Post by davidhr on Feb 11, 2014 9:42:40 GMT -5
There were several sightings of Lara this past week, both inadvertent and not indicative of any broader public engagement. According to a photo provided on the MZ FB site, Lara was out shopping in Belgium a few days ago, at a boutique in Durby.
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202421656854167&set=gm.721501461227302&type=1&theater
In addition, ‘Isabelle’ writing on Lara’s FB site mentioned she had seen Lara and her husband at a small hotel, in a ‘very small city’, taking a vacation, as she was apparently given a few days off from her treatment.
Outside of that, the only glimpse of Lara came in the publication ‘Teleloisirs’ for this week, where her plight was dramatized in the most ‘sensational’ way, visible at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=788679061147729&set=a.480404161975222.129207.126677284014580&type=1&theater
and
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=800672946614909&set=a.247913198557556.83420.246805652001644&type=1&theater
The cover questions whether she is ever going to be able to sing again… As we know, singing isn’t the problem, performing is.
With respect to performances, while Lara has removed reference to all future concerts on her websites, it has been noted on several fan sites that she has not yet cancelled the concerts scheduled for October or later at the tour venues themselves (including the ones in Germany in November). This is in line with her expressed hope that she would be able to resume performing after the summer. For those interested in going to such locales, refundable airplane tickets would seem to be ‘de rigueur’!
As others have pointed out, there are many high quality pictures of Lara from her concert in Toronto, at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=664716896926603&set=a.664710160260610.1073741825.134908169907481&type=1&theater
(the relevant pictures of Lara start at #33)
or equivalently,
www.facebook.com/pages/Show-One-Productions-Presents/134908169907481?id=134908169907481&sk=photos_stream
An accompanying video is at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=407849062695106&set=vb.353946178085395&type=2&theater
And some updated, wonderful pictures from her concert in Marseilles:
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.642446185815500.1073741848.501577866569000&type=1
The only communication from ‘Lara’s people’ this past week was to inform fans that the single of ‘La vie est la’ is available on ‘Deezer’ (Deezer, however, is not available in a number of countries). There is no evidence that it is being played on the radio in France or elsewhere, while some fans have heard other songs from the album being played occasionally. But in general, not even that.
And so it is not surprising that Nicolas Boucauld on the MZ site noted that ‘Le Secret’ was just the 92nd best selling album in France in 2013 (http://www.actu.snepmusique.com/snep/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Dossier-presse-MIDEM-20141.pdf). It has sold ~60,00 copies in that country. Whether one thinks, “it could have been worse”, or not, IMO it doesn’t do justice to the wonderfully complete experience the album provides, with high quality music, singing and lyrics. But it is an album for a mature (read that ‘thoughtful’ rather than ‘old’) audience, without many pure singles; buying Lara’s records was no longer an automatic habit for much of the French public; she didn’t push it hard during her many public appearances; and her promotional tour was ultimately cut short. Perhaps it will be better appreciated in retrospect…
As for current positioning, ‘Le Secret’ is still hanging around on the charts in Belgium, up 17 places to #85 this past week, its 42nd. Even in that country, ‘La vie est la’ is not in the top 50 singles.
It was suggested that I make more prominent/available again the translated lyrics to ‘Le Secret’. In doing so, I’ve also taken the opportunity to improve them a bit, with some tweaks here and there. I’ve put the complete file on ‘Box’, available at:
app.box.com/s/73t74avvdmw9ayflquel
Note that it is in ‘Microsoft Word’ format, two columns to a page, the French lyrics on the left and English on the right. As usual, any corrections would be appreciated.
In topical news, the winner of the gold medal in figure skating at the Winter Olympics is the 15-years-old Russian skater Julia Lipnitskaya. As the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ FB site pointed out, a few years ago, when she was only 13, she did a beautiful skating exhibition to Lara's song "Je t'aime". It is visible at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8tEnrlxhpM
Some people have suggested that given Lara’s affinity for and popularity in Russia, she might have been at the Olympics if not for her injury. However, she would have been right in the middle of her French tour, so that’s not likely. One wonders if when planning her concerts she even considered the possibility…
Now for the next three ‘best’ videos.
