Post by davidhr on Dec 31, 2013 11:10:13 GMT -5
A year with many ups and downs for Lara, and one that she will probably remember for the rest of her life…
And so many events, that they are now reviewed in their own categories. [Note - almost all the quotes, originally in French, have been translated].
Lara's Career in France/Belgium
2013 was advertised in advance as a year for Lara to reconnect with her French-speaking audience. With all the many events that took place, the one thing that clearly emerged was her success in doing that. From releasing her expected new album to being in the public eye for a variety of reasons, it was hard to miss Lara in France/Belgium. Not everything went her way, but one can say she certainly made herself relevant to the French public and media once again.
Lara began immediately in January to integrate herself back into the French music scene, while turning 43 years old. On French TV she discussed where she had been while away from their focus: experiencing a ‘Russian Fairytale’, emphasizing her experience and success throughout that country and its neighboring ‘countries to the east’. It was reported that the Russian edition of the Mlle. Zhivago album had sold 800,000 copies in these countries, which got the attention of many French publications, including ‘Le Parisien’ and ‘ChartsinFrance’. While the veracity of that number can certainly be questioned, there is no doubt the album was successful. That allure was further enhanced by the news that she had sold out the 6000 seat Kremlin several nights in a row (which can’t be questioned). Since nothing breeds popularity/respect like success, Lara’s reputation was immediately re-established, and her ‘absence’ effectively explained away.
Events overtook whatever further plans she had, as the country got overrun with the debate concerning gay marriage (or ‘marriage for all’). Lara jumped right into the middle of it with her new song, the first to be released from ‘Le Secret’, entitled “Deux ‘ils, deux elles”. It was right in line with the theme of the moment, and could be viewed as a sort of ‘follow up’ to ‘La Difference’ from 1997 (that history completely absolved her from any accusation that she was just using the cause for self-promotion). Emphasizing that love, in whatever form, should triumph over all other ‘differences’, it contributed a rallying point for the movement. The question of whether she was relevant in France any longer became moot.
As February dawned, Lara continued to get good press from the LGBT community, and that was picked up by major magazines (e.g., Paris Match). ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ dominated the discussion, and became known (and was then released) as the single for the upcoming album. It turned out this was a double-edged sword; it certainly got publicity, but as a late edition, it didn’t really represent the complexity or main theme of the album, which isn’t at all one of advocacy, but a reflection on one’s troubles in life and how to resolve them internally. Also, with approximately half the French population against gay marriage, Lara was in danger of alienating a substantial portion of her potential audience. Yet better, one supposes, than being ignored entirely.
In a more general media-mode, during this month, Lara hired a new press agency “Marie Argence” to oversee promotion for ‘Le Secret’; opened her own ‘Twitter’ site and later an “Instagram” site; and announced that ‘Le Secret’ would be released on April 15th. She also started recording TV shows for March broadcast, as that month became the focus for the pre-album-release publicity.
During March, in a new development, Lara agreed to be an advisor to Florent Pagny on the French version of ‘The Voice’, which aired throughout the month. She said she would have liked to have been a ‘coach’ but didn’t have the time. This would turn out to be a prelude to greater participation on a French TV program later in the year.
By April, promotional events were in full swing. The video for ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ was made available, having been filmed with the inclusion of various people who had sent pictures of themselves and their partners (both hetero- and homo- sexuals). It was stylishly done, and very worthy of the song and the cause, emphasizing not conflict over an abstract issue but love between people. Lara starting ‘performing’ (generally lip-synching) the song on various TV shows.
Finally April 15th arrived, and the double CD ‘Le Secret’ made its way into the world. Conceived and recorded between Canada and Belgium, with Janey Clewer writing most of the music and Lara the lyrics, it got generally excellent reviews for its beautiful music and (non-restrained) singing, as well as its serious themes. The first CD concerns problems people experience in life, and Lara explicitly included a song about her battles with anorexia (she had been looking thin in photos, and while she indicated that the problem had been in the past, in a later interview she acknowledged that it never really ends). The second CD is concerned with finding inner happiness, the ‘secret’ at one’s center, that is the only proper antidote to life’s troubles. Interludes linked the different titles, so one felt one was engulfed by the music for the length of each CD (like in an opera). It was also noted that this was a self-produced album as Lara was no longer part of any record company, although standard companies were used for its distribution in France (Warner) and Belgium (Universal). Lara suggested that no record company would have allowed her to produce the two CDs.
The one ‘fly in the ointment’ in the reviews, and one that record companies might have focused on, was that several of them questioned how ‘commercial’ it was. Yet at least initially, it was well-received by the public as well, opening in the number 1 spot on both the French and Belgian music charts. Again, success breeds publicity, and this showing landed her numerous press interviews.
In support of the CD, Lara had two showcase presentations in a rented theatre in Paris for an audience of 2700. The audience was encouraged to take videos, and ‘Evergig’ put them together, allowing the general public to see practically the entire show, available from the Evergig website. The mix of Lara’s great singing and six on-stage musicians did great justice to the music; it represents the best presentation of ‘Le Secret’ music in video so far. Lara then followed this up with numerous appearances in the media, many of which again primarily featured ‘Deux ils, deux elles’, either in performance or through the showing of the video.
By May promotional appearances were decreasing, though Lara was still apparent throughout the month in numerous venues. The sales of her album were also decreasing. One complaint that had surfaced among fans was that her promotional appearances had been primarily for her, or the cause of ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ (by this time the gay marriage law had passed in France, so it was no longer an issue), but not for the album as a whole. Few of the other songs got any performance, or publicity, whatsoever. Admittedly, they often worked best as part of the ‘matrix’ of the album rather than as stand-alone entities – Lara indicated it was not designed to be an album of ‘hits’. Unfortunately, ‘hits’ are what propel most albums. The few shows she was on actually drew several million viewers, so Lara was not being overlooked, even if her album was not noticeably gaining from it.
On May 6th she was doing a sound check for a radio show when a loud sound was accidentally sent through her earphones. It literally knocked her over, and required a trip to the hospital. Nevertheless, she went on to her next appearance, a Showcase presentation for MFM radio in Lyon, at which she sang four songs live. This was to have much greater repercussions down the road than anyone was aware of at the time…
June brought a new discovery: Lara was to appear on the French program “The Best (le meilleur artiste)”, in which she would be a juror. Filming began this month, and continued, with interruptions, throughout most of the summer. As Lara explained, the participants (who were musicians or acrobats, not singers) were all quite accomplished, Lara said that she and the others “are not ‘judge and jury’, but rather helpful, beneficent companions” (who nonetheless have to provide grades), and that “I wanted to go a little beyond the bounds of my metier.... On becoming a judge I walked into a parallel universe to mine, very attractive. Being a witness of the most beautiful numbers of the world is a chance. I nourish myself from each one of them and if I look with a dazzled child's eyes, I do not forget the professional in me. In this program, wonder is king.”
Lara had a few light-hearted promotional appearances. In one she appeared with Miss France and ‘the precision arobatic demonstration team’ at the International Airshow of Le Bourget . A reporter commenting on it, while noting it was otherwise a pretty boring affair, said of Lara, “But the most exuberant was, in my humble opinion, Lara Fabian. Being with this woman, even for a few instances, is a moment of pure happiness. Lara Fabian is not only beautiful, whether she is dressed or naked and no offense to my good colleague the mocking Yann Barthes, but also very funny and full of fine humor.” A nice summary of Lara!
In July, ‘The Best’ began its airing, attracting some 4 million viewers, and it managed to more or less hold that number throughout its entire run. Lara received a great deal of notice, as expected, with some viewers feeling that her emotionality made the program and acts seem important, and others thinking she was ‘over the top’. Some more perceptive descriptions of Lara! It continued in August, with Lara inciting more comments with her hairdo and dress, and participating as a foil in a magic trick by the Canadian illusionist Luc Langevin. Otherwise, she was on vacation – she had suggested to fans that they “go to the beach”, and she sent back pictures (perhaps from Mirabella) showing her doing just that. The end of the month featured her return to France, and the immediate announcement of the release of the second single from “Le Secret”, it being ‘Danse’. The choice wasn’t received with unanimous approval among her fans, who thought some of the other songs might halt the decline of the album’s sales, but the reality is that so many of the songs are of approximately equal (high) quality that no choice was overly obvious.
Lara also provided an interview for ‘Pschologies Magazine’. In it she explained in more detail how her spiritual quest is nourished by the daily practice of an ancestral Japanese meditative art, the “Onsei-do”, literally the “path of sound”. As she said, her teacher Isabelle Padovani “explains to me that the utilization of certain sounds, the ‘sound sources’, act strongly in resonance with emotions and permits the pacification of mental agitation, freeing also the physical and energetic tensions. That speaks to me immediately, since childhood, I know that singing, music is my way of happiness”.
September arrived with the hope that the beginning of the promotional concert tour
would encourage sales of the album. Over the course of the next year, some 50-100 concerts were to be scheduled, so there was plenty of time for the album’s quality to become apparent. As ‘Pitiblog’ noted, “we must admit that 'Le Secret', although meticulous and eclectic, is a particular album concept that one must take time to dissect to really get into it. We are very far from the commercial titles of her debut; from now on the singer works like a real craftsman and offers more sophisticated songs”.
