Post by davidhr on May 27, 2014 8:59:23 GMT -5
Despite what has appeared to be an attempt to underplay it on her part, Lara’s scheduled October return to the concert stage in other European countries came to the attention of the French music world this past week. They also noticed that neither France nor Belgium was on the agenda, and they weren’t happy about it. Two articles of note appeared, translated below.
First from ‘Charts in France’ (http://www.chartsinfrance.net/Lara-Fabian/news-92097.html):
--------------------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian reveals dates for a European tour in October 2014.
Again ready to go on stage, Lara Fabian reveals the dates of a European tour which will pass through several major cities in October. No concerts scheduled in France, but a duo with Michel Jonasz for the album ‘Kiss and Love’, to benefit Sidaction [the fight against AIDS].
Lara Fabian seems to go much better. The singer, who was the victim last year of an auditory shock that forced her to cancel most of the dates of her French tour, announces again concerts. The singer of “Humana” will get back up on stage in the month of October and will produce again in the four corners of Europe. Starting next October 5th, she will sing in Munich, Berlin, Hanover, Prague, the 16th of October, Bucharest the 20th, Sofia the 22 and 23, and Helsinki the 26th. Further performances in North America could soon be announced. However, no date in France is planned for the moment. And, according to our information, Lara Fabian does not intend to add anything here in the month of October despite numerous concerts initially planned here for us between 2013 and 2014.
Bad news therefore for the fans of Lara Fabian, who must be content with a new edition of her last disc. Released in February 2013, the double album ‘Le Secret’ made a remarkable entry into the first position of the French charts, aided by the single “Deux ils, deux elles” rooted in the debate about the law concerning marriage for all. Largely written with Janey Clewer, ‘Le Secret’ was also promoted by the singles ‘Danse’ and ‘La vie est la”, and also benefited from the exposure of the singer on TF1, alternately, in turn on the talent show “The Voice” and the broadcast “The Best”. But the reception wasn’t as good as hoped since only 60,000 copies have found buyers.
A partial success does not prevent Lara Fabian from working on other projects for the French. The artist has just revealed on her Facebook page followed by nearly 570,000 Internet surfers that she had recorded a duo with Michel Jonasz for the album “Kiss and Love”, produced under the direction of Pablo Obispo for the Sidaction [battle against AIDS]. Appointment this fall to discover it.
Jonathan HAMARD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And then from pitiblog (http://www.ptitblog.net/Lara-Fabian/lara-fabian-remonte-sur-scene-seulement-en-europe_art11102.html):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian Gets Back on Stage…only in Europe!
Things seem to go better for the singer Lara Fabian , who had been forced to cancel all her French tour due to health concerns following an accident on a television stage. Since then, the Belgian singer rests and takes the time to prepare for her return on stage. Unfortunately for the French fans, no new concert dates are scheduled for the moment, it will be necessary to go across Europe to appreciate the singer, already in great demand in the world for her vocal power.
After a lackluster performance at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the singer had found the road to continue her tour "Le Secret" , defending the album of the same name live. Only the problems incurred by the latter in her ear had forced her to renounce continuing the adventure on the road. Lara Fabian appeared very sad on the set of Cyril Hanouna "Touche pas à mon poste". One could then only respect the will of the artist to prioritize her health and putting between parentheses her career as a singer. Nevertheless, the French fans were very disappointed at the unclear rearrangements of the tour before its complete cancellation. They risk being still more at the announcement of new concert dates in October ... only for Europe! Not a single date planned in France or Belgium or even an official announcement of the singer to justify this choice. Before the forty concerts cancelled, it would have been welcome to schedule at least one concert for the French public, which will certainly have to wait patiently until the next album to find the singer on tour.
For some years the French career of the singer appears in decline. From albums with little commercial success to some incomprehensible choices, one can only regret that such talent is marred by some little random decisions. Yet the singer has an already impressive career behind her: international breakthrough in 1999 and 2004 with the albums ‘Eponyme’ and ‘A Wonderful Life’, pierced the Italian market in 2006 with the duet "A Cuore Malato" with local singer Gigi d 'Alessio, breakthrough on the Russian market in 2012 with the sublime epic album Mademoiselle Zhivago, etc. Her last albums ‘Tout les femmes en moi” and ‘Le Secret” were moderate successes compared to her previous albums selling thousand of copies.