Amoureuse: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCPEqF_Lyu4
Amourexique: app.box.com/s/8ohar4npi2xfl44hfuin
Angel: app.box.com/s/siqxm0q7ilnwbht8724q
With ‘Amoureuse’, it is hard to beat those holograms
from Lara’s official tour DVD. She also did have a very nice performance of it (without them) on the TV show ‘Chansons d’amour pour la vie’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeoGnekHwaY).
For ‘Amourexique’, as well as all the other ‘Le Secret’ songs, it may seem foolish to choose a ‘best’ version when Lara is in the process of sifting through all the videos to produce just that, and will undoubtedly give us a stellar edition. However, we go with what is available at the moment and this one is extremely well done. It comes from the wonderful full-length Brussels concert at www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVpNZvfykfo. I’ve extracted it here, available at the ‘Box’ link. Of special note also is the version from the Paris (11-16) performance, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzJu4Xd4Xrk
For ‘Angel’, this was given at a free concert on the beach in Valras, with more than 40,000 people attending. IMHO it is an exceptional version, extremely atmospheric as the wind was blowing, mist drifting by…and a wonderful performance. The problem with this video as found on youtube is that after the first stanza it is noisy. I’ve removed most of the noise and that is the version available on the ‘Box’ link. There are a number of other good videos, including a TV performance on ‘Concert Pop’, at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk-RMfJM_tQ
In the coming week, we’ll see whether two weeks ago was the anomaly, or this past week was, in terms of Lara’s public interactions. My suspicion is that what we’ve seen this past week is more like what we’re going to see from now on until Lara is better (a major exception being the release of her ‘fan-composed’ Le Secret tour video). If so, her likely concern (secondary to her health, of course) is, how many active fans will be left when she returns? One can already see a drop off of fan participation on their websites, though there have still been visitors to her FB site. How many will there be in 6 months…9 months…one year if it takes that long? Even angels can fly away…
David
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202421656854167&set=gm.721501461227302&type=1&theater
In addition, ‘Isabelle’ writing on Lara’s FB site mentioned she had seen Lara and her husband at a small hotel, in a ‘very small city’, taking a vacation, as she was apparently given a few days off from her treatment.
Outside of that, the only glimpse of Lara came in the publication ‘Teleloisirs’ for this week, where her plight was dramatized in the most ‘sensational’ way, visible at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=788679061147729&set=a.480404161975222.129207.126677284014580&type=1&theater
and
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=800672946614909&set=a.247913198557556.83420.246805652001644&type=1&theater
The cover questions whether she is ever going to be able to sing again… As we know, singing isn’t the problem, performing is.
With respect to performances, while Lara has removed reference to all future concerts on her websites, it has been noted on several fan sites that she has not yet cancelled the concerts scheduled for October or later at the tour venues themselves (including the ones in Germany in November). This is in line with her expressed hope that she would be able to resume performing after the summer. For those interested in going to such locales, refundable airplane tickets would seem to be ‘de rigueur’!
As others have pointed out, there are many high quality pictures of Lara from her concert in Toronto, at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=664716896926603&set=a.664710160260610.1073741825.134908169907481&type=1&theater
(the relevant pictures of Lara start at #33)
or equivalently,
www.facebook.com/pages/Show-One-Productions-Presents/134908169907481?id=134908169907481&sk=photos_stream
An accompanying video is at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=407849062695106&set=vb.353946178085395&type=2&theater
And some updated, wonderful pictures from her concert in Marseilles:
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.642446185815500.1073741848.501577866569000&type=1
The only communication from ‘Lara’s people’ this past week was to inform fans that the single of ‘La vie est la’ is available on ‘Deezer’ (Deezer, however, is not available in a number of countries). There is no evidence that it is being played on the radio in France or elsewhere, while some fans have heard other songs from the album being played occasionally. But in general, not even that.
