for Lara and Lebanon…
It turns out that the Lebanese government did not prevent Lara from coming to give her concert. According to the show’s arranger, Jean Saliba, she and her team were issued visas and the government was welcoming her to come. Presumably nobody involved wanted to be associated directly with any boycott.
www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jan-27/161288-lara-fabian-might-still-perform-in-lebanon.ashx#axzz1khxTpZtz
Saliba in the article is quoted as saying that Fabian is reluctant to come to Lebanon, adding that the artist, whose show in Casino du Liban has already sold hundreds of tickets, believes that the majority of Lebanese would not welcome her.
“I am telling her that these fanatics are not the majority, but, at the end, it is up to her,” Saliba said. This raised the possibility that Lara might in fact give the concerts after all. That likelihood was greeted with trepidation by Lara’s (non-Lebanese) fans, who thought the idea of braving what Lara referred to as ‘death threats’ was not worth a trip there.
Then a report surfaced that Lara would have a video conference in Lebanon. A number of fans tuned in – no Lara. Whether she was ever really supposed to do that and it was cancelled for some reason, or whether it was a false report is not clear.
Meanwhile, the organization that started the boycott (and whom Lara indicated was the source of the death threats), The Campaign to Boycott Israeli Supporters, came under increasing fire from Lara’s fans and others. They held a special meeting to discuss their options. However, Lara ended that discussion, and clarified the issue with a video made for the Lebanese fans aired on MTV Lebanon. Oddly it was not put on her official site, but has been made available on youtube at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNW3gD_55kA&
The (translated) message says:
"The last message to my fans in Lebanon, is that I very much appreciate the support they have shown me from their mails after I had to cancel the concert because of threats. I do not work with hate, I love through life. And when I sing for you through MTV and Nostalgia, my message is a message of love, peace and tolerance. I love you, see you soon! "
So Lara will present her Valentine’s Day concert February 14th (2100 France time) and it will air on MTV Lebanon and also on Nostalgia Radio
www.mtv.com.lb/Live
www.radionomy.com/en/radio/radionostalgia
There the matter appears to have ended. Hopefully the concert will be made more generally available to those not able to receive it directly.
In other news, Lara appeared at the NRJ Music awards (in the audience) at Cannes. For example, she can be seen in the video of Shakira, singing and receiving an award, at 5:10 (which has now been removed by French TV channel TF1 for copyright reasons)
or more directly from Lara’s Romanian fan club at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLL77jpNs5A&list=UULK7NxUJfc47yIrguBATLGw&index=1&feature=plcp
(while at the time of this writing, this is still available, it too might soon be gone).
Lara’s reasons for being there might be several, but undoubtedly the leading one was that Gerard was producing the show. She might also want to still be ‘seen’ by the French music establishment. And it turns out she brought Lou with her, so they may also be vacationing. Pictures of Lara with Lou were apparently seen, but Lara’s websites cautioned fans not to put such pictures on their sites, as it would ‘violate her private life’ (despite the fact that pictures of Lou were readily available in Russia when Lara took her there, and Lara didn’t seem to object). Hence those running the fan websites and TF1 have something in common!
(The full ceremony is on-line at www.wat.tv/video/ceremonie-nrj-music-awards-4tm6v_2hq6p_.html, and Lou appears at 29 minutes, 15 seconds – but unfortunately, the video is blocked for countries outside of France.)
“Lara Fabian is Here” FB site is reporting that Lara and Igor Krutoi performed January 28th at a Russian dance championship in the region of Tioumen. If this did take place, there’s no indication of it on the Russian fan site (of course it may not have been televised).
The Romanian fan club also released an audio clip of Lara singing ‘New York, New York’ at age 16. It is a real treasure, and can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy9ctm4rimU&list=UULK7NxUJfc47yIrguBATLGw&index=2&feature=plcp
There’s nothing on Lara’s public agenda until the Valentine’s Day concert (better than a Valentine’s Day Massacre, which might have happened if Lara had gone there…). It will be interesting to see what songs she chooses to sing (two possibilities come to mind: what she would have sung while there, or songs specifically targeted to the situation...).