The singer had agreed a year ago to deliver "Sans Secrets" facing our camera, the opportunity to return to her 25-year career, her media hype, her separation from her ‘Pygmalion’ of the time Rick Allison, her family, her friends, her fans. A sincere interview in which Lara Fabian confesses like rarely [happens] almost forgetting the camera : (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10io03_saga-integrale-lara-fabian-sans-secrets_music?start=1).
Nevertheless, the singer can count on the continued support of her fans, always there to support the singer in the test or show her their attachment. It is this strong bond that allows the singer to traverse the inevitable trials that follow from a career as important as hers. Hopefully the public will understand the choice of the artist to focus on the international even though her local tour was cut short some months months earlier and not postponed.
Finally, January 31, 2015, this is another event that awaits Lara Fabian. The Russian composer Igor Krutoy, with whom she has delivered the album Mademoiselle Zhivago in 2012 for the countries of the East, will perform at Grand Barclays Center in Brooklyn (New York ) in the United States. For the occasion he invited the singer to come and defend some of their songs live. An appointment not to be missed if you are on the U.S. East Coast at this time. Julien PIRAUD
----------------------------------------------------
As usual, ‘Charts in France’ is kinder than Julien Piraud in pitiblog, but both raise the issue of why Lara is not getting back on stage in France or Belgium after having ‘postponed’ all those shows. And it must be said, Lara has done a terrible job of getting out in front of this issue, which she has had a month to do, since the tour became known. We can argue:
(1) That it is not the ‘Le Secret’ tour, but a ‘Best of’ acoustic tour, something Lara had never planned for France/Belgium, and which one imagines she thinks would not go over well in those countries;
(2) That ‘unplugged’ concerts were arranged so as to give herself a chance to test her hearing under less demanding circumstances (although why so many in such a short period of time?);
(3) That the concert tour in these countries had already been planned – it was expected to follow her French tour.
However Lara should have been the one saying this, or at least saying something, rather than letting the press find out about it and basically question her loyalty to her French fans – the same fans who went overboard trying to provide support when she got ill. If one reads all the comments following even the more favorable ‘Charts in France’ article – there are 144 of them – more than 90% of them are very harsh towards Lara, whereas in the wake of her illness, she had garnered a lot of sympathy. All of this could have been avoided, as usual, with a little thoughtful PR…and perhaps a free ‘comeback’ concert in France/Belgium. There is still time for that, although ‘Charts in France’ said that it’s currently not in the cards.
Two other interesting points were mentioned: a new edition of 'Le Secret', and soon-to-be-announced North American dates. We'll have to see if they really come to pass.
Lara finally did say something this week on her FB page – she opened her message with the phrase: ”some news…” and then, as noted in the ‘Charts in France’ article, she mentioned the duo with Michel Jonasz for the album ‘Kiss and Love’, in support of the fight against AIDS. Elisa Vidal on several fan sites pointed out that the two have already sung together for this cause, in 2006; the song was, "Je t'aimais tellement fort que je t'aime encore", available at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcHds19I2Ac.
Lara also put on her FB site pictures of herself with Pascal Obispo and Michel Jonasz, at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=713016988739801&set=pcb.713017055406461&type=1&theater
You may remember that Pascal Obispo had put together an ensemble song called ‘Sa raison d’être’ in which Lara had participated. The video is available on youtube, at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=imdiBfpI4nU
Lara was also briefly in a ‘making of’ video for it, her contribution shown at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_nY__QX8NQ
[Obispo was also responsible for another ensemble production with Lara participating, ‘Noel ensemble’, available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgnI_mQ7RwI].
The FB site larafabianweb.com, following reporting on TF1, notes that since 1998, Obispo had collected 14 million euros for the fight against AIDS. The album is expected out November 3, 2014, on Warner Music in France.
Still in the ‘charity’ mode, Lara also added some pictures of herself carrying a handbag (made by Versa Versa, www.facebook.com/VersaVersa), equivalent to the one that she had auctioned for UNICEF:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=713012555406911&set=pcb.713013262073507&type=1&theater
While her charity work is certainly praiseworthy and should not be undervalued, since Lara said she was providing 'some news', it is too bad and rather inexplicable that she didn’t consider the fall concert tour, her ‘big return’, as ‘news’ – it is still not listed on her FB site. This falls under the categories ‘incomprehensible choices’ and ‘little random decisions’ mentioned in the pitiblog article…
Other ‘news’ (not listed on her official site) that surfaced this past week (thanks to Charles-James McCearney for pointing it out) is that Lara has scheduled an appearance at the ‘New Wave’ Festival July 26th in Jurmala, Latvia :
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=597465673693744&set=a.200734066700242.44466.183951155045200&type=1&theater
This will give her an earlier chance to test her ears, though not her singing, since we know she lip-syncs at this Igor Krutoi-run event. Another lure is that she often introduces new material here, and if her next album with Krutoi is far along, we may get to hear some actual cuts from the album. She also wears beautiful outfits there.
