Post by davidhr on Dec 23, 2014 9:35:20 GMT -5
This past week Lara had clearly taken notice of the discontent of her French-speaking fans, because she took the time to get in touch with several local radio stations, at least partly in an attempt to re-connect. Lara was ‘awakened’ by MFM radio, and spoke with Laurent Argelier who asked her for her news. She reassured the listeners that everything was going well, spoke about her interactions with UNICEF and talked about her new French album. mfmradio.fr/musique/podcast/9495/mfm-radio-rveille-les-stars-lara-fabian
Many French media outlets picked up the story. The wonderful new FB site “operation-fan-club-lara-fabian” (https://www.facebook.com/OperationFanClubLaraFabian) produced a nice comprehensive list of them (https://www.facebook.com/notes/op%C3%A9ration-fan-club-lara-fabian/19-12-14-concerts-festival-dvd-vivacit%C3%A9-nouvel-album-sant%C3%A9-engagement-the-voice/694452833995249), and, with one small addition, they are reproduced here for convenience:
**http://www.purepeople.com/article/lara-fabian-et-sa-sante-c-est-presque-un-mauvais-souvenir_a152427/1#lt_source=external,share_fb,manual,manual
**http://www.public.fr/News/Lara-Fabian-evoque-sa-maladie-Malheureusement-on-ne-s-en-remet-pas-a-100-646848
**http://musique.ados.fr/news/lara-fabian-maladie-retour-album-2015-oreille_article3650.html
**http://fr.canoe.ca/divertissement/celebrites/nouvelles/archives/2014/12/20141219-101217.html#.VJSOfW5c_nM.facebook
**http://www.non-stop-people.com/actu/musique/lara-fabian-voulait-faire-voice-72532#Umrhdh1ogF3bDim1.01
**http://www.programme-tv.net/news/people/60759-lara-fabian-sa-maladie-est-derriere-elle/
**http://www.closermag.fr/people/people-francais/lara-fabian-se-confie-sur-son-probleme-d-audition-c-est-presque-un-mauvais-s-447290
**http://www.potins.net/celebrites/le-grand-retour-de-lara-fabian-cest-deja-un-mauvais-souvenir-109982.html#widget_video
**http://www.bluewin.ch/fr/divertissement/people/2014/12/19/lara-fabian---un-nouvel-album-pour-2015--.html
[Thanks again to Eve Leroy for this excellent compilation; although her site has just opened, it already has many wonderful submissions…]
As one can see, a number of these outlets are ones that cover Lara on a regular basis, and they were apparently eagerly awaiting news from her that actually pertained to France/Belgium. The reports are quite similar (though they use different stock photos); here is a summary of what Lara said:
--------------------------------------------
** About her health: After months of extensive care and a "heavy treatment with infusions", "it's almost a bad memory. I feel better. You know when you live an accident of that order, unfortunately one does not recover 100%, but I would say that it is already a bad memory.”
** Her role with UNICEF: She is the patron of the Frimousses [Doll] creation enterprise for UNICEF, a role close to her heart. Lara Fabian describes herself as "a sort of nice little sympathetic booster. I usually participate in auctions, I try to present myself with great enthusiasm. I motivate the troops during the selling of the creators’ dolls, I act automatically as a wagon to the children of UNICEF. I am the little wagon which arrives in these rooms and tries with her humor and her devotion to raise people's enthusiasm, and then to see to it that the bid is rising "
Her actions with UNICEF fill Lara with joy. “I think that to contribute to the well-being of others and especially that of a child, this is probably what can bring us the most joy as a human being. See the face of a kid light up, I believe that there is no greater gift [...] As a humanist, able to wake up and say "Today at my little level I have contributed to the joy of a child, I helped to remove a form of insecurity, I helped vaccinate, I helped him to school, to the hospital, to cure ... Being in itself a small dose of happiness, a dose of humanity, I think this is the purpose of life as a human being”.
**About her new album: “The new album, all in French, is completed, written with a great team. I had initially said it could be [released] in spring but now it seems a little early, so I would say it's more likely next fall. It's an album in the tradition of what I've done in the past, like Carpe Diem or Naked or Pure”. Lara didn’t want to reveal the name of the new album, saying that while it is essentially finished, she still wants to refine it, and in the course of such development, titles often change.
**About being a coach on ‘The Voice”: The idea seemed to appeal to Lara, although she received no official invitation from the channel. “I love so deeply to pass on [what I know] now I think if the TF1 team had proposed it to me, I would have considered it anyway”.
**About her morning habits (since the show was on at 7:45 in the morning): She prefers coffee with sugar; her ‘beauty’ routine includes brushing her teeth, washing her face, using moisturizing cream, and combing her hair. She gets in shape to greet the day by seeing “the smiles of laughter of my little Lou”.