Lara preceded the official tour with a free concert in Coudekerque-Branche (a suburb of Dunkirk in northern France) at the ‘Festival of Nature and Flanders’. It was the only performance of ‘The Best’ show that she did in France. As she said, “This is somewhat of a goodbye concert that I played with my musicians in Russia and I had never played that way in Europe”. The concert itself took place outdoors, and it looked cold – Lara sang wearing a jacket, scarf, jeans and sneakers. The set list consisted of her usual past ‘hits’ with some Mlle. Zhivago songs thrown in (again an anomaly for France).
The official tour began September 12 in Namur, Belgium. It was advertised as “An hour thirty minutes of uninterrupted music, titles like so many stories that are linked together without ever getting tangled, which assemble gently without resembling one another, but make up a single personality”. The lack of intermission was an attempt to try to reproduce the continuous nature of the music on the CDs, but in reality the show was only 2/3 ‘Le Secret’, with the other third consisting of past hits, often re-imagined, like the Scottish lilt now beginning ‘Humana’, or the vocalization at the end of ‘Immortelle’. ‘Je t’aime’ was now an acoustic version.
Meanwhile, the finale of “The Best” hit the airwaves, and it even upped its audience, now 5.2 million spectators (27% of the audience). Lara said, "I had a lot of fun in this adventure. I really have no regrets. For once, I could do my job without being the center of attention. This has inspired me to repeat the experience.” It also accomplished another purpose – even more fully cementing Lara in the minds of the French public. For example, when Lara’s name surfaced in some other connection later in the year, ‘The Best’ was often included in parenthesis next to it. [The ultimate winners on the show were the Canadian acrobats ‘Chilly and Fly’]. How this ultimately helped her record sales is unclear – on the last show she was awarded a gold record for 50,000 sales in France.
Performances continued in Belgium through much of September, although Lara set a pace in which several weeks of concerts were to be followed by several weeks off, to allow her time with her family. One additional change: Lara surprised the audience by including ‘I Will Love Again’ as the final song at the show in Brussels, something she hasn’t done willingly in many years. It got a great reception, and this led her to make it a standard part of the tour.
Lara also announced a ‘Collector’s version’ of ‘Le Secret’ to be released in late October, hoping to reinvigorate its sales in France/Belgium in conjunction with the tour – which was taking place six months after the initial release. Also, as part of this new push, Lara’s boutique opened, with key ring, pen, tee shirt, mug, etc. available at: www.larafabianshop.com/.
Lara’s tour resumed the second week in October, split between Belgium and France. While most of the shows got very good reviews, when Lara had two performances on the same day in Lille, there was a different result. Lara cut four songs from the first show to ‘save herself’ for the evening one, where she cut only two. Some fans felt she was lethargic, even sick – the first hint that something was wrong. Nevertheless, the tour continued to its next natural break point, and was set to pick up again in the middle of the month. During the break she spent the time in Sicily, again sending pictures to fans via her ‘Instagram’ site. Lara definitely made a greater effort this year to communicate with fans, via those pictures, and her FB and Twitter sites.
During this time the video of ‘Danse’, the second single, was released. While it was classy, elegantly staged, beautifully shot, a thoroughly professional enterprise, the dancing is not done by Lara but by ‘Katrin’ (in contrast to the videos released for Lara’s first English album in which she danced, as we know she can). Presumably the ballet movements discouraged Lara, but it seemed to some fans like a lost opportunity.
The concert tour resumed on the 17th, with shows scheduled for four days in a row. By the third day, in Chevgny Saint Sauveur, the audience noted that Lara was continually touching her headset, and the evening’s proceedings were interrupted. After about 35 minutes however she stopped the show entirely, telling the audience that the high frequencies were irritating her ear, that she was not “une chanteuse mais une ‘chianteuse’” (not a singer but an ‘annoyed singer’). Instead, she decided to abandon the normal set, and switched to two acoustic songs – a duet with her husband (a performance of ‘Don’t Give Up’, highly relevant to Lara’s situation), and ‘Pas sans toi’. Later she posted a message on her site saying that the following night’s performance in Auxere, France had to be cancelled, due to, as she said, “the shock of 1000 Hz collected on a TV stage before summer I kept a fragility subjected to repeated sound stress that causes me a recurring problem .... I have to be very careful in the future ...”. This was the incident in early May described above; the problem had not surfaced during the summer because Lara had not been doing concerts with headphones/earplugs. It appeared she had lasted 14 concerts before it fully emerged, but we later learned she had been having problems earlier in the tour, but just assumed they would go away.
Her doctors were not so sanguine. They told her that the repeated stress could lead to permanent hearing damage, damage she was already suffering (loss of hearing of 4000 Hz frequencies). The only true solution was rest until the situation resolved.
Her first approach was, as she described: “I will do my best this week to rest up to the maximum and to follow the treatment to the letter in order to be able to ensure my concerts to come ... For the moment, no cancellation is scheduled ... To return to the road is my greatest wish ... I'll do anything for it... Thank you for your countless messages of love ... See you soon .... lara”.
It turned out this was not her only health problem to emerge. As part of the (minimal) Canadian promotion, Lara appeared in Canada on the show ‘Acces Illimite’ which aired at this time. She noted that she still had problems with not eating sufficiently, and that when in the depths of anorexia (down to ~100 pounds), she had so starved her body that she suffered a heart attack. Only her desire to bear a child had allowed her to overcome the problem. The observation that she looks thin on this tour reemphasized the issue. It also brought into focus her comments in the recent article in ‘Feminine Psycho’, in which she once again offered up the solution as put forth in the album ‘Le Secret’, to look inside oneself to find the necessary strength and happiness to overcome difficulties. It appeared that Lara was being given plenty of problems to test this approach…
One of the most loved of Lara’s TV videos is the duet she did with Laura Pausini of ‘La Solitudine’, so when it was announced that Laura was producing a new CD of duets, "20 greatest hits", and Lara was to be included, naturally the thought went to that selection. It was Laura’s thought as well, and she wanted Lara to create a French version of the words she was to sing. However, Lara objected – the lyrics concern a woman who is lost without her man, and Lara certainly no longer felt that applied to her. Laura would accept no changes – so they then chose another song, that already had French lyrics, “Io Canto/Je chante”. The CD was released in November.
The ‘Collector’s Edition’ of ‘Le Secret’ was also released. In addition to the standard two CDs, it included a DVD that had a few “Le Secret” items but was mainly the video of the concert for Lebanon from February 14th, 2012. Fans were not overly impressed, although it did seem to help the sales of ‘Le Secret’, or maybe it was the publicity Lara received for her health problems, for the CD regained chart position in France after having dropped out entirely.
Returning from a concert in Russia at the end of November, Lara had some more doctor assessments of her ear. She wrote, “There is a clear diagnosis: I am the victim of a substantial hearing loss which has forced me to redesign the tour, if I don’t want to take the risk of making this injury irreversible or worse. Faced with this, I found myself with several options : cancel all my tour (which is unthinkable for me, because I have in my heart to honor the public who gives me confidence and love ) or submit to the latest prescription from the two ENT specialists to save this tour. To do this, they formally asked me to have time off for rest the next 10 days and not expose myself to the sound pressure that a singing tour requires”.
It was now clear that this problem – Acoustic Shock Disorder - would not be resolved quickly. Appearing on the French TV show ‘Touche pas à mon poste’, Lara broke down crying when describing her ailment. The hosts, not known for sympathy, tried to reassure her and cheer her up. The audience meanwhile responded with a great emotion; in return, Lara put several beautiful ‘thank you’ pictures on her Instagram site for all those who have wished her well. The French press at all levels picked up the story, and for once Lara was being featured in a supportive tone. Certainly not the way she would have wanted it! Meanwhile the shows scheduled for early November were cancelled or postponed to later dates. Concerning the rest of the tour, when asked whether she was considering cancelling it, she said they were ‘not yet at that point’.
The crucial decision concerned her upcoming concerts in Paris, three concerts in two days. And Lara did get through them, much to the relief of her fans, and certainly herself. Both the fans and the press gave her great marks, not only for her courage but for the actual performance. Afterwards, Lara wrote on her Instagram site, with an accompanying picture, “In the train back... an infinite thanks for your support...it was a real challenge...which, under the circumstances and the tour de force that it represents to do two shows on the same day, I found from you all the love and the power that brought it through.., thanks for the balloons, the smiles and the space of shared connection during the concerts..” Her health problems had one final airing as she appeared on a program ’50 minutes inside Lara Fabian’, where they, and her whole career, were discussed with much compassion.
Now due to Lara’s health-related constraints Lara’s people had to reshuffle the schedule starting in December, one that had been in place for many months. It wasn’t easy, for rooms were sometimes no longer available. Particularly at risk were those shows in clusters, as she was limited by the doctors to three in succession with an eight day break in between (not counting airplane flights). Their attempts resulted in understandable discontent on the part of fans who had already made travel/hotel reservations, bought seats no longer available, etc. As of this point in time, all concerts through the end of May have been rescheduled in such a way that Lara believes she will be able to give them. By then (or presumably before then) they will know whether further changes are needed.