Now for our next three ‘best of’ videos:
Le Secret: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RbWaZDYJi0
app.box.com/s/109ues8t4ueruwlolpwq
Le tour du monde: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IaYWn8Q7Cw
Leila: app.box.com/s/sr385y2nm4ff4fpqffuv
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKLcY2T-UW4
The two videos for “Le Secret’ follow our standard pattern for songs from the new album: one song illustrating how it was performed on tour, this time from Paris on 11-16; the second from the ‘Showcase’ in Paris the previous April, with its multi-angles. The Paris show was chosen partly because it provides a wonderful view of the ‘jacket’ that Lara wears to begin the show… . Also don’t miss the initial presentation of this song in Prague, where she discusses how Giora Linenberg presented the music to her, at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U_PQi7S1Z8.
‘Le tour du monde’ was originally conceived as a song with Jean-Felix Lalanne; by the time Lara got around to recording the DVD, they were no longer a couple, but the video from ‘Un Regard Neuf’ is still the best quality available. As part of their 'comedy' routine, Lara had always included on the song the idea of companionship not being just ‘two’, but three, maybe even four, playing around with the idea of having children (this was before Lou). One can see her trying to get actual children involved in it at her concert in Montreal (https://app.box.com/s/kcoyy0cpyjimhqva1zl9). And there is also the nice duet from her ‘Chante avec Lara’ DVD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Ad0lzeXkw).
‘Leila’, one of Lara’s great early songs, always brought out the best of her. The second choice above is from the “Pure” Molson Centre show, and it certainly got it off to a good start. As a contrast to this full backing, listed first is the version of Lara just singing to the background music – but it has the special aspect of Rick Allison coming up on stage. Very heartwarming… .
Often, articles in the French press draw some sort of a reaction from Lara; we’ll see if that’s the case in this instance. Lost in the press reports is the assumption that Lara has healed sufficiently to give the proposed concerts. We’ve had no direct word of that; it would be nice if Lara was able to give a direct ‘thumbs up’ to her fans in that regard, as well.
David
First from ‘Charts in France’ (http://www.chartsinfrance.net/Lara-Fabian/news-92097.html):
--------------------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian reveals dates for a European tour in October 2014.
Again ready to go on stage, Lara Fabian reveals the dates of a European tour which will pass through several major cities in October. No concerts scheduled in France, but a duo with Michel Jonasz for the album ‘Kiss and Love’, to benefit Sidaction [the fight against AIDS].
Lara Fabian seems to go much better. The singer, who was the victim last year of an auditory shock that forced her to cancel most of the dates of her French tour, announces again concerts. The singer of “Humana” will get back up on stage in the month of October and will produce again in the four corners of Europe. Starting next October 5th, she will sing in Munich, Berlin, Hanover, Prague, the 16th of October, Bucharest the 20th, Sofia the 22 and 23, and Helsinki the 26th. Further performances in North America could soon be announced. However, no date in France is planned for the moment. And, according to our information, Lara Fabian does not intend to add anything here in the month of October despite numerous concerts initially planned here for us between 2013 and 2014.
Bad news therefore for the fans of Lara Fabian, who must be content with a new edition of her last disc. Released in February 2013, the double album ‘Le Secret’ made a remarkable entry into the first position of the French charts, aided by the single “Deux ils, deux elles” rooted in the debate about the law concerning marriage for all. Largely written with Janey Clewer, ‘Le Secret’ was also promoted by the singles ‘Danse’ and ‘La vie est la”, and also benefited from the exposure of the singer on TF1, alternately, in turn on the talent show “The Voice” and the broadcast “The Best”. But the reception wasn’t as good as hoped since only 60,000 copies have found buyers.
A partial success does not prevent Lara Fabian from working on other projects for the French. The artist has just revealed on her Facebook page followed by nearly 570,000 Internet surfers that she had recorded a duo with Michel Jonasz for the album “Kiss and Love”, produced under the direction of Pablo Obispo for the Sidaction [battle against AIDS]. Appointment this fall to discover it.
