Post by davidhr on Nov 12, 2013 9:59:19 GMT -5
In the wake of the cancellations (or actually, postponements) of six concerts in France this past week, and both her comments and those of her sound engineer, Rob Mancuro (in separate threads), the realization has dawned that Lara’s health problems may be a real game changer for her, now and for the foreseeable future. She has said as much, acknowledging that she will have to alter her year-long tour to have less frequent concerts, especially affecting those that were previously in clusters. It seems that rather than being felt all the time, her inner ear problem acts up when subjected to repeated stresses. Thus the requirement for ‘rest’, presumably to allow inflammation to recede.
Lara is doing her best to reassure her fans, and herself. All the postponed concerts she says will be rescheduled – two have already been rebooked for the spring of 2014 – and she is going ahead with the Paris shows, starting this weekend. Nevertheless, it looks as if this health concern will be with her and her fans throughout much of the ‘Le Secret’ tour, something nobody expected at its outset.
Her ailment, known as ‘acoustic shock disorder’ (ASD) is defined as “an involuntary response to a sound perceived as traumatic (usually a sudden, unexpected loud sound heard near the ear), which causes a specific and consistent pattern of neurophysiological and psychological symptoms”. Various discussions of it exist on the web; it is most often experienced by call center operators who use headsets. A particularly useful article can be found at: www.hyperacusis.net/hyperacusis/acoustic+shock+disorder/default.asp
Here are some of the chief findings:
**It is associated with the muscles in the ear being caused to react suddenly to the loud sound, with damage as the result. This is not only an acoustic reaction (to shut off the loud sound), but an exaggerated ‘startle’ reaction (as to an emotional shock).
**It is the latter aspect that from her description of her symptoms appears to be affecting Lara, as the ‘startle’ muscle involved (the ‘tensor tympani muscle’) is also “the one that contracts immediately preceding the sounds produced during self-vocalisation, suggesting it has an established protective function to loud sounds, assists in the discrimination of low frequency sounds, and is involved in directing the transmission of sound energy and air pressure in both the oral cavity and the nasal cavity”.
**“Typically, people describe acoustic shock as feeling like they have been stabbed or electrocuted in the ear. The symptoms are involuntary, unpleasant and frightening; they can range from mild to severe; and be of short, temporary duration or persistent. If symptoms persist, a range of emotional reactions including trauma, anxiety and depression can develop”.
**”In a five year study, pain was the most frequent symptom, reported by 95%. Of these, 81% reported ear pain, 11% pain in the neck or jaw, and 7% facial pain. Tinnitus was reported by 50%, loss of balance was reported by 48%. The most distressing and durable symptom, reported in 32% of the cases, tended to be an over-sensitivity to certain frequency and volume ranges of sound, some of which may seem unpleasantly or painfully loud to that person but not to others”.
**” In some cases all symptoms resolved within a few hours or days. In other cases symptoms persisted for months or indefinitely. In the long term, 10% developed a range of emotional reactions including anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, anger and feelings of vulnerability”.
** “Repeated acoustic incident exposure exacerbated an individual's vulnerability to ASD, as well as the degree and persistence of their injury. Pre-existing stress/anxiety, as well as fear of repeated incident exposure, also appeared to increase vulnerability to ASD.” [All very relevant for Lara].
** ASD generally does not result in a hearing loss, although if present it tends not to follow the typical high frequency pattern of a noise induced hearing injury but affects low and mid frequency sensorineural hearing”. [Lara said her hearing difficulty falls in the 4000Hz range; our normal hearing range is 20-20,000 Hz].
** “For clients with severe ASD, listening to sounds via headphones can be highly threatening and often leads to a significant increase in symptoms, which can persist for days”. [Hence the need for separated concerts and rest].
**Treatment involves “desensitisation therapy and massage of the muscular trigger points around the neck and shoulder” which will reduce symptoms, but “progress can be slow once symptoms become entrenched”.
** “With severe ASD, symptoms can be involuntarily aggravated by the mere placement of a headset over the ears in the workplace”. The doctor involved concluded that “an ASD client should not return to headset duties on either ear until the symptoms have fully resolved. A graded return to work can then be carried out with handset use initially on the opposite ear”.
We don’t know the degree of severity of Lara’s condition, or all of her symptoms, but the fact that it has lasted close to six months already suggests it will not be easy to resolve, especially given that her job requires her to use headsets periodically, with loud sounds. We do know she says she hears double sounds when she sings, and Rob Mancuso said she just doesn’t recognize her own voice because she can’t hear all the frequencies.