If at the beginning of the year Lara was no longer a household name in France, that is certainly no longer the case. Whether from her involvement in the gay marriage referendum, the new album release and promotion, her appearance as juror on ‘The Best’, her tour, or her health problems, one could hardly turn around without seeing her being featured. So as to her re-integration back into the French entertainment scene: mission accomplished!
Lara's Career in the ‘Countries to the East’
While Lara’s prime focus was on Belgium and France, she made great efforts to maintain her presence in these countries as well, often interrupting promotional events in the west. It started with a New Year’s appearance on Russian TV. In late FebruaryLara performed a concert in Moscow for the Russian Federation Supreme Court. Then in early March she gave 7 Russian shows in 8 days, a continuation of ‘The Best’ tour from the previous year. This was certainly curious timing, given the momentum building for ‘Le Secret’ promo in France and Belgium, but it emphasized that for all the focus on France, Russia was not to be abandoned. The fan reception was quite warm by all accounts, but the weather was quite cold, with some venues being in covered ice rinks. One could amuse oneself watching videos and pictures of Lara all bundled up
. In addition, and not amusingly, there were airplane problems, that forced one concert to start some 90 minutes late.
And still in Russia, the beginning of March brought, in a year of surprises, one of the biggest of them all: the re-emergence, as a phoenix rising from the ashes, of the possibility of the release of the ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ movie. It apparently had been left for dead due to Lara’s dislike of its violent implications, and, as she said, lack of transcendence. Not only did Alan Badoev, the director, suddenly pop up talking about it, so did Lara on a radio show, after not mentioning it for some months. The news came right before her latest Russian tour, and that presumably was not a coincidence – perhaps she, with the help of her new press agent, simply wanted to get it (and the accusations of censorship) off her plate. She implied that it had been modified to some extent, which Badoev denied. The release date was indicated for April, hence generally coinciding with the release of the new album. As the month progressed, Badoev released a new promo for the movie and ratcheted up the publicity. It was also announced that it would be made available for free on the web (a 2.5 million dollar ‘gift’ to the fans, apparently made possible by Igor Krutoi).
Lara and Igor Krutoi actually went to the opening for the press in early April in both Moscow and Kiev, that were attended with much fanfare. It was covered by various news programs, which included interviews with Lara. The reviews given the movie were that it was quite violent, and that Lara was an exceptional actress. A ‘making of’ video was also made available. Tellingly, Lara’s official sites had no mention of the whole affair, and it did appear that Lara and Igor would have greatly preferred to have been anywhere else!
The film itself was made available to the public on the 12th. My review of it was that it was a beautifully produced, magical-looking production in which Alan Badoev has made Lara look more beautiful, and more haggard, than she ever has before. ‘Pitiblog’ review edit, saying “It is true that the images are beautiful and the rendering surprising. A work which will permit – and if she wishes - the singer to be approached by other projects in the cinema. Although dark, the project reveals a capacity to break the singer's image and embody different roles from those that one would have been ready to give her!”
The released version did not include all the videos that had been shot, presumably leaving out the ones to which she had most objected. In doing so, it also removed many of the obvious connecting links between videos, as well as the summary video that presumably tied them all together (some of these can actually be seen in ‘the making of’ video, so their exclusion was probably late in the game). Nevertheless, Badoev said that the release included the main points that he had wanted to get across, which was that life was harsh, and one has to learn from ‘life to life’ to overcome one’s mistakes, a process in which love plays a major role.
While its release in proximity to that of her new album had led interviewers in France, intrigued by the movie’s promo videos, to link the two projects, Lara rejected that concept, and basically refused to talk about it. She also rejected the idea of an actual DVD release. Nevertheless, she did recognize its value to her, if only belatedly. In an interview with ‘Charts in France’, who called it “an amazing project”, she said, “I hope this film will help people think about me for their projects, and those who put a damper because I'm a singer, to say that I am also an actress. I hope it will serve as a teaser, a presentation of what I can do”. However, after this month, Lara never mentioned it again; clearly she was not ready to ‘break the image’ the French public had of her in this way, as Pitiblog suggested. Regardless, many fans were quite happy to see Lara perform as a serious actress, in an expensive-looking production.
As the week of the French album release approached, Lara again took a side-step, this time for a concert in Ankara, Turkey (again the ‘Best’ show). It went well, and if nothing else, indicated that Lara was not afraid to appear in a Muslim country, after her problems last year in Lebanon. In June, in association with Igor Krutoi, Lara gave another ‘Best’ concert [again, not ‘Le Secret’] in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In July, Lara came back from vacation for an appearance at the Igor Krutoi’s New Wave Festival in Latvia, at which he indicated that a new album with Lara was finished. [We don’t know how literally he meant that, but at least it implied there was such an album in the offing, something Lara later confirmed.] As in the past, when she has used her appearances there to introduce new songs created with Krutoi, that continued this time, with two titles, “Yin and Yang” (in French) and “Angels Pass Away” (in English). The latter was music written by Krutoi with Lara providing the lyrics for the Korean singer Sumi Jo, who presented it at the 2011 Winter Asian Games. The new album therefore already looks as if it will once again by multi-lingual, and Lara further confirmed it later in the year when she said it would also have songs in Italian.
In August, she had a private concert in Russia, but the news from that country seemed to provide her with a quandary, as a law was passed making it illegal to “promote non-traditional sexual behavior” (which Lara clearly had been ‘guilty of’ doing in France). During the first week in November, when Lara was well enough to give her four concerts in Russia, (two in St. Petersburg, and two in Moscow), she nevertheless did sing ‘Deux ils, deux elles’, and ended it with a call for tolerance. Throughou her concert tour, fans had worked to provide ‘surprises’ for Lara at the various locales; here they used their phones to light up the sky when she came to sing ‘Je reve d’une etoile’. They also provided a floral display in the form of the cover of ‘Le Secret’. Producing surprises for Lara is a long-standing fan tradition…
There were other issues. Lara’s planned October concert in Uzbekistan exploded into the news when the Christian Association for the Abolition of Torture [l'Association chrétienne pour l'abolition de la torture (ACAT)] accused her of being ‘window dressing’ for a regime of torture, due to her scheduled concert there on the 27th. In response, Lara cancelled it, saying that all her life she had stood for human rights, and had not understood the government connection. She did, however, defend her right to perform for fans in such countries when there was no government connection, since their lives were difficult enough. The association tried to get Lara to cancel her concert in Minsk, Belarus, for the same reasons.
And at the very end of the month, given the required resting time, Lara completed her last three concerts in ‘the countries to the east’: in Kalininigrad, Russia; Riga, Latvia (where she commiserated with those affected by a supermarket collapse that had killed a number of people shortly before her arrival); and, yes, in Minsk, Belarus. The fans gave her highly emotional responses, making Lara’s choice to come despite restrictive governments seem more justified.
In summary, Lara was a continual presence in these countries, enough so that one has to consider it another ‘home base’ for her. It does, however, come with an inherent flaw – many of those countries have less than ideal support for human rights, rights that we know Lara feels are very important. She attempted in her statements and actions to differentiate between those appearances that are government controlled, and those that served the people suffering under those same governments. Lara has had problems with this in the past, and presumably will need to be more cautious, without ruling out appearing in these countries.
There is another benefit to this approach however, as illustrated in the next section.
Lara’s Career in North America
For many years, this ‘category’ has been pretty barren, and this year was not much different, except for one major exception, discussed below. Lara did release ‘Le Secret’ in Quebec in September, some six months after its European debut. Sales were not great in Canada - only 1550 copies were sold in the first 5 weeks. Presumably many who wanted it had already purchased it on the web, and there was little in the way of promotion. This coming January, Lara will be giving some concerts there, including her first ever in English-speaking Toronto, and that might renew interest a bit. There was one change: a ‘dance-version’ remix of ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ became available along with the Canadian release, made with the help of Misstress Barbara, a Canadian electro-artist who has worked with many other singers, including Bjork.
However, her last concert of the year was perhaps the most momentous. Lara said that ever since she was a child, she had dreamed of performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Apparently all it took, in addition to the nerve, was to have her people call and ask for an available date. That turned out to be December 27th. Lara seems to have spent Christmas in New York, so as not to arrive at the last moment. The concert was sold out, an amazing occurrence given how little Lara is known in the States – it was helped by a large contingent of Russian fans, again validating her ‘countries to the East’ approach. And this (to the best of my knowledge) first ever concert in an English speaking country was magnificent, with her voice in great shape, to many standing ovations from an uproarious crowd. After a year full of troubles and controversies, as well as new releases and approval, it was fitting that the year end on such a high note for her. Her problems have not ended – during the concert she often touched her left ear – but they have not derailed her. Hopefully that will remain the case.