Jonathan HAMARD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And then from pitiblog (http://www.ptitblog.net/Lara-Fabian/lara-fabian-remonte-sur-scene-seulement-en-europe_art11102.html):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian Gets Back on Stage…only in Europe!
Things seem to go better for the singer Lara Fabian , who had been forced to cancel all her French tour due to health concerns following an accident on a television stage. Since then, the Belgian singer rests and takes the time to prepare for her return on stage. Unfortunately for the French fans, no new concert dates are scheduled for the moment, it will be necessary to go across Europe to appreciate the singer, already in great demand in the world for her vocal power.
After a lackluster performance at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the singer had found the road to continue her tour "Le Secret" , defending the album of the same name live. Only the problems incurred by the latter in her ear had forced her to renounce continuing the adventure on the road. Lara Fabian appeared very sad on the set of Cyril Hanouna "Touche pas à mon poste". One could then only respect the will of the artist to prioritize her health and putting between parentheses her career as a singer. Nevertheless, the French fans were very disappointed at the unclear rearrangements of the tour before its complete cancellation. They risk being still more at the announcement of new concert dates in October ... only for Europe! Not a single date planned in France or Belgium or even an official announcement of the singer to justify this choice. Before the forty concerts cancelled, it would have been welcome to schedule at least one concert for the French public, which will certainly have to wait patiently until the next album to find the singer on tour.
For some years the French career of the singer appears in decline. From albums with little commercial success to some incomprehensible choices, one can only regret that such talent is marred by some little random decisions. Yet the singer has an already impressive career behind her: international breakthrough in 1999 and 2004 with the albums ‘Eponyme’ and ‘A Wonderful Life’, pierced the Italian market in 2006 with the duet "A Cuore Malato" with local singer Gigi d 'Alessio, breakthrough on the Russian market in 2012 with the sublime epic album Mademoiselle Zhivago, etc. Her last albums ‘Tout les femmes en moi” and ‘Le Secret” were moderate successes compared to her previous albums selling thousand of copies.
The singer had agreed a year ago to deliver "Sans Secrets" facing our camera, the opportunity to return to her 25-year career, her media hype, her separation from her ‘Pygmalion’ of the time Rick Allison, her family, her friends, her fans. A sincere interview in which Lara Fabian confesses like rarely [happens] almost forgetting the camera : (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10io03_saga-integrale-lara-fabian-sans-secrets_music?start=1).
Nevertheless, the singer can count on the continued support of her fans, always there to support the singer in the test or show her their attachment. It is this strong bond that allows the singer to traverse the inevitable trials that follow from a career as important as hers. Hopefully the public will understand the choice of the artist to focus on the international even though her local tour was cut short some months months earlier and not postponed.
Finally, January 31, 2015, this is another event that awaits Lara Fabian. The Russian composer Igor Krutoy, with whom she has delivered the album Mademoiselle Zhivago in 2012 for the countries of the East, will perform at Grand Barclays Center in Brooklyn (New York ) in the United States. For the occasion he invited the singer to come and defend some of their songs live. An appointment not to be missed if you are on the U.S. East Coast at this time. Julien PIRAUD
----------------------------------------------------
As usual, ‘Charts in France’ is kinder than Julien Piraud in pitiblog, but both raise the issue of why Lara is not getting back on stage in France or Belgium after having ‘postponed’ all those shows. And it must be said, Lara has done a terrible job of getting out in front of this issue, which she has had a month to do, since the tour became known. We can argue:
(1) That it is not the ‘Le Secret’ tour, but a ‘Best of’ acoustic tour, something Lara had never planned for France/Belgium, and which one imagines she thinks would not go over well in those countries;
(2) That ‘unplugged’ concerts were arranged so as to give herself a chance to test her hearing under less demanding circumstances (although why so many in such a short period of time?);
(3) That the concert tour in these countries had already been planned – it was expected to follow her French tour.
However Lara should have been the one saying this, or at least saying something, rather than letting the press find out about it and basically question her loyalty to her French fans – the same fans who went overboard trying to provide support when she got ill. If one reads all the comments following even the more favorable ‘Charts in France’ article – there are 144 of them – more than 90% of them are very harsh towards Lara, whereas in the wake of her illness, she had garnered a lot of sympathy. All of this could have been avoided, as usual, with a little thoughtful PR…and perhaps a free ‘comeback’ concert in France/Belgium. There is still time for that, although ‘Charts in France’ said that it’s currently not in the cards.
Two other interesting points were mentioned: a new edition of 'Le Secret', and soon-to-be-announced North American dates. We'll have to see if they really come to pass.