The description of the possible associated ailments given in the article, and the psychological problems that result, suggest this is a very trying time for Lara, as we could see for ourselves from her appearance on ‘Touche pas à mon poste’, available at:
www.dailymotion.com/video/x16wtau_lara-fabian-en-larmes-dans-touche-pas-a-mon-poste_tv?search_algo=2
or the whole show, where one can see Lara did get into the swing of things:
www.larafabianbrasil.com.br/2013/11/lara-no-programa-touche-pas-mon-poste.html
That program is normally characterized by caustic funny comments; they don’t usually do kindness very well, but Lara’s condition and insecurity were such that they couldn’t help themselves. She came across as more concerned for her fans than for herself, another aspect that ‘touched’ them.
Various news media and TV News shows in France and Belgium have picked up the story, either directly from Lara or from her emotional appearance on ‘touche pas a mon poste’ (e.g., www.meltybuzz.fr/tpmp-lara-fabian-emue-en-devoilant-les-raisons-de-l-annulation-de-sa-tournee-a225417.html), especially, of course, Lara’s crying (http://tvmag.lefigaro.fr/programme-tv/article/television/78116/lara-fabian-craque-dans-touche-pas-a-mon-poste-.html). It made her into a sympathetic figure, quite a change from the normal press reaction to her. However, she certainly would not have wanted it to come about this way.
Also, a number of the fan websites have put pictures of love/reassurance for Lara on their sites, e.g., :
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151982728287417&set=a.398533517416.164839.382393522416&type=1&theater
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=741968185818719&set=a.247913198557556.83420.246805652001644&type=1&theater
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=577965328917764&set=a.335809523133347.76452.103390503041918&type=1&theater
as have some other professional entertainers, e.g.,
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=578790125501951&set=a.104315726282729.2679.103390503041918&type=1&theater
and of course, fans, e.g.,:
twitter.com/search?q=LFabian%20Official&src=typd
In return, Lara put several beautiful ‘thank you’ pictures on her Instagram site for all those who have wished her well, visible at:
Concerning the rest of the tour, when asked whether she was considering cancelling it, she said they were ‘not yet at that point’. Obviously it will depend upon how she reacts to extended rest mixed with the occasional concert. We know she is planning to give the three shows in Paris; presumably she will judge her subsequent condition (after three shows in two days) before deciding on the scheduled venues in Russia, Latvia and Belarus towards the end of the month. After that it’s anybody’s guess, but one suspects if at all possible she will go through with the New York concert, and probably at least some subset of the Canadian appearances in January. Caveats will now be the order of the day when discussing Lara’s upcoming schedule…
Maybe by next spring, when the recently cancelled shows are due to reappear, she will be sufficiently improved to resume a more concentrated approach. We certainly don’t know enough to speculate; but reading the various case reports on the web, it’s not clear the doctors do, either.
The other major news of the week concerned the release of the ‘Collector’s Edition’ of ‘Le Secret’. The CDs are the same as the original release. The DVD has four chapters. Chapter 1: The trailer for the album; the recording of ‘I am A-Wa’ for the album (which fans thought was actually simulated; you can see a segment of it at: www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4277617153448); pictures from the video for ‘Danse’; and pictures from ‘Je reve d’une etoile. Chapter 2: The clips for “Deux ils, deux elles” and “Danse” (both already widely available on the web). Chapter 3: The concert for Lebanon ("entre vous et moi") from last Valentine’s Day, widely available on French TV at the time and on the web since. And Chapter 4: three songs: the remixed version of ‘Deux ils, deux elles' (available on the Canadian release of ‘Le Secret’); the new duet with Laura Pausini, ‘Il canto’/Je chante’, which is also to be included on Laura’s new album; and ‘Always’ (already on the ‘Mme. Zhivago’ French release). The new duet has been made available by Rozenn Roz for the next seven days, at:
we.tl/AXXHDhZEM7
It reminds one of the songs Lara did with Gigi D’Alessio several years ago.
It is a lot of material for the price (20 euros). Lara’s FB site asked the fans who among them had gotten it, and by implication what they thought of it. That, unfortunately, put some of them in an uncomfortable position: they did not want to upset Lara, given all her problems, but they also felt the need to provide an honest opinion, which was, for the most outspoken, that it was not worth the money, and they either wouldn’t or shouldn’t have bought it. The only aspects that got generally good reviews were the actual new items, the duet and the pictures, although several fans felt it was nice to have the concert for Lebanon on an official DVD.
