Post by davidhr on Jan 7, 2014 11:34:22 GMT -5
Welcome to 2014! On this first week of the New Year, for the first time in several years, Lara was not on TV in Russia. Instead, as we know, she has turned her attention westward, although it was an off week for her, prior to her Canadian concerts. They begin tomorrow in Quebec, continue the following day in Montreal, and then on to Toronto (for the first time ever) on the 13th. In between, on the 12th, she will be present at the 25th Gala anniversary of ‘Celebration’ to be broadcast on the TVA network from the Theatre du Casino du Lac-Leamy in Gatineau. Lara is one of the headliners, along with artists such as Ginette Reno. Ironically Lara is listed as ‘returning to Quebec for this occasion’, when actually she was really supposed to perform in this same theatre in a show that had to be cancelled because of her health problems (it violated the three concerts/8 days off rule). Rather awkward to be appearing there anyway, but obviously this is not a full concert.
A video announcing the ‘Celebration 2014’ event can be seen at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJRd1vl3X74&feature=youtu.be
and Lara sent a brief message from Belgium, visible at ~2:04. Each year the show ‘welcomes in the New Year’, and as an added bonus, it is associated with a Canadian lottery. This will be the fifth time that Ginette Reno has appeared.
Normally when Lara has concert appearances in Canada, fans are used to the ‘Lara blitz’ of all the media outlets in Montreal. Outside of her taped message for the specific program, there is no evidence that that has happened this time – a search of the entertainment news from Quebec and Canada does not indicate anything concerning Lara other than the listings of the upcoming concerts (if anybody is aware of something different, please let us know). There are several possible reasons, although the suggestion here is that there may be an underlying message. She could have gone back to Belgium after her New York concert; that would not have seemed the logical choice, given the additional long airplane flights it would entail to return home and then come back a week later. Nevertheless, had she done so she would obviously not have been available to the press in Canada, except by phone/skype. Or her health problems may have required her to find a silent place to recuperate, though it’s not obvious that press interviews would be that great a burden. Or she may just have gone to Canada, shown her family her old haunts, and decided not to push her availability to the media.
Regardless, the underlying message would seem to be that she has given up on the Canadian market. This would mark the first time since she left Canada more than a decade ago that she did not publicly push her concerts and ‘new’ record there when the opportunity arose. The dismal sales for ‘Le Secret’ may have convinced her that she has been gone too long from the country, and no amount of media blitz can resurrect her Canadian career. It will be interesting to see how well attended the concerts are; if they are filled with enthusiastic audiences, like the one in New York, maybe she’ll change her mind about her viability.
Lara actually has been very quiet of late on all accounts, really taking the time off, with nothing even on her Instagram site she has used in the past when on ‘vacation’. (Her official Twitter site hasn’t been used since November). She did leave a brief message on her FB site today saying “See you tomorrow at the Theatre Capitole of Quebec”.
With current news scarce, Lara’s fan sites have been turning to the past. Some more work has been done here on the audio files from last week’s New York concert, again starting with the wonderful complete concert of Neil Bullock, and also using the audio from some of the videos, especially those of Mercia Silva. For those who are interested, it is available for download through January 14th at:
www.hightail.com/download/elNMRFFTVnNOMUJFQmNUQw
but again can be extended if requested.
And speaking of past English-language shows, the ‘larafabian News’ Channel youtube site (from larafabiannewsbr) has posted a video of rare images from Lara’s 1999/2000 tour for her first English album. It can be found at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd3ZqsFWxHc&list=UU94EW8AVYas0oZFO5J-GKXw
(Thanks to ‘Lara Fabian is Here’ for the information). Note that this was not a tour of the United States; Lara actually toured with the album in Europe, especially France (another irony – touring then for the English album in France, while now presenting the new French album in New York). Their youtube site has a number of videos from that promotion as well as other gems (e.g., Lara and her family appearing on the French Canadian edition of ‘Family Feud, at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xisL3iiH9s8&feature=c4-overview&list=UU94EW8AVYas0oZFO5J-GKXw ). A full listing can be found at: www.youtube.com/user/larafabiannewsbr/videos
And speaking of rare videos, the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ FB site has posted one of Lara singing in Corsica promoting TLFM in June of 2009 (where they listed her as ‘Laura’).