Lara's Important TV Performances
Although the main thrust of her career was aimed at promoting the new album, for which there were many TV appearances too numerous to mention, Lara was also on various programs that were either centered on her independent of the album, or had some other focus. The list starts with New Year’s, when she was on Russian TV, on the show ‘Song of the Year’ performing ‘Je t’aime encore’. In February she was at Les Victoires 2013, singing ‘Vancouver’ as part of an homage to Veronique Sanson. In March she was on the program ‘Hier Encore’, an homage to Charles Aznevour, looking positively beautiful, and she participated in several numbers, singing ‘Gottingen’ as a solo, while joining with three others on ‘La Chanson de Prevert’. On ‘Simplement pour un soir’, she did an amazing virtual duet with Frank Sinatra of “New York, New York”, one of the real highlights of the year (set up by Gerard Pullicino). She was also on ‘Le Plus Grand Cabaret Du Monde’ humorously interacting with the ventriloquist Jeff Panaclock. In April there was the program Televie’, in which she sang “Le soleil de ma vie” in duet with Francois Pirette. She also performed a duet of ‘L’été indien’ with Laurent Boyer on a Sidaction charity show; and endured the usual dose of sharp-edged humor on ‘Bienvenue chez Cauet’. And there was a short duet with Josh Groban of ‘Broken Vow’ on ’Chabada’.
May featured several long classic Lara shows: She was on the (120 minute) program “69 minutes Sans chichis”. A very personable program, with old photos and videos of Lara (e.g., ‘Croire’ from Eurovision), an appearance by her friend Nathalie, and relaxed conversation, the type of thing Lara does best. She also participated (slightly) with a gospel group singing ‘Let It Shine’, and much more so on “Oh Happy Day”. Lara also appeared on the two hour show "La Parenthese inattendue" which will go down as one of the most memorable of her TV shows, featuring off-the-cuff wide-ranging discussions with a TV producer (Patrice Laffont) and an actor (Christian Vadim). Lara came across as who she really is, full of life, and in the (translated) words of Marie Simone on Lara’s FB site, “a woman with her strengths and weaknesses, which feed a very great heart and a delicate magnificent spirit”. The program follows the three of them as they spend 24 hours together, partly in a country residence and partly outside, discussing their likes, dislikes, and careers, cooking and eating, playing bocci, etc. She also appeared on the final segment of the French ‘The Voice’, and was chosen by Florent Pagny’s contestant Nuno Resende for a duet. They sang ‘Adagio’, and Lara, at least, got great reviews! And she did a beautiful duet with Roberto Alagna of ‘Avec le Temps’ on Chabada (a program in which Alagna got upset with something and stormed off, leaving the other participants to fill in the blanks). These shows generally had several million viewers, so Lara was not being overlooked, even if her album was not noticeably gaining from it.
At the end of May, Ptitblog.net arranged a series of five video interviews with Lara done by Julien Piraud, each concentrating on a different theme, under the title ‘Sans Secrets’ (appropriate for her new CD). They were Career (5-27), Love (5-28), Disaffection (5-29), Family (5-30) and Happiness (5-31). As she had on other shows, Lara unburdened herself about issues such as her relationship to her critics, her singing being ‘rescued’ by Igor Krutoi, her problems with the Mlle. Zhivago film, and with Rick Allison and the song ‘Parce que tu pars’ (where she said she was thinking of suicide). As Pitiblog said on their website, ““More than ever, Lara Fabian opens up on her career. You'll discover that besides being a perfectionist artist and perpetual renewer, the woman is as sincere as straightforward. She agreed to meet my questions without stonewalling and returns to the most painful moments of her career and her life as a woman.”
In June, she was on the Generation M6 Show dedicated to Jean-Jaques Goldman, with Lara performing his song, "Comme toi". Later in the month, she appeared on ‘Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde’, singing ‘Je t’aime’ alongside a Ukrainian acrobatic dance team named 'Flame'. Both performances were incredible, with Lara’s performance reminiscent of her original singing of that iconic song. She also had a humorous appearance on ‘Comment ca va bien’, where she got a chance to dance and flirt, and interact with fish and sheep!
In November, she appeared on “Les chansons d’abord”, presented by Natasha St. Pier and featuring young singers. Lara was involved in four songs. Most notice went to her duet with Olympe on “Requiem pour un fou”, probably Lara’s most impassioned version of it since the duet with Johnny Hallyday.
A ‘best moments’ video was put together by the ‘Lara Fabian Brazil’ site, and can be seen at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehtl7V42DI4
Lara’s Personal Life
The album ‘Le Secret’ forced Lara to face up to various problems, and one of them concerned her body image. She said she had always been ashamed of it, particularly her legs, probably stemming from remarks made to her by teachers in her early ballet school. So she set about addressing (or undressing) it. In March she was featured in a sexy picture, showing her legs, in ‘Le Journal du Dimanche’. But this was just a forerunner of what was to occur, the following month…when Lara appeared (nearly) nude in Gala magazine. Lara explained that in her new-found desire to confront problems, she was making a concerted effort to “accept herself as she is”. She also joked that 10 years before she wouldn’t (psychologically) have been able to do it, and 10 years later nobody would want her to do it!” Of course, another overwhelming factor was the desire for publicity that would help sell the album, and there is no doubt that Lara became a household name once again with this one act. Concerning the fans’ reactions, Lara did say that 80% of the responses she received were positive.
There was another event of a somewhat similar nature. In May, Lara, when on “69 minutes Sans chichis”, during a segment in which Lara was eating ‘Black Forest Cake’, she mimed committing fellatio, noting that she had a big mouth, which ‘helps her in certain circumstances’. Asked about it afterward, Lara made light of it; in any event, she has often said she’s a ‘sensualist’, and the public once again had a chance to view Lara as a real human being. It’s also another example of there never being a dull moment for Lara’s PR person when Lara's on the air live!
However, even these surprises could be topped: on June 28th, Lara announced that she had gotten married! To Gabriel di Giorgio, a Sicilian magician (eight years her junior), with whom Lara had reportedly been keeping company for a number of months. She later noted that it was so important to have by one’s side someone with the same roots (i.e., Sicilian). The wedding was a small affair, and she provided the only photo. However, even though it was a ‘secret’ wedding, Lara had dedicated ‘Le Secret’ to him, so it might have been foretold.
Lara's Charity Work
Throughout the year, Lara participated in many charity events, as is usual for her. These included, in April, the ‘Make a Wish Foundation (with her daughter Lou), and the ‘Global Gift Gala’ charity event hosted by Eva Longoria. In fact it was one of several interactions the two had; they also participated in a ‘fake kiss’ for the ‘imaginary couples’ campaign, as part of the ‘marriage for all’ referendum in France. This last project, associated with the photographer Olivier Ciappa, achieved a life of its own, with photos displayed for months afterward in Paris and elsewhere. Also this month, she participated on a telethon for battling AIDS (‘Sidaction’).
In August she returned for another of Eva Longoria’s ‘Global Gala Gift’ charity events, this one taking place in Mirabella, Italy. The stated goal is “to promote education among Hispanic women and entrepreneurship for a better future for the Latino community”. She sang ‘Je t’aime’ at the event, and also auctioned two tickets for the December Carnegie Hall concert, which went for 20,000 euros! It turns out that Lara is the “Global Ambassador of the Global Gift Foundation”.
In September, Lara continued her charity work as ‘Godmother’ in the fight against AIDS. This time she teamed up with her hairdresser David Luacis, as spokespersons for “Hairdressers against AIDS” at the World Day against AIDS. The awareness campaign is being pushed in over 5000 hair salons, with the idea that, as Lara said, “The hairdresser is not only a shaper of image but also a raiser of consciousness”. December 1 was actually World AIDS Day, and Lara leant her image to this campaign.
And in November there were several events. One was ‘The Little Dreams Foundation Gala Dinner’ in Brussels, for which items like Lara’s gold record for her new album, were made available, and many artists attended. It was created by Orianne and Phil Collins with a mission to “help young talents, disabled or not, fulfill their dreams in the artistic or sportive field”. Also at the end of the month Lara once again led the auction of dolls in support of children’s vaccinations in Darfur. As she said on her website, “I announce that for the second consecutive year, I have the honor to be the Godmother of the operation ‘Frimousses de créateurs’ [literally, creators of little faces] for UNICEF. This event brings together the Houses of Couture and contemporary art's most prestigious artists ... They combine to create each unique doll, symbol of generosity and heart… I'm really happy to be one of the "mothers" of UNICEF and lend my support to the cause of children.” In a follow-up article she noted that, “To become a mother was the most intense emotion for me…To understand that to be there for a child can change your life instantly modifying my vision of the world…Lara spent 1200 euros each on two ‘dolls’ for the sake of charity. In addition, she donated her clutch bag with lip gloss inside – it went for 1500 euros. Laughingly, Lara said that “next year it will be my shoes!”
The Year to Come
Hopefully, Lara will benefit from all the good karma these charity activities is accumulating . It may be needed in 2014, for which our expectations have to be hedged to some extent, depending on her health. If all goes well, she will have many more concerts for the continuing ‘Le Secret’ tour, featuring an expanded geographic vision, including Finland, Bulgaria and Germany (so far!). There is also the possibility that the new album with Igor Krutoi will be released in the fall, preceding a Russian tour that is already being set up for 2015. As long as she can pursue her career, the future looks bright.