In what appeared to be a commonly occurring opinion, both the CD and the DVD were found lacking. Concerning the CD, it is simply a re-release of the album, not a real ‘collector’s edition’, as in the case of other French artists who have included truly unpublished material, often songs that didn’t make the original record (for ‘Le Secret’ it was suggested that it could have included the duet with Nuno Resende). Imagine buying a ‘Director’s Cut’ of a movie, and finding out it was exactly the same as the theatrical release
. As for the DVD, the complaint was that most of it, chapters 3 and 4, were almost totally unconnected to ‘Le Secret’ and as a whole, it didn’t contain enough new material. Fans felt they had been misled by the description on FNAC, which is usually provided by the record company, but in Lara’s case, probably by her own people. It read (in translation), “The Collector's Edition provides fans with a new cover, new pictures in the booklet. A DVD contains more than 1:30 of unreleased or rare footage that fans will be delighted to have.” As one fan said: it did have a new cover . And putting the three songs on the DVD? Much less useful there than on a CD, or an mp3 download.
What the fans expected from the DVD was for it to provide additional perspective on the album, perhaps including the Showcase concert that introduced the album in Paris. We know that is available on the Evergig site, produced from fan videos. It’s not clear whether Lara would have wanted to include that if she eventually has in mind to release her own video of the tour; or whether she didn’t want fans to see it in DVD form and thus take away some of the novelty of her show (though the Showcase was different from the touring show); or, even if she had wanted to, would she have had to get permission from all the fans whose videos were used in the Evergig production? Regardless, some fans were led to expect it by the promo on FNAC, by some ‘insider’ comments, and by comparison with the ‘Mme. Zhivago’ French release, which included her concert in the Kremlin thus providing ‘live’ versions of the songs.
Alternatively, many collector’s editions do have DVDs or some sort of picture/art book that contain ‘backstage material’, like the bonus DVD with ‘Un Regard Neuf’ which had ‘The Journal of Lara’. That would have taken forethought, however; and perhaps it would also have required Gerard Pullicino, producing it. One thing fans forget is that Lara is on her own now, in every respect as far as the music business is concerned, and her team may not be up to that level of preparation.
When placing their negative comments on Lara’s site, some fans were countered by other fans saying Lara shouldn’t be disturbed at this point in time. Another example of how her ailment has altered the dynamic of Lara’s career and fan interaction…
By next week we will know how the three Paris concerts went and whether there are any further cancellations/shifts in her schedule. Sad times for Lara, and frightening, too. Hopefully the ailment will be resolved by her more measured approach, and will become just a blip in the overall story of ‘Le Secret’. A little prayer on her behalf wouldn’t hurt.
David
Lara is doing her best to reassure her fans, and herself. All the postponed concerts she says will be rescheduled – two have already been rebooked for the spring of 2014 – and she is going ahead with the Paris shows, starting this weekend. Nevertheless, it looks as if this health concern will be with her and her fans throughout much of the ‘Le Secret’ tour, something nobody expected at its outset.
Her ailment, known as ‘acoustic shock disorder’ (ASD) is defined as “an involuntary response to a sound perceived as traumatic (usually a sudden, unexpected loud sound heard near the ear), which causes a specific and consistent pattern of neurophysiological and psychological symptoms”. Various discussions of it exist on the web; it is most often experienced by call center operators who use headsets. A particularly useful article can be found at: www.hyperacusis.net/hyperacusis/acoustic+shock+disorder/default.asp
Here are some of the chief findings:
**It is associated with the muscles in the ear being caused to react suddenly to the loud sound, with damage as the result. This is not only an acoustic reaction (to shut off the loud sound), but an exaggerated ‘startle’ reaction (as to an emotional shock).
**It is the latter aspect that from her description of her symptoms appears to be affecting Lara, as the ‘startle’ muscle involved (the ‘tensor tympani muscle’) is also “the one that contracts immediately preceding the sounds produced during self-vocalisation, suggesting it has an established protective function to loud sounds, assists in the discrimination of low frequency sounds, and is involved in directing the transmission of sound energy and air pressure in both the oral cavity and the nasal cavity”.
**“Typically, people describe acoustic shock as feeling like they have been stabbed or electrocuted in the ear. The symptoms are involuntary, unpleasant and frightening; they can range from mild to severe; and be of short, temporary duration or persistent. If symptoms persist, a range of emotional reactions including trauma, anxiety and depression can develop”.
**”In a five year study, pain was the most frequent symptom, reported by 95%. Of these, 81% reported ear pain, 11% pain in the neck or jaw, and 7% facial pain. Tinnitus was reported by 50%, loss of balance was reported by 48%. The most distressing and durable symptom, reported in 32% of the cases, tended to be an over-sensitivity to certain frequency and volume ranges of sound, some of which may seem unpleasantly or painfully loud to that person but not to others”.