The MZ site noted that Lara appeared in the magazine ‘tribumove’ last August with a four page interview. It can be viewed on-line, at www.tribumove.com (look for the August edition, and then click the ‘play’ arrow to advance). In it Lara acknowledged that she had written most of the lyrics for ‘Le Secret’ on an eight hour flight from Brussels to Montreal, and so even though it is perhaps the most ambitious album of her career, it was one of the easiest to make. [What she doesn’t mention is that she also did not have to deal with a record company looking over her shoulder]. Lara repeats her view that we are the creators of our own unhappiness, and we have to use our interior source of happiness to overcome our problems.
The LaraFabianweb FB site noted that the French music streaming service, qobuz, has released their list of the best French music of 2013 (http://www.qobuz.com/recherche?q=meilleurs-albums-2013-chanson-francaise&i=boutique&s&page=2). Lara’s ‘Le Secret’ is listed in 30th place. The album has inched back up, to #197 in France after 32 weeks on the chart, while dropping a little to #62 in Belgium. While Lara would not make a list of the best selling artists in Canada for the last 10 years, she is not in the top 20 in France either, according to ‘Charts in France’:
www.chartsinfrance.net/actualite/news-89297.html#utm_source=viewer&utm_medium=viewer&utm_campaign=SURPRISE
or, in a related list, the top 20 in radio play: www.chartsinfrance.net/actualite/news-89296.html
One oddity- while ‘Les Enfoires’ and Johnny Hallyday are far in front in terms of record sales, they don’t appear in the top 20 in radio play. A number of other performers are only one on of the lists (e.g., Celine Dion in sales). One wonders whether broadcasters in France are unintentionally aiming their rotations at an audience other than the record buying public.
By next week Lara will have completed her ‘Canadian’ adventure (health issues not withstanding). She probably won’t stay around, as she has concerts in France the week after. We’ll see if she has any other Canadian media appearances, and whether any videos are available from these shows, and eventually whether Evergig really does put together ones of the Toronto performance (again, vimeo.com/76638453). Those of you who do attend, please let us know your opinions of the shows and the audience – you can use this link, or the one for next week’s Update.
David
A video announcing the ‘Celebration 2014’ event can be seen at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJRd1vl3X74&feature=youtu.be
and Lara sent a brief message from Belgium, visible at ~2:04. Each year the show ‘welcomes in the New Year’, and as an added bonus, it is associated with a Canadian lottery. This will be the fifth time that Ginette Reno has appeared.
Normally when Lara has concert appearances in Canada, fans are used to the ‘Lara blitz’ of all the media outlets in Montreal. Outside of her taped message for the specific program, there is no evidence that that has happened this time – a search of the entertainment news from Quebec and Canada does not indicate anything concerning Lara other than the listings of the upcoming concerts (if anybody is aware of something different, please let us know). There are several possible reasons, although the suggestion here is that there may be an underlying message. She could have gone back to Belgium after her New York concert; that would not have seemed the logical choice, given the additional long airplane flights it would entail to return home and then come back a week later. Nevertheless, had she done so she would obviously not have been available to the press in Canada, except by phone/skype. Or her health problems may have required her to find a silent place to recuperate, though it’s not obvious that press interviews would be that great a burden. Or she may just have gone to Canada, shown her family her old haunts, and decided not to push her availability to the media.
Regardless, the underlying message would seem to be that she has given up on the Canadian market. This would mark the first time since she left Canada more than a decade ago that she did not publicly push her concerts and ‘new’ record there when the opportunity arose. The dismal sales for ‘Le Secret’ may have convinced her that she has been gone too long from the country, and no amount of media blitz can resurrect her Canadian career. It will be interesting to see how well attended the concerts are; if they are filled with enthusiastic audiences, like the one in New York, maybe she’ll change her mind about her viability.