**Her best memory of Christmas is the her oft-repeated story about the velour dress Lara wanted when she was eight years old, that was so difficult for her family to afford – and the magic she felt when, at midnight they brought out the blue bundle with a pattern of golden ducks, the logo of the store. How hard her family had had to work to provide her with her dream [and which Lara uses to emphasize the importance of giving to those in need].
--------------------------------------------------
As various media people noted, Lara is therefore now officially preparing her (French) comeback 14 months after her accident. It will mark a new beginning. One site (http://musique.ados.fr/news/lara-fabian-maladie-retour-album-2015-oreille_article3650.html) summarized it properly by noting that this is “in a way, perhaps, finally turns the page of ‘Le Secret’ disk. An album on which she proclaimed precisely the reconciliation between body and mind, and that is, to date, her best record”. Too bad the reduced sales and abbreviated tour may keep that assessment from becoming the general impression.
Note that in the above discussion Lara said nothing to this audience about the forthcoming English album. As the Mademoiselle Zhivago FB site reminded us, we have some information about it (also given in a previous update), from John Metcalfe (who has worked with Coldplay, Peter Gabriel, George Michael, etc.). He indicated he is co-writing and co-producing it with Lara for the American market (http://www.operapoponice.com/intimissimi/creative/john-metcalfe/). No specific release date is available for this either, although, like the French album, Lara had initially indicated spring of 2015. It would have made sense for that to really be the release date, co-inciding with her North American tour, but all indications are that that will be a ‘Best of’ concert series. [Metcalfe has not said anything about such work recently on his website or Twitter account, e.g., johnmetcalfemusic.blogspot.co.uk/]. Given the past history of Lara’s English album releases, its release date is probably even more uncertain than that of the French album.
In addition, Lara made a surprise visit to VivaCité, a Belgian public service radio station operated by RTBF (http://www.rtbf.be/vivacite/article?id=8603238; www.rtbf.be/vivacite/emissions_viva-for-life//article_lara-fabian-encourage-nos-animateurs?id=8603238&programId=5973;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QriVuDleRPs). After ‘stumping’ the host about who was calling, Lara discussed her association with the ‘Papillon’ Foundation. The website ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ had the following report:
--------------------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian Encourages our Emcees!
Lara Fabian gave a surprise to Raphael, Vivacite's radio emcee in Belgium by contacting him, in the context of "Viva For Life" (Humanitarian Action for Children in precarious situation). She talked about her various activities to support children (and especially the association known as "La foundation Papillon", "AMTM" for children in Nepal) :
Her message for the cause of precarious childhood: "There's a real awakening of conscience to have. There's a leap in consciousness to make. And sometimes, it's not a very big thing. But if this "not very big thing" was done to infinity, there are a lot of people who would come out of this insecurity... I believe that apart from the fact that we can reason thanks to our fiber of mom or dad, I think that it is the fiber of the human being in everyone of us, the humanist in each one of us. Whoever has in heart to contribute to the well being of the other. Let us remember our essence, let us remember our basic condition. I think the first gesture that makes us happy it is to make one that guarantees the happiness of someone else. I think the times when we vibrate the most in life, it is when we see that we contributed to someone's happiness. I believe that I am not unique in this sense, we all have this stuff. I'll talk about a simple gesture, a flower that we offer, a box of chocolate, a concert ticket, an outfit that we no longer use but that gives pleasure to someone. And seeing the face of a child light up because we contribute to its happiness, that's it. So just remember, to mobilize yourself, the profound joy that that can give you to help someone in need."
-------------------------------------------------------
In both the MFM and Vivacite interviews, Lara spoke wonderfully about how helping others in need provides us with our greatest 'raison d'etre' – one can see why Lara’s such a good promoter for these charities.
Meanwhile, at the same time this was going on, Lara was expanding her international tour. Additional dates were added to the official site tour schedule for Richmond, Canada on April 2; for Bratislava, Slovakia on June 3; and for Prague on June 5th (without any acknowledgement of the DVD recording on that date). For those of you not familiar with it, Richmond, Canada is part of the Metro Vancouver area, so along with Toronto and Montreal, Lara’s Canadian concerts are in the 1st, 2nd and 8th largest cities in the country of which she is (still) a citizen. A nice poster for her Montreal show can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/353946178085395/photos/a.353954938084519.1073741828.353946178085395/588860414593969/?type=1&theater
and beautiful promotional video for it at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdXkXR1Pg6c
In one of the many ironies concerning this tour, the promotional dialogue – for Montreal - is in English! One also would have thought Montreal was the one place there wouldn’t need to be a video introducing Lara there, even though it’s been a long time since she was an active resident. But it is a great video!