Lara finally did say something this week on her FB page – she opened her message with the phrase: ”some news…” and then, as noted in the ‘Charts in France’ article, she mentioned the duo with Michel Jonasz for the album ‘Kiss and Love’, in support of the fight against AIDS. Elisa Vidal on several fan sites pointed out that the two have already sung together for this cause, in 2006; the song was, "Je t'aimais tellement fort que je t'aime encore", available at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcHds19I2Ac.
Lara also put on her FB site pictures of herself with Pascal Obispo and Michel Jonasz, at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=713016988739801&set=pcb.713017055406461&type=1&theater
You may remember that Pascal Obispo had put together an ensemble song called ‘Sa raison d’être’ in which Lara had participated. The video is available on youtube, at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=imdiBfpI4nU
Lara was also briefly in a ‘making of’ video for it, her contribution shown at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_nY__QX8NQ
[Obispo was also responsible for another ensemble production with Lara participating, ‘Noel ensemble’, available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgnI_mQ7RwI].
The FB site larafabianweb.com, following reporting on TF1, notes that since 1998, Obispo had collected 14 million euros for the fight against AIDS. The album is expected out November 3, 2014, on Warner Music in France.
Still in the ‘charity’ mode, Lara also added some pictures of herself carrying a handbag (made by Versa Versa, www.facebook.com/VersaVersa), equivalent to the one that she had auctioned for UNICEF:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=713012555406911&set=pcb.713013262073507&type=1&theater
While her charity work is certainly praiseworthy and should not be undervalued, since Lara said she was providing 'some news', it is too bad and rather inexplicable that she didn’t consider the fall concert tour, her ‘big return’, as ‘news’ – it is still not listed on her FB site. This falls under the categories ‘incomprehensible choices’ and ‘little random decisions’ mentioned in the pitiblog article…
Other ‘news’ (not listed on her official site) that surfaced this past week (thanks to Charles-James McCearney for pointing it out) is that Lara has scheduled an appearance at the ‘New Wave’ Festival July 26th in Jurmala, Latvia :
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=597465673693744&set=a.200734066700242.44466.183951155045200&type=1&theater
This will give her an earlier chance to test her ears, though not her singing, since we know she lip-syncs at this Igor Krutoi-run event. Another lure is that she often introduces new material here, and if her next album with Krutoi is far along, we may get to hear some actual cuts from the album. She also wears beautiful outfits there.
Now for our next three ‘best of’ videos:
Le Secret: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RbWaZDYJi0
app.box.com/s/109ues8t4ueruwlolpwq
Le tour du monde: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IaYWn8Q7Cw
Leila: app.box.com/s/sr385y2nm4ff4fpqffuv
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKLcY2T-UW4
The two videos for “Le Secret’ follow our standard pattern for songs from the new album: one song illustrating how it was performed on tour, this time from Paris on 11-16; the second from the ‘Showcase’ in Paris the previous April, with its multi-angles. The Paris show was chosen partly because it provides a wonderful view of the ‘jacket’ that Lara wears to begin the show…
. Also don’t miss the initial presentation of this song in Prague, where she discusses how Giora Linenberg presented the music to her, at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U_PQi7S1Z8.‘Le tour du monde’ was originally conceived as a song with Jean-Felix Lalanne; by the time Lara got around to recording the DVD, they were no longer a couple, but the video from ‘Un Regard Neuf’ is still the best quality available. As part of their 'comedy' routine, Lara had always included on the song the idea of companionship not being just ‘two’, but three, maybe even four, playing around with the idea of having children (this was before Lou). One can see her trying to get actual children involved in it at her concert in Montreal
(https://app.box.com/s/kcoyy0cpyjimhqva1zl9). And there is also the nice duet from her ‘Chante avec Lara’ DVD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Ad0lzeXkw).‘Leila’, one of Lara’s great early songs, always brought out the best of her. The second choice above is from the “Pure” Molson Centre show, and it certainly got it off to a good start. As a contrast to this full backing, listed first is the version of Lara just singing to the background music – but it has the special aspect of Rick Allison coming up on stage. Very heartwarming…
.Often, articles in the French press draw some sort of a reaction from Lara; we’ll see if that’s the case in this instance. Lost in the press reports is the assumption that Lara has healed sufficiently to give the proposed concerts. We’ve had no direct word of that; it would be nice if Lara was able to give a direct ‘thumbs up’ to her fans in that regard, as well.
David