David
And so many events, that they are now reviewed in their own categories. [Note - almost all the quotes, originally in French, have been translated].
Lara's Career in France/Belgium
2013 was advertised in advance as a year for Lara to reconnect with her French-speaking audience. With all the many events that took place, the one thing that clearly emerged was her success in doing that. From releasing her expected new album to being in the public eye for a variety of reasons, it was hard to miss Lara in France/Belgium. Not everything went her way, but one can say she certainly made herself relevant to the French public and media once again.
Lara began immediately in January to integrate herself back into the French music scene, while turning 43 years old. On French TV she discussed where she had been while away from their focus: experiencing a ‘Russian Fairytale’, emphasizing her experience and success throughout that country and its neighboring ‘countries to the east’. It was reported that the Russian edition of the Mlle. Zhivago album had sold 800,000 copies in these countries, which got the attention of many French publications, including ‘Le Parisien’ and ‘ChartsinFrance’. While the veracity of that number can certainly be questioned, there is no doubt the album was successful. That allure was further enhanced by the news that she had sold out the 6000 seat Kremlin several nights in a row (which can’t be questioned). Since nothing breeds popularity/respect like success, Lara’s reputation was immediately re-established, and her ‘absence’ effectively explained away.
Events overtook whatever further plans she had, as the country got overrun with the debate concerning gay marriage (or ‘marriage for all’). Lara jumped right into the middle of it with her new song, the first to be released from ‘Le Secret’, entitled “Deux ‘ils, deux elles”. It was right in line with the theme of the moment, and could be viewed as a sort of ‘follow up’ to ‘La Difference’ from 1997 (that history completely absolved her from any accusation that she was just using the cause for self-promotion). Emphasizing that love, in whatever form, should triumph over all other ‘differences’, it contributed a rallying point for the movement. The question of whether she was relevant in France any longer became moot.
As February dawned, Lara continued to get good press from the LGBT community, and that was picked up by major magazines (e.g., Paris Match). ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ dominated the discussion, and became known (and was then released) as the single for the upcoming album. It turned out this was a double-edged sword; it certainly got publicity, but as a late edition, it didn’t really represent the complexity or main theme of the album, which isn’t at all one of advocacy, but a reflection on one’s troubles in life and how to resolve them internally. Also, with approximately half the French population against gay marriage, Lara was in danger of alienating a substantial portion of her potential audience. Yet better, one supposes, than being ignored entirely.
In a more general media-mode, during this month, Lara hired a new press agency “Marie Argence” to oversee promotion for ‘Le Secret’; opened her own ‘Twitter’ site and later an “Instagram” site; and announced that ‘Le Secret’ would be released on April 15th. She also started recording TV shows for March broadcast, as that month became the focus for the pre-album-release publicity.
During March, in a new development, Lara agreed to be an advisor to Florent Pagny on the French version of ‘The Voice’, which aired throughout the month. She said she would have liked to have been a ‘coach’ but didn’t have the time. This would turn out to be a prelude to greater participation on a French TV program later in the year.
By April, promotional events were in full swing. The video for ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ was made available, having been filmed with the inclusion of various people who had sent pictures of themselves and their partners (both hetero- and homo- sexuals). It was stylishly done, and very worthy of the song and the cause, emphasizing not conflict over an abstract issue but love between people. Lara starting ‘performing’ (generally lip-synching) the song on various TV shows.
Finally April 15th arrived, and the double CD ‘Le Secret’ made its way into the world. Conceived and recorded between Canada and Belgium, with Janey Clewer writing most of the music and Lara the lyrics, it got generally excellent reviews for its beautiful music and (non-restrained) singing, as well as its serious themes. The first CD concerns problems people experience in life, and Lara explicitly included a song about her battles with anorexia (she had been looking thin in photos, and while she indicated that the problem had been in the past, in a later interview she acknowledged that it never really ends). The second CD is concerned with finding inner happiness, the ‘secret’ at one’s center, that is the only proper antidote to life’s troubles. Interludes linked the different titles, so one felt one was engulfed by the music for the length of each CD (like in an opera). It was also noted that this was a self-produced album as Lara was no longer part of any record company, although standard companies were used for its distribution in France (Warner) and Belgium (Universal). Lara suggested that no record company would have allowed her to produce the two CDs.
The one ‘fly in the ointment’ in the reviews, and one that record companies might have focused on, was that several of them questioned how ‘commercial’ it was. Yet at least initially, it was well-received by the public as well, opening in the number 1 spot on both the French and Belgian music charts. Again, success breeds publicity, and this showing landed her numerous press interviews.
In support of the CD, Lara had two showcase presentations in a rented theatre in Paris for an audience of 2700. The audience was encouraged to take videos, and ‘Evergig’ put them together, allowing the general public to see practically the entire show, available from the Evergig website. The mix of Lara’s great singing and six on-stage musicians did great justice to the music; it represents the best presentation of ‘Le Secret’ music in video so far. Lara then followed this up with numerous appearances in the media, many of which again primarily featured ‘Deux ils, deux elles’, either in performance or through the showing of the video.
By May promotional appearances were decreasing, though Lara was still apparent throughout the month in numerous venues. The sales of her album were also decreasing. One complaint that had surfaced among fans was that her promotional appearances had been primarily for her, or the cause of ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ (by this time the gay marriage law had passed in France, so it was no longer an issue), but not for the album as a whole. Few of the other songs got any performance, or publicity, whatsoever. Admittedly, they often worked best as part of the ‘matrix’ of the album rather than as stand-alone entities – Lara indicated it was not designed to be an album of ‘hits’. Unfortunately, ‘hits’ are what propel most albums. The few shows she was on actually drew several million viewers, so Lara was not being overlooked, even if her album was not noticeably gaining from it.
On May 6th she was doing a sound check for a radio show when a loud sound was accidentally sent through her earphones. It literally knocked her over, and required a trip to the hospital. Nevertheless, she went on to her next appearance, a Showcase presentation for MFM radio in Lyon, at which she sang four songs live. This was to have much greater repercussions down the road than anyone was aware of at the time…
June brought a new discovery: Lara was to appear on the French program “The Best (le meilleur artiste)”, in which she would be a juror. Filming began this month, and continued, with interruptions, throughout most of the summer. As Lara explained, the participants (who were musicians or acrobats, not singers) were all quite accomplished, Lara said that she and the others “are not ‘judge and jury’, but rather helpful, beneficent companions” (who nonetheless have to provide grades), and that “I wanted to go a little beyond the bounds of my metier.... On becoming a judge I walked into a parallel universe to mine, very attractive. Being a witness of the most beautiful numbers of the world is a chance. I nourish myself from each one of them and if I look with a dazzled child's eyes, I do not forget the professional in me. In this program, wonder is king.”
Lara had a few light-hearted promotional appearances. In one she appeared with Miss France and ‘the precision arobatic demonstration team’ at the International Airshow of Le Bourget . A reporter commenting on it, while noting it was otherwise a pretty boring affair, said of Lara, “But the most exuberant was, in my humble opinion, Lara Fabian. Being with this woman, even for a few instances, is a moment of pure happiness. Lara Fabian is not only beautiful, whether she is dressed or naked and no offense to my good colleague the mocking Yann Barthes, but also very funny and full of fine humor.” A nice summary of Lara!
In July, ‘The Best’ began its airing, attracting some 4 million viewers, and it managed to more or less hold that number throughout its entire run. Lara received a great deal of notice, as expected, with some viewers feeling that her emotionality made the program and acts seem important, and others thinking she was ‘over the top’. Some more perceptive descriptions of Lara! It continued in August, with Lara inciting more comments with her hairdo and dress, and participating as a foil in a magic trick by the Canadian illusionist Luc Langevin. Otherwise, she was on vacation – she had suggested to fans that they “go to the beach”, and she sent back pictures (perhaps from Mirabella) showing her doing just that. The end of the month featured her return to France, and the immediate announcement of the release of the second single from “Le Secret”, it being ‘Danse’. The choice wasn’t received with unanimous approval among her fans, who thought some of the other songs might halt the decline of the album’s sales, but the reality is that so many of the songs are of approximately equal (high) quality that no choice was overly obvious.
Lara also provided an interview for ‘Pschologies Magazine’. In it she explained in more detail how her spiritual quest is nourished by the daily practice of an ancestral Japanese meditative art, the “Onsei-do”, literally the “path of sound”. As she said, her teacher Isabelle Padovani “explains to me that the utilization of certain sounds, the ‘sound sources’, act strongly in resonance with emotions and permits the pacification of mental agitation, freeing also the physical and energetic tensions. That speaks to me immediately, since childhood, I know that singing, music is my way of happiness”.
September arrived with the hope that the beginning of the promotional concert tour
would encourage sales of the album. Over the course of the next year, some 50-100 concerts were to be scheduled, so there was plenty of time for the album’s quality to become apparent. As ‘Pitiblog’ noted, “we must admit that 'Le Secret', although meticulous and eclectic, is a particular album concept that one must take time to dissect to really get into it. We are very far from the commercial titles of her debut; from now on the singer works like a real craftsman and offers more sophisticated songs”.