**” In some cases all symptoms resolved within a few hours or days. In other cases symptoms persisted for months or indefinitely. In the long term, 10% developed a range of emotional reactions including anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, anger and feelings of vulnerability”.
** “Repeated acoustic incident exposure exacerbated an individual's vulnerability to ASD, as well as the degree and persistence of their injury. Pre-existing stress/anxiety, as well as fear of repeated incident exposure, also appeared to increase vulnerability to ASD.” [All very relevant for Lara].
** ASD generally does not result in a hearing loss, although if present it tends not to follow the typical high frequency pattern of a noise induced hearing injury but affects low and mid frequency sensorineural hearing”. [Lara said her hearing difficulty falls in the 4000Hz range; our normal hearing range is 20-20,000 Hz].
** “For clients with severe ASD, listening to sounds via headphones can be highly threatening and often leads to a significant increase in symptoms, which can persist for days”. [Hence the need for separated concerts and rest].
**Treatment involves “desensitisation therapy and massage of the muscular trigger points around the neck and shoulder” which will reduce symptoms, but “progress can be slow once symptoms become entrenched”.
** “With severe ASD, symptoms can be involuntarily aggravated by the mere placement of a headset over the ears in the workplace”. The doctor involved concluded that “an ASD client should not return to headset duties on either ear until the symptoms have fully resolved. A graded return to work can then be carried out with handset use initially on the opposite ear”.
We don’t know the degree of severity of Lara’s condition, or all of her symptoms, but the fact that it has lasted close to six months already suggests it will not be easy to resolve, especially given that her job requires her to use headsets periodically, with loud sounds. We do know she says she hears double sounds when she sings, and Rob Mancuso said she just doesn’t recognize her own voice because she can’t hear all the frequencies.
The description of the possible associated ailments given in the article, and the psychological problems that result, suggest this is a very trying time for Lara, as we could see for ourselves from her appearance on ‘Touche pas à mon poste’, available at:
www.dailymotion.com/video/x16wtau_lara-fabian-en-larmes-dans-touche-pas-a-mon-poste_tv?search_algo=2
or the whole show, where one can see Lara did get into the swing of things:
www.larafabianbrasil.com.br/2013/11/lara-no-programa-touche-pas-mon-poste.html
That program is normally characterized by caustic funny comments; they don’t usually do kindness very well, but Lara’s condition and insecurity were such that they couldn’t help themselves. She came across as more concerned for her fans than for herself, another aspect that ‘touched’ them.
Various news media and TV News shows in France and Belgium have picked up the story, either directly from Lara or from her emotional appearance on ‘touche pas a mon poste’ (e.g., www.meltybuzz.fr/tpmp-lara-fabian-emue-en-devoilant-les-raisons-de-l-annulation-de-sa-tournee-a225417.html), especially, of course, Lara’s crying (http://tvmag.lefigaro.fr/programme-tv/article/television/78116/lara-fabian-craque-dans-touche-pas-a-mon-poste-.html). It made her into a sympathetic figure, quite a change from the normal press reaction to her. However, she certainly would not have wanted it to come about this way.
Also, a number of the fan websites have put pictures of love/reassurance for Lara on their sites, e.g., :
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151982728287417&set=a.398533517416.164839.382393522416&type=1&theater
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=741968185818719&set=a.247913198557556.83420.246805652001644&type=1&theater
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=577965328917764&set=a.335809523133347.76452.103390503041918&type=1&theater
as have some other professional entertainers, e.g.,
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=578790125501951&set=a.104315726282729.2679.103390503041918&type=1&theater
and of course, fans, e.g.,:
twitter.com/search?q=LFabian%20Official&src=typd
In return, Lara put several beautiful ‘thank you’ pictures on her Instagram site for all those who have wished her well, visible at:
http://instagram.com/p/gdD1qfh8-6# and
http://instagram.com/p/gnZI3kh8w5#
Concerning the rest of the tour, when asked whether she was considering cancelling it, she said they were ‘not yet at that point’. Obviously it will depend upon how she reacts to extended rest mixed with the occasional concert. We know she is planning to give the three shows in Paris; presumably she will judge her subsequent condition (after three shows in two days) before deciding on the scheduled venues in Russia, Latvia and Belarus towards the end of the month. After that it’s anybody’s guess, but one suspects if at all possible she will go through with the New York concert, and probably at least some subset of the Canadian appearances in January. Caveats will now be the order of the day when discussing Lara’s upcoming schedule…
Maybe by next spring, when the recently cancelled shows are due to reappear, she will be sufficiently improved to resume a more concentrated approach. We certainly don’t know enough to speculate; but reading the various case reports on the web, it’s not clear the doctors do, either.