Lara actually has been very quiet of late on all accounts, really taking the time off, with nothing even on her Instagram site she has used in the past when on ‘vacation’. (Her official Twitter site hasn’t been used since November). She did leave a brief message on her FB site today saying “See you tomorrow at the Theatre Capitole of Quebec”.
With current news scarce, Lara’s fan sites have been turning to the past. Some more work has been done here on the audio files from last week’s New York concert, again starting with the wonderful complete concert of Neil Bullock, and also using the audio from some of the videos, especially those of Mercia Silva. For those who are interested, it is available for download through January 14th at:
www.hightail.com/download/elNMRFFTVnNOMUJFQmNUQw
but again can be extended if requested.
And speaking of past English-language shows, the ‘larafabian News’ Channel youtube site (from larafabiannewsbr) has posted a video of rare images from Lara’s 1999/2000 tour for her first English album. It can be found at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd3ZqsFWxHc&list=UU94EW8AVYas0oZFO5J-GKXw
(Thanks to ‘Lara Fabian is Here’ for the information). Note that this was not a tour of the United States; Lara actually toured with the album in Europe, especially France (another irony – touring then for the English album in France, while now presenting the new French album in New York). Their youtube site has a number of videos from that promotion as well as other gems (e.g., Lara and her family appearing on the French Canadian edition of ‘Family Feud, at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xisL3iiH9s8&feature=c4-overview&list=UU94EW8AVYas0oZFO5J-GKXw ). A full listing can be found at: www.youtube.com/user/larafabiannewsbr/videos
And speaking of rare videos, the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ FB site has posted one of Lara singing in Corsica promoting TLFM in June of 2009 (where they listed her as ‘Laura’).
The MZ site noted that Lara appeared in the magazine ‘tribumove’ last August with a four page interview. It can be viewed on-line, at www.tribumove.com (look for the August edition, and then click the ‘play’ arrow to advance). In it Lara acknowledged that she had written most of the lyrics for ‘Le Secret’ on an eight hour flight from Brussels to Montreal, and so even though it is perhaps the most ambitious album of her career, it was one of the easiest to make. [What she doesn’t mention is that she also did not have to deal with a record company looking over her shoulder]. Lara repeats her view that we are the creators of our own unhappiness, and we have to use our interior source of happiness to overcome our problems.
The LaraFabianweb FB site noted that the French music streaming service, qobuz, has released their list of the best French music of 2013 (http://www.qobuz.com/recherche?q=meilleurs-albums-2013-chanson-francaise&i=boutique&s&page=2). Lara’s ‘Le Secret’ is listed in 30th place. The album has inched back up, to #197 in France after 32 weeks on the chart, while dropping a little to #62 in Belgium. While Lara would not make a list of the best selling artists in Canada for the last 10 years, she is not in the top 20 in France either, according to ‘Charts in France’:
www.chartsinfrance.net/actualite/news-89297.html#utm_source=viewer&utm_medium=viewer&utm_campaign=SURPRISE
or, in a related list, the top 20 in radio play: www.chartsinfrance.net/actualite/news-89296.html
One oddity- while ‘Les Enfoires’ and Johnny Hallyday are far in front in terms of record sales, they don’t appear in the top 20 in radio play. A number of other performers are only one on of the lists (e.g., Celine Dion in sales). One wonders whether broadcasters in France are unintentionally aiming their rotations at an audience other than the record buying public.
By next week Lara will have completed her ‘Canadian’ adventure (health issues not withstanding). She probably won’t stay around, as she has concerts in France the week after. We’ll see if she has any other Canadian media appearances, and whether any videos are available from these shows, and eventually whether Evergig really does put together ones of the Toronto performance (again, vimeo.com/76638453). Those of you who do attend, please let us know your opinions of the shows and the audience – you can use this link, or the one for next week’s Update.
David