Lara preceded the official tour with a free concert in Coudekerque-Branche (a suburb of Dunkirk in northern France) at the ‘Festival of Nature and Flanders’. It was the only performance of ‘The Best’ show that she did in France. As she said, “This is somewhat of a goodbye concert that I played with my musicians in Russia and I had never played that way in Europe”. The concert itself took place outdoors, and it looked cold – Lara sang wearing a jacket, scarf, jeans and sneakers. The set list consisted of her usual past ‘hits’ with some Mlle. Zhivago songs thrown in (again an anomaly for France).
The official tour began September 12 in Namur, Belgium. It was advertised as “An hour thirty minutes of uninterrupted music, titles like so many stories that are linked together without ever getting tangled, which assemble gently without resembling one another, but make up a single personality”. The lack of intermission was an attempt to try to reproduce the continuous nature of the music on the CDs, but in reality the show was only 2/3 ‘Le Secret’, with the other third consisting of past hits, often re-imagined, like the Scottish lilt now beginning ‘Humana’, or the vocalization at the end of ‘Immortelle’. ‘Je t’aime’ was now an acoustic version.
Meanwhile, the finale of “The Best” hit the airwaves, and it even upped its audience, now 5.2 million spectators (27% of the audience). Lara said, "I had a lot of fun in this adventure. I really have no regrets. For once, I could do my job without being the center of attention. This has inspired me to repeat the experience.” It also accomplished another purpose – even more fully cementing Lara in the minds of the French public. For example, when Lara’s name surfaced in some other connection later in the year, ‘The Best’ was often included in parenthesis next to it. [The ultimate winners on the show were the Canadian acrobats ‘Chilly and Fly’]. How this ultimately helped her record sales is unclear – on the last show she was awarded a gold record for 50,000 sales in France.
Performances continued in Belgium through much of September, although Lara set a pace in which several weeks of concerts were to be followed by several weeks off, to allow her time with her family. One additional change: Lara surprised the audience by including ‘I Will Love Again’ as the final song at the show in Brussels, something she hasn’t done willingly in many years. It got a great reception, and this led her to make it a standard part of the tour.
Lara also announced a ‘Collector’s version’ of ‘Le Secret’ to be released in late October, hoping to reinvigorate its sales in France/Belgium in conjunction with the tour – which was taking place six months after the initial release. Also, as part of this new push, Lara’s boutique opened, with key ring, pen, tee shirt, mug, etc. available at: www.larafabianshop.com/.
Lara’s tour resumed the second week in October, split between Belgium and France. While most of the shows got very good reviews, when Lara had two performances on the same day in Lille, there was a different result. Lara cut four songs from the first show to ‘save herself’ for the evening one, where she cut only two. Some fans felt she was lethargic, even sick – the first hint that something was wrong. Nevertheless, the tour continued to its next natural break point, and was set to pick up again in the middle of the month. During the break she spent the time in Sicily, again sending pictures to fans via her ‘Instagram’ site. Lara definitely made a greater effort this year to communicate with fans, via those pictures, and her FB and Twitter sites.
During this time the video of ‘Danse’, the second single, was released. While it was classy, elegantly staged, beautifully shot, a thoroughly professional enterprise, the dancing is not done by Lara but by ‘Katrin’ (in contrast to the videos released for Lara’s first English album in which she danced, as we know she can). Presumably the ballet movements discouraged Lara, but it seemed to some fans like a lost opportunity.
The concert tour resumed on the 17th, with shows scheduled for four days in a row. By the third day, in Chevgny Saint Sauveur, the audience noted that Lara was continually touching her headset, and the evening’s proceedings were interrupted. After about 35 minutes however she stopped the show entirely, telling the audience that the high frequencies were irritating her ear, that she was not “une chanteuse mais une ‘chianteuse’” (not a singer but an ‘annoyed singer’). Instead, she decided to abandon the normal set, and switched to two acoustic songs – a duet with her husband (a performance of ‘Don’t Give Up’, highly relevant to Lara’s situation), and ‘Pas sans toi’. Later she posted a message on her site saying that the following night’s performance in Auxere, France had to be cancelled, due to, as she said, “the shock of 1000 Hz collected on a TV stage before summer I kept a fragility subjected to repeated sound stress that causes me a recurring problem .... I have to be very careful in the future ...”. This was the incident in early May described above; the problem had not surfaced during the summer because Lara had not been doing concerts with headphones/earplugs. It appeared she had lasted 14 concerts before it fully emerged, but we later learned she had been having problems earlier in the tour, but just assumed they would go away.
Her doctors were not so sanguine. They told her that the repeated stress could lead to permanent hearing damage, damage she was already suffering (loss of hearing of 4000 Hz frequencies). The only true solution was rest until the situation resolved.
Her first approach was, as she described: “I will do my best this week to rest up to the maximum and to follow the treatment to the letter in order to be able to ensure my concerts to come ... For the moment, no cancellation is scheduled ... To return to the road is my greatest wish ... I'll do anything for it... Thank you for your countless messages of love ... See you soon .... lara”.
It turned out this was not her only health problem to emerge. As part of the (minimal) Canadian promotion, Lara appeared in Canada on the show ‘Acces Illimite’ which aired at this time. She noted that she still had problems with not eating sufficiently, and that when in the depths of anorexia (down to ~100 pounds), she had so starved her body that she suffered a heart attack. Only her desire to bear a child had allowed her to overcome the problem. The observation that she looks thin on this tour reemphasized the issue. It also brought into focus her comments in the recent article in ‘Feminine Psycho’, in which she once again offered up the solution as put forth in the album ‘Le Secret’, to look inside oneself to find the necessary strength and happiness to overcome difficulties. It appeared that Lara was being given plenty of problems to test this approach…
One of the most loved of Lara’s TV videos is the duet she did with Laura Pausini of ‘La Solitudine’, so when it was announced that Laura was producing a new CD of duets, "20 greatest hits", and Lara was to be included, naturally the thought went to that selection. It was Laura’s thought as well, and she wanted Lara to create a French version of the words she was to sing. However, Lara objected – the lyrics concern a woman who is lost without her man, and Lara certainly no longer felt that applied to her. Laura would accept no changes – so they then chose another song, that already had French lyrics, “Io Canto/Je chante”. The CD was released in November.
The ‘Collector’s Edition’ of ‘Le Secret’ was also released. In addition to the standard two CDs, it included a DVD that had a few “Le Secret” items but was mainly the video of the concert for Lebanon from February 14th, 2012. Fans were not overly impressed, although it did seem to help the sales of ‘Le Secret’, or maybe it was the publicity Lara received for her health problems, for the CD regained chart position in France after having dropped out entirely.
Returning from a concert in Russia at the end of November, Lara had some more doctor assessments of her ear. She wrote, “There is a clear diagnosis: I am the victim of a substantial hearing loss which has forced me to redesign the tour, if I don’t want to take the risk of making this injury irreversible or worse. Faced with this, I found myself with several options : cancel all my tour (which is unthinkable for me, because I have in my heart to honor the public who gives me confidence and love ) or submit to the latest prescription from the two ENT specialists to save this tour. To do this, they formally asked me to have time off for rest the next 10 days and not expose myself to the sound pressure that a singing tour requires”.
It was now clear that this problem – Acoustic Shock Disorder - would not be resolved quickly. Appearing on the French TV show ‘Touche pas à mon poste’, Lara broke down crying when describing her ailment. The hosts, not known for sympathy, tried to reassure her and cheer her up. The audience meanwhile responded with a great emotion; in return, Lara put several beautiful ‘thank you’ pictures on her Instagram site for all those who have wished her well. The French press at all levels picked up the story, and for once Lara was being featured in a supportive tone. Certainly not the way she would have wanted it! Meanwhile the shows scheduled for early November were cancelled or postponed to later dates. Concerning the rest of the tour, when asked whether she was considering cancelling it, she said they were ‘not yet at that point’.
The crucial decision concerned her upcoming concerts in Paris, three concerts in two days. And Lara did get through them, much to the relief of her fans, and certainly herself. Both the fans and the press gave her great marks, not only for her courage but for the actual performance. Afterwards, Lara wrote on her Instagram site, with an accompanying picture, “In the train back... an infinite thanks for your support...it was a real challenge...which, under the circumstances and the tour de force that it represents to do two shows on the same day, I found from you all the love and the power that brought it through.., thanks for the balloons, the smiles and the space of shared connection during the concerts..” Her health problems had one final airing as she appeared on a program ’50 minutes inside Lara Fabian’, where they, and her whole career, were discussed with much compassion.
Now due to Lara’s health-related constraints Lara’s people had to reshuffle the schedule starting in December, one that had been in place for many months. It wasn’t easy, for rooms were sometimes no longer available. Particularly at risk were those shows in clusters, as she was limited by the doctors to three in succession with an eight day break in between (not counting airplane flights). Their attempts resulted in understandable discontent on the part of fans who had already made travel/hotel reservations, bought seats no longer available, etc. As of this point in time, all concerts through the end of May have been rescheduled in such a way that Lara believes she will be able to give them. By then (or presumably before then) they will know whether further changes are needed.