And so it is not surprising that Nicolas Boucauld on the MZ site noted that ‘Le Secret’ was just the 92nd best selling album in France in 2013 (http://www.actu.snepmusique.com/snep/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Dossier-presse-MIDEM-20141.pdf). It has sold ~60,00 copies in that country. Whether one thinks, “it could have been worse”, or not, IMO it doesn’t do justice to the wonderfully complete experience the album provides, with high quality music, singing and lyrics. But it is an album for a mature (read that ‘thoughtful’ rather than ‘old’) audience, without many pure singles; buying Lara’s records was no longer an automatic habit for much of the French public; she didn’t push it hard during her many public appearances; and her promotional tour was ultimately cut short. Perhaps it will be better appreciated in retrospect…
As for current positioning, ‘Le Secret’ is still hanging around on the charts in Belgium, up 17 places to #85 this past week, its 42nd. Even in that country, ‘La vie est la’ is not in the top 50 singles.
It was suggested that I make more prominent/available again the translated lyrics to ‘Le Secret’. In doing so, I’ve also taken the opportunity to improve them a bit, with some tweaks here and there. I’ve put the complete file on ‘Box’, available at:
app.box.com/s/73t74avvdmw9ayflquel
Note that it is in ‘Microsoft Word’ format, two columns to a page, the French lyrics on the left and English on the right. As usual, any corrections would be appreciated.
In topical news, the winner of the gold medal in figure skating at the Winter Olympics is the 15-years-old Russian skater Julia Lipnitskaya. As the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ FB site pointed out, a few years ago, when she was only 13, she did a beautiful skating exhibition to Lara's song "Je t'aime". It is visible at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8tEnrlxhpM
Some people have suggested that given Lara’s affinity for and popularity in Russia, she might have been at the Olympics if not for her injury. However, she would have been right in the middle of her French tour, so that’s not likely. One wonders if when planning her concerts she even considered the possibility…
Now for the next three ‘best’ videos.
Amoureuse: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCPEqF_Lyu4
Amourexique: app.box.com/s/8ohar4npi2xfl44hfuin
Angel: app.box.com/s/siqxm0q7ilnwbht8724q
With ‘Amoureuse’, it is hard to beat those holograms
from Lara’s official tour DVD. She also did have a very nice performance of it (without them) on the TV show ‘Chansons d’amour pour la vie’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeoGnekHwaY).For ‘Amourexique’, as well as all the other ‘Le Secret’ songs, it may seem foolish to choose a ‘best’ version when Lara is in the process of sifting through all the videos to produce just that, and will undoubtedly give us a stellar edition. However, we go with what is available at the moment and this one is extremely well done. It comes from the wonderful full-length Brussels concert at www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVpNZvfykfo. I’ve extracted it here, available at the ‘Box’ link. Of special note also is the version from the Paris (11-16) performance, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzJu4Xd4Xrk
For ‘Angel’, this was given at a free concert on the beach in Valras, with more than 40,000 people attending. IMHO it is an exceptional version, extremely atmospheric as the wind was blowing, mist drifting by…and a wonderful performance. The problem with this video as found on youtube is that after the first stanza it is noisy. I’ve removed most of the noise and that is the version available on the ‘Box’ link. There are a number of other good videos, including a TV performance on ‘Concert Pop’, at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk-RMfJM_tQ
In the coming week, we’ll see whether two weeks ago was the anomaly, or this past week was, in terms of Lara’s public interactions. My suspicion is that what we’ve seen this past week is more like what we’re going to see from now on until Lara is better (a major exception being the release of her ‘fan-composed’ Le Secret tour video). If so, her likely concern (secondary to her health, of course) is, how many active fans will be left when she returns? One can already see a drop off of fan participation on their websites, though there have still been visitors to her FB site. How many will there be in 6 months…9 months…one year if it takes that long? Even angels can fly away…
David