The other major news of the week concerned the release of the ‘Collector’s Edition’ of ‘Le Secret’. The CDs are the same as the original release. The DVD has four chapters. Chapter 1: The trailer for the album; the recording of ‘I am A-Wa’ for the album (which fans thought was actually simulated; you can see a segment of it at: www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4277617153448); pictures from the video for ‘Danse’; and pictures from ‘Je reve d’une etoile. Chapter 2: The clips for “Deux ils, deux elles” and “Danse” (both already widely available on the web). Chapter 3: The concert for Lebanon ("entre vous et moi") from last Valentine’s Day, widely available on French TV at the time and on the web since. And Chapter 4: three songs: the remixed version of ‘Deux ils, deux elles' (available on the Canadian release of ‘Le Secret’); the new duet with Laura Pausini, ‘Il canto’/Je chante’, which is also to be included on Laura’s new album; and ‘Always’ (already on the ‘Mme. Zhivago’ French release). The new duet has been made available by Rozenn Roz for the next seven days, at:
we.tl/AXXHDhZEM7
It reminds one of the songs Lara did with Gigi D’Alessio several years ago.
It is a lot of material for the price (20 euros). Lara’s FB site asked the fans who among them had gotten it, and by implication what they thought of it. That, unfortunately, put some of them in an uncomfortable position: they did not want to upset Lara, given all her problems, but they also felt the need to provide an honest opinion, which was, for the most outspoken, that it was not worth the money, and they either wouldn’t or shouldn’t have bought it. The only aspects that got generally good reviews were the actual new items, the duet and the pictures, although several fans felt it was nice to have the concert for Lebanon on an official DVD.
In what appeared to be a commonly occurring opinion, both the CD and the DVD were found lacking. Concerning the CD, it is simply a re-release of the album, not a real ‘collector’s edition’, as in the case of other French artists who have included truly unpublished material, often songs that didn’t make the original record (for ‘Le Secret’ it was suggested that it could have included the duet with Nuno Resende). Imagine buying a ‘Director’s Cut’ of a movie, and finding out it was exactly the same as the theatrical release
. As for the DVD, the complaint was that most of it, chapters 3 and 4, were almost totally unconnected to ‘Le Secret’ and as a whole, it didn’t contain enough new material. Fans felt they had been misled by the description on FNAC, which is usually provided by the record company, but in Lara’s case, probably by her own people. It read (in translation), “The Collector's Edition provides fans with a new cover, new pictures in the booklet. A DVD contains more than 1:30 of unreleased or rare footage that fans will be delighted to have.” As one fan said: it did have a new cover . And putting the three songs on the DVD? Much less useful there than on a CD, or an mp3 download. What the fans expected from the DVD was for it to provide additional perspective on the album, perhaps including the Showcase concert that introduced the album in Paris. We know that is available on the Evergig site, produced from fan videos. It’s not clear whether Lara would have wanted to include that if she eventually has in mind to release her own video of the tour; or whether she didn’t want fans to see it in DVD form and thus take away some of the novelty of her show (though the Showcase was different from the touring show); or, even if she had wanted to, would she have had to get permission from all the fans whose videos were used in the Evergig production? Regardless, some fans were led to expect it by the promo on FNAC, by some ‘insider’ comments, and by comparison with the ‘Mme. Zhivago’ French release, which included her concert in the Kremlin thus providing ‘live’ versions of the songs.
Alternatively, many collector’s editions do have DVDs or some sort of picture/art book that contain ‘backstage material’, like the bonus DVD with ‘Un Regard Neuf’ which had ‘The Journal of Lara’. That would have taken forethought, however; and perhaps it would also have required Gerard Pullicino, producing it. One thing fans forget is that Lara is on her own now, in every respect as far as the music business is concerned, and her team may not be up to that level of preparation.
When placing their negative comments on Lara’s site, some fans were countered by other fans saying Lara shouldn’t be disturbed at this point in time. Another example of how her ailment has altered the dynamic of Lara’s career and fan interaction…
By next week we will know how the three Paris concerts went and whether there are any further cancellations/shifts in her schedule. Sad times for Lara, and frightening, too. Hopefully the ailment will be resolved by her more measured approach, and will become just a blip in the overall story of ‘Le Secret’. A little prayer on her behalf wouldn’t hurt.
David