If at the beginning of the year Lara was no longer a household name in France, that is certainly no longer the case. Whether from her involvement in the gay marriage referendum, the new album release and promotion, her appearance as juror on ‘The Best’, her tour, or her health problems, one could hardly turn around without seeing her being featured. So as to her re-integration back into the French entertainment scene: mission accomplished!
Lara's Career in the ‘Countries to the East’
While Lara’s prime focus was on Belgium and France, she made great efforts to maintain her presence in these countries as well, often interrupting promotional events in the west. It started with a New Year’s appearance on Russian TV. In late FebruaryLara performed a concert in Moscow for the Russian Federation Supreme Court. Then in early March she gave 7 Russian shows in 8 days, a continuation of ‘The Best’ tour from the previous year. This was certainly curious timing, given the momentum building for ‘Le Secret’ promo in France and Belgium, but it emphasized that for all the focus on France, Russia was not to be abandoned. The fan reception was quite warm by all accounts, but the weather was quite cold, with some venues being in covered ice rinks. One could amuse oneself watching videos and pictures of Lara all bundled up
. In addition, and not amusingly, there were airplane problems, that forced one concert to start some 90 minutes late.And still in Russia, the beginning of March brought, in a year of surprises, one of the biggest of them all: the re-emergence, as a phoenix rising from the ashes, of the possibility of the release of the ‘Mlle. Zhivago’ movie. It apparently had been left for dead due to Lara’s dislike of its violent implications, and, as she said, lack of transcendence. Not only did Alan Badoev, the director, suddenly pop up talking about it, so did Lara on a radio show, after not mentioning it for some months. The news came right before her latest Russian tour, and that presumably was not a coincidence – perhaps she, with the help of her new press agent, simply wanted to get it (and the accusations of censorship) off her plate. She implied that it had been modified to some extent, which Badoev denied. The release date was indicated for April, hence generally coinciding with the release of the new album. As the month progressed, Badoev released a new promo for the movie and ratcheted up the publicity. It was also announced that it would be made available for free on the web (a 2.5 million dollar ‘gift’ to the fans, apparently made possible by Igor Krutoi).
Lara and Igor Krutoi actually went to the opening for the press in early April in both Moscow and Kiev, that were attended with much fanfare. It was covered by various news programs, which included interviews with Lara. The reviews given the movie were that it was quite violent, and that Lara was an exceptional actress. A ‘making of’ video was also made available. Tellingly, Lara’s official sites had no mention of the whole affair, and it did appear that Lara and Igor would have greatly preferred to have been anywhere else!
The film itself was made available to the public on the 12th. My review of it was that it was a beautifully produced, magical-looking production in which Alan Badoev has made Lara look more beautiful, and more haggard, than she ever has before. ‘Pitiblog’ review edit, saying “It is true that the images are beautiful and the rendering surprising. A work which will permit – and if she wishes - the singer to be approached by other projects in the cinema. Although dark, the project reveals a capacity to break the singer's image and embody different roles from those that one would have been ready to give her!”
The released version did not include all the videos that had been shot, presumably leaving out the ones to which she had most objected. In doing so, it also removed many of the obvious connecting links between videos, as well as the summary video that presumably tied them all together (some of these can actually be seen in ‘the making of’ video, so their exclusion was probably late in the game). Nevertheless, Badoev said that the release included the main points that he had wanted to get across, which was that life was harsh, and one has to learn from ‘life to life’ to overcome one’s mistakes, a process in which love plays a major role.
While its release in proximity to that of her new album had led interviewers in France, intrigued by the movie’s promo videos, to link the two projects, Lara rejected that concept, and basically refused to talk about it. She also rejected the idea of an actual DVD release. Nevertheless, she did recognize its value to her, if only belatedly. In an interview with ‘Charts in France’, who called it “an amazing project”, she said, “I hope this film will help people think about me for their projects, and those who put a damper because I'm a singer, to say that I am also an actress. I hope it will serve as a teaser, a presentation of what I can do”. However, after this month, Lara never mentioned it again; clearly she was not ready to ‘break the image’ the French public had of her in this way, as Pitiblog suggested. Regardless, many fans were quite happy to see Lara perform as a serious actress, in an expensive-looking production.
As the week of the French album release approached, Lara again took a side-step, this time for a concert in Ankara, Turkey (again the ‘Best’ show). It went well, and if nothing else, indicated that Lara was not afraid to appear in a Muslim country, after her problems last year in Lebanon. In June, in association with Igor Krutoi, Lara gave another ‘Best’ concert [again, not ‘Le Secret’] in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In July, Lara came back from vacation for an appearance at the Igor Krutoi’s New Wave Festival in Latvia, at which he indicated that a new album with Lara was finished. [We don’t know how literally he meant that, but at least it implied there was such an album in the offing, something Lara later confirmed.] As in the past, when she has used her appearances there to introduce new songs created with Krutoi, that continued this time, with two titles, “Yin and Yang” (in French) and “Angels Pass Away” (in English). The latter was music written by Krutoi with Lara providing the lyrics for the Korean singer Sumi Jo, who presented it at the 2011 Winter Asian Games. The new album therefore already looks as if it will once again by multi-lingual, and Lara further confirmed it later in the year when she said it would also have songs in Italian.
In August, she had a private concert in Russia, but the news from that country seemed to provide her with a quandary, as a law was passed making it illegal to “promote non-traditional sexual behavior” (which Lara clearly had been ‘guilty of’ doing in France). During the first week in November, when Lara was well enough to give her four concerts in Russia, (two in St. Petersburg, and two in Moscow), she nevertheless did sing ‘Deux ils, deux elles’, and ended it with a call for tolerance. Throughou her concert tour, fans had worked to provide ‘surprises’ for Lara at the various locales; here they used their phones to light up the sky when she came to sing ‘Je reve d’une etoile’. They also provided a floral display in the form of the cover of ‘Le Secret’. Producing surprises for Lara is a long-standing fan tradition…
There were other issues. Lara’s planned October concert in Uzbekistan exploded into the news when the Christian Association for the Abolition of Torture [l'Association chrétienne pour l'abolition de la torture (ACAT)] accused her of being ‘window dressing’ for a regime of torture, due to her scheduled concert there on the 27th. In response, Lara cancelled it, saying that all her life she had stood for human rights, and had not understood the government connection. She did, however, defend her right to perform for fans in such countries when there was no government connection, since their lives were difficult enough. The association tried to get Lara to cancel her concert in Minsk, Belarus, for the same reasons.
And at the very end of the month, given the required resting time, Lara completed her last three concerts in ‘the countries to the east’: in Kalininigrad, Russia; Riga, Latvia (where she commiserated with those affected by a supermarket collapse that had killed a number of people shortly before her arrival); and, yes, in Minsk, Belarus. The fans gave her highly emotional responses, making Lara’s choice to come despite restrictive governments seem more justified.
In summary, Lara was a continual presence in these countries, enough so that one has to consider it another ‘home base’ for her. It does, however, come with an inherent flaw – many of those countries have less than ideal support for human rights, rights that we know Lara feels are very important. She attempted in her statements and actions to differentiate between those appearances that are government controlled, and those that served the people suffering under those same governments. Lara has had problems with this in the past, and presumably will need to be more cautious, without ruling out appearing in these countries.
There is another benefit to this approach however, as illustrated in the next section.
Lara’s Career in North America
For many years, this ‘category’ has been pretty barren, and this year was not much different, except for one major exception, discussed below. Lara did release ‘Le Secret’ in Quebec in September, some six months after its European debut. Sales were not great in Canada - only 1550 copies were sold in the first 5 weeks. Presumably many who wanted it had already purchased it on the web, and there was little in the way of promotion. This coming January, Lara will be giving some concerts there, including her first ever in English-speaking Toronto, and that might renew interest a bit. There was one change: a ‘dance-version’ remix of ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ became available along with the Canadian release, made with the help of Misstress Barbara, a Canadian electro-artist who has worked with many other singers, including Bjork.
However, her last concert of the year was perhaps the most momentous. Lara said that ever since she was a child, she had dreamed of performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Apparently all it took, in addition to the nerve, was to have her people call and ask for an available date. That turned out to be December 27th. Lara seems to have spent Christmas in New York, so as not to arrive at the last moment. The concert was sold out, an amazing occurrence given how little Lara is known in the States – it was helped by a large contingent of Russian fans, again validating her ‘countries to the East’ approach. And this (to the best of my knowledge) first ever concert in an English speaking country was magnificent, with her voice in great shape, to many standing ovations from an uproarious crowd. After a year full of troubles and controversies, as well as new releases and approval, it was fitting that the year end on such a high note for her. Her problems have not ended – during the concert she often touched her left ear – but they have not derailed her. Hopefully that will remain the case.