David
It turns out that the Lebanese government did not prevent Lara from coming to give her concert. According to the show’s arranger, Jean Saliba, she and her team were issued visas and the government was welcoming her to come. Presumably nobody involved wanted to be associated directly with any boycott.
www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jan-27/161288-lara-fabian-might-still-perform-in-lebanon.ashx#axzz1khxTpZtz
Saliba in the article is quoted as saying that Fabian is reluctant to come to Lebanon, adding that the artist, whose show in Casino du Liban has already sold hundreds of tickets, believes that the majority of Lebanese would not welcome her.
“I am telling her that these fanatics are not the majority, but, at the end, it is up to her,” Saliba said. This raised the possibility that Lara might in fact give the concerts after all. That likelihood was greeted with trepidation by Lara’s (non-Lebanese) fans, who thought the idea of braving what Lara referred to as ‘death threats’ was not worth a trip there.
Then a report surfaced that Lara would have a video conference in Lebanon. A number of fans tuned in – no Lara. Whether she was ever really supposed to do that and it was cancelled for some reason, or whether it was a false report is not clear.
Meanwhile, the organization that started the boycott (and whom Lara indicated was the source of the death threats), The Campaign to Boycott Israeli Supporters, came under increasing fire from Lara’s fans and others. They held a special meeting to discuss their options. However, Lara ended that discussion, and clarified the issue with a video made for the Lebanese fans aired on MTV Lebanon. Oddly it was not put on her official site, but has been made available on youtube at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNW3gD_55kA&
The (translated) message says:
"The last message to my fans in Lebanon, is that I very much appreciate the support they have shown me from their mails after I had to cancel the concert because of threats. I do not work with hate, I love through life. And when I sing for you through MTV and Nostalgia, my message is a message of love, peace and tolerance. I love you, see you soon! "
So Lara will present her Valentine’s Day concert February 14th (2100 France time) and it will air on MTV Lebanon and also on Nostalgia Radio
www.mtv.com.lb/Live
www.radionomy.com/en/radio/radionostalgia
There the matter appears to have ended. Hopefully the concert will be made more generally available to those not able to receive it directly.
In other news, Lara appeared at the NRJ Music awards (in the audience) at Cannes. For example, she can be seen in the video of Shakira, singing and receiving an award, at 5:10 (which has now been removed by French TV channel TF1 for copyright reasons)
or more directly from Lara’s Romanian fan club at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLL77jpNs5A&list=UULK7NxUJfc47yIrguBATLGw&index=1&feature=plcp
(while at the time of this writing, this is still available, it too might soon be gone).
Lara’s reasons for being there might be several, but undoubtedly the leading one was that Gerard was producing the show. She might also want to still be ‘seen’ by the French music establishment. And it turns out she brought Lou with her, so they may also be vacationing. Pictures of Lara with Lou were apparently seen, but Lara’s websites cautioned fans not to put such pictures on their sites, as it would ‘violate her private life’ (despite the fact that pictures of Lou were readily available in Russia when Lara took her there, and Lara didn’t seem to object). Hence those running the fan websites and TF1 have something in common!
(The full ceremony is on-line at www.wat.tv/video/ceremonie-nrj-music-awards-4tm6v_2hq6p_.html, and Lou appears at 29 minutes, 15 seconds – but unfortunately, the video is blocked for countries outside of France.)
“Lara Fabian is Here” FB site is reporting that Lara and Igor Krutoi performed January 28th at a Russian dance championship in the region of Tioumen. If this did take place, there’s no indication of it on the Russian fan site (of course it may not have been televised).
The Romanian fan club also released an audio clip of Lara singing ‘New York, New York’ at age 16. It is a real treasure, and can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy9ctm4rimU&list=UULK7NxUJfc47yIrguBATLGw&index=2&feature=plcp
There’s nothing on Lara’s public agenda until the Valentine’s Day concert (better than a Valentine’s Day Massacre, which might have happened if Lara had gone there…). It will be interesting to see what songs she chooses to sing (two possibilities come to mind: what she would have sung while there, or songs specifically targeted to the situation...).
David