Lara's Important TV Performances
Although the main thrust of her career was aimed at promoting the new album, for which there were many TV appearances too numerous to mention, Lara was also on various programs that were either centered on her independent of the album, or had some other focus. The list starts with New Year’s, when she was on Russian TV, on the show ‘Song of the Year’ performing ‘Je t’aime encore’. In February she was at Les Victoires 2013, singing ‘Vancouver’ as part of an homage to Veronique Sanson. In March she was on the program ‘Hier Encore’, an homage to Charles Aznevour, looking positively beautiful, and she participated in several numbers, singing ‘Gottingen’ as a solo, while joining with three others on ‘La Chanson de Prevert’. On ‘Simplement pour un soir’, she did an amazing virtual duet with Frank Sinatra of “New York, New York”, one of the real highlights of the year (set up by Gerard Pullicino). She was also on ‘Le Plus Grand Cabaret Du Monde’ humorously interacting with the ventriloquist Jeff Panaclock. In April there was the program Televie’, in which she sang “Le soleil de ma vie” in duet with Francois Pirette. She also performed a duet of ‘L’été indien’ with Laurent Boyer on a Sidaction charity show; and endured the usual dose of sharp-edged humor on ‘Bienvenue chez Cauet’. And there was a short duet with Josh Groban of ‘Broken Vow’ on ’Chabada’.
May featured several long classic Lara shows: She was on the (120 minute) program “69 minutes Sans chichis”. A very personable program, with old photos and videos of Lara (e.g., ‘Croire’ from Eurovision), an appearance by her friend Nathalie, and relaxed conversation, the type of thing Lara does best. She also participated (slightly) with a gospel group singing ‘Let It Shine’, and much more so on “Oh Happy Day”. Lara also appeared on the two hour show "La Parenthese inattendue" which will go down as one of the most memorable of her TV shows, featuring off-the-cuff wide-ranging discussions with a TV producer (Patrice Laffont) and an actor (Christian Vadim). Lara came across as who she really is, full of life, and in the (translated) words of Marie Simone on Lara’s FB site, “a woman with her strengths and weaknesses, which feed a very great heart and a delicate magnificent spirit”. The program follows the three of them as they spend 24 hours together, partly in a country residence and partly outside, discussing their likes, dislikes, and careers, cooking and eating, playing bocci, etc. She also appeared on the final segment of the French ‘The Voice’, and was chosen by Florent Pagny’s contestant Nuno Resende for a duet. They sang ‘Adagio’, and Lara, at least, got great reviews! And she did a beautiful duet with Roberto Alagna of ‘Avec le Temps’ on Chabada (a program in which Alagna got upset with something and stormed off, leaving the other participants to fill in the blanks). These shows generally had several million viewers, so Lara was not being overlooked, even if her album was not noticeably gaining from it.
At the end of May, Ptitblog.net arranged a series of five video interviews with Lara done by Julien Piraud, each concentrating on a different theme, under the title ‘Sans Secrets’ (appropriate for her new CD). They were Career (5-27), Love (5-28), Disaffection (5-29), Family (5-30) and Happiness (5-31). As she had on other shows, Lara unburdened herself about issues such as her relationship to her critics, her singing being ‘rescued’ by Igor Krutoi, her problems with the Mlle. Zhivago film, and with Rick Allison and the song ‘Parce que tu pars’ (where she said she was thinking of suicide). As Pitiblog said on their website, ““More than ever, Lara Fabian opens up on her career. You'll discover that besides being a perfectionist artist and perpetual renewer, the woman is as sincere as straightforward. She agreed to meet my questions without stonewalling and returns to the most painful moments of her career and her life as a woman.”
In June, she was on the Generation M6 Show dedicated to Jean-Jaques Goldman, with Lara performing his song, "Comme toi". Later in the month, she appeared on ‘Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde’, singing ‘Je t’aime’ alongside a Ukrainian acrobatic dance team named 'Flame'. Both performances were incredible, with Lara’s performance reminiscent of her original singing of that iconic song. She also had a humorous appearance on ‘Comment ca va bien’, where she got a chance to dance and flirt, and interact with fish and sheep!
In November, she appeared on “Les chansons d’abord”, presented by Natasha St. Pier and featuring young singers. Lara was involved in four songs. Most notice went to her duet with Olympe on “Requiem pour un fou”, probably Lara’s most impassioned version of it since the duet with Johnny Hallyday.
A ‘best moments’ video was put together by the ‘Lara Fabian Brazil’ site, and can be seen at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehtl7V42DI4
Lara’s Personal Life
The album ‘Le Secret’ forced Lara to face up to various problems, and one of them concerned her body image. She said she had always been ashamed of it, particularly her legs, probably stemming from remarks made to her by teachers in her early ballet school. So she set about addressing (or undressing) it. In March she was featured in a sexy picture, showing her legs, in ‘Le Journal du Dimanche’. But this was just a forerunner of what was to occur, the following month…when Lara appeared (nearly) nude in Gala magazine. Lara explained that in her new-found desire to confront problems, she was making a concerted effort to “accept herself as she is”. She also joked that 10 years before she wouldn’t (psychologically) have been able to do it, and 10 years later nobody would want her to do it!” Of course, another overwhelming factor was the desire for publicity that would help sell the album, and there is no doubt that Lara became a household name once again with this one act. Concerning the fans’ reactions, Lara did say that 80% of the responses she received were positive.
There was another event of a somewhat similar nature. In May, Lara, when on “69 minutes Sans chichis”, during a segment in which Lara was eating ‘Black Forest Cake’, she mimed committing fellatio, noting that she had a big mouth, which ‘helps her in certain circumstances’. Asked about it afterward, Lara made light of it; in any event, she has often said she’s a ‘sensualist’, and the public once again had a chance to view Lara as a real human being. It’s also another example of there never being a dull moment for Lara’s PR person when Lara's on the air live!
However, even these surprises could be topped: on June 28th, Lara announced that she had gotten married! To Gabriel di Giorgio, a Sicilian magician (eight years her junior), with whom Lara had reportedly been keeping company for a number of months. She later noted that it was so important to have by one’s side someone with the same roots (i.e., Sicilian). The wedding was a small affair, and she provided the only photo. However, even though it was a ‘secret’ wedding, Lara had dedicated ‘Le Secret’ to him, so it might have been foretold.
Lara's Charity Work
Throughout the year, Lara participated in many charity events, as is usual for her. These included, in April, the ‘Make a Wish Foundation (with her daughter Lou), and the ‘Global Gift Gala’ charity event hosted by Eva Longoria. In fact it was one of several interactions the two had; they also participated in a ‘fake kiss’ for the ‘imaginary couples’ campaign, as part of the ‘marriage for all’ referendum in France. This last project, associated with the photographer Olivier Ciappa, achieved a life of its own, with photos displayed for months afterward in Paris and elsewhere. Also this month, she participated on a telethon for battling AIDS (‘Sidaction’).
In August she returned for another of Eva Longoria’s ‘Global Gala Gift’ charity events, this one taking place in Mirabella, Italy. The stated goal is “to promote education among Hispanic women and entrepreneurship for a better future for the Latino community”. She sang ‘Je t’aime’ at the event, and also auctioned two tickets for the December Carnegie Hall concert, which went for 20,000 euros! It turns out that Lara is the “Global Ambassador of the Global Gift Foundation”.
In September, Lara continued her charity work as ‘Godmother’ in the fight against AIDS. This time she teamed up with her hairdresser David Luacis, as spokespersons for “Hairdressers against AIDS” at the World Day against AIDS. The awareness campaign is being pushed in over 5000 hair salons, with the idea that, as Lara said, “The hairdresser is not only a shaper of image but also a raiser of consciousness”. December 1 was actually World AIDS Day, and Lara leant her image to this campaign.
And in November there were several events. One was ‘The Little Dreams Foundation Gala Dinner’ in Brussels, for which items like Lara’s gold record for her new album, were made available, and many artists attended. It was created by Orianne and Phil Collins with a mission to “help young talents, disabled or not, fulfill their dreams in the artistic or sportive field”. Also at the end of the month Lara once again led the auction of dolls in support of children’s vaccinations in Darfur. As she said on her website, “I announce that for the second consecutive year, I have the honor to be the Godmother of the operation ‘Frimousses de créateurs’ [literally, creators of little faces] for UNICEF. This event brings together the Houses of Couture and contemporary art's most prestigious artists ... They combine to create each unique doll, symbol of generosity and heart… I'm really happy to be one of the "mothers" of UNICEF and lend my support to the cause of children.” In a follow-up article she noted that, “To become a mother was the most intense emotion for me…To understand that to be there for a child can change your life instantly modifying my vision of the world…Lara spent 1200 euros each on two ‘dolls’ for the sake of charity. In addition, she donated her clutch bag with lip gloss inside – it went for 1500 euros. Laughingly, Lara said that “next year it will be my shoes!”
The Year to Come
Hopefully, Lara will benefit from all the good karma these charity activities is accumulating
. It may be needed in 2014, for which our expectations have to be hedged to some extent, depending on her health. If all goes well, she will have many more concerts for the continuing ‘Le Secret’ tour, featuring an expanded geographic vision, including Finland, Bulgaria and Germany (so far!). There is also the possibility that the new album with Igor Krutoi will be released in the fall, preceding a Russian tour that is already being set up for 2015. As long as she can pursue her career, the future looks bright. David