In contrast, Lara’s three U.S. locales (so far), Atlantic City, Hollywood, Florida and Los Angeles seem designed, most likely, for their access to Russian speakers [and hence another irony – for Lara to give concerts in the U.S., she feels she has to rely on the Russian population!]. None of the big east coast cities is targeted: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, though one can argue that Atlantic City is reachable from all of them. Other venues of course could be added in the future, but at this point it would seem Lara has little confidence in her ability to appeal to native-born U.S. citizens – which may well be an accurate reading.
Regarding the upcoming recording of the DVD in Prague, it is noted that it will be a ‘Best of’ concert (http://www.t-music.cz/magazin/lara-fabian-si-vybrala-nejlepsi-publikum-to-prazske-zpevacka-u-nas-natoci-dvd--8582/). The article also emphasizes the tremendous response she got at her previous show there last October. In a somewhat confusing note, an article appeared in a Czech publication claiming that Lara will be releasing a DVD of ‘Le Secret’ associated with that previous concert in Prague (http://www.radio.cz/fr/rubrique/bulletin/infos-du-jour-2014-12-18). The article is wrong on multiple accounts, but it reiterates how warm Lara’s reception was; more likely than not, that has led to her choice of this locale for her coming filming. It also serves to remind us that Lara has never released the ‘fan version’ of ‘Le Secret’ from all the videos that were sent to her. By jumping to a ‘Best of’ DVD, which sounds like a video version of ‘Greatest Hits’, she has chosen a product that could have great appeal for her international audience, but which may not have much cache in France or Belgium, as most of those songs having shown up on a DVD in the past.
Lara’s coming appearance at the San Remo festival, February 10-14, 2015 is continuing to draw commentary. Many of the European and Italian articles on the festival use Lara’s picture as the lead-in (e.g., oikotimes.com/2014/12/14/italy-2015-fascinating-sanremo-festival-line-up/). A nice article about Lara’s coming appearance showed up in Vanity Fair- Italy (http://www.vanityfair.it/show/tv/14/12/15/sanremo-2015-big-lara-fabian-chi-e-foto). Here’s the translation:
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San Remo 2015, WHO IS LARA FABIAN. Less than twenty-four hours after the announcement of the Big 20 race at the San Remo Festival in 2015, 10 to 14 February on RAI 1, together we discover who is Lara Fabian, the only foreign artist to tread the stage of the Ariston as a competitor although, for her, it is far from new...
As promised, the internationality cleared by Carlo Conti in recent months has come and has the name of Lara Fabian. The Canadian singer-songwriter of Belgian origin will, in fact, be the only foreign artist in the race at the San Remo Festival 2015, 10-14 February on RAI 1. This year, in fact, would be the first time that the festival would open the door to a non-Italian singer, as long as they are singing a song in our language. Definitely not a great effort for Fabian who owes much of her success to a song in Italian, "Adagio". And if the singer had ‘let the cat out of the bag’ with a tweet unambiguous and immediately deleted [on her FB site] before the announcement of Carlo Conti in the Bel Paese for the Festival, it's time to find out who she really is, her past musical and human history. Lara Fabian, stage name of Lara Crokaert, born in Etterbeek, Belgium, January 9, 1970. She lived most of her childhood in Sicily, where she got to grips with the Italian language along with Spanish, Portuguese, German and English [Ed: NOT REALLY!]. Her real debut came in 1991 with the album "Lara Fabian", while the first consecration touches her three years later with the second album, "Carpe Diem", winner of the Prize Félix for Best Performer of the Year and, of course, the gold record and three platinum. The success in Italy will come with the song "Adagio", written in both English and Italian, and developed on the basis of a classical piece. The Adagio is precisely composed by Remo Giazzotto on the theme by Tomaso Albinoni. After other major publications, such as "I Will Love Again" and "The Secret", the Fabian takes off two other [Italian] satisfactions: duet with Laura Pausini in 2002 and taking the stage of the Ariston Theatre in San Remo March 2 in 2007 , singing "Adagio "and" Un cuore malato" in couple with Gigi D'Alessio . Will she win back the heart of the Italian public and to be the first foreign singer to win the event? Appointment February 10 to find out. Browse the gallery above to discover all the photos of Lara Fabian.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Probably the first article published in Europe that hasn’t mentioned ‘Je t’aime’ when discussing Lara! [You may have noted that in the ‘Vivacite’ phone interview, they of course used ‘Tout’ and ‘Je t’aime’ to let everyone know immediately who was on the line]. Win or lose, this competition is familiarizing the Italian public with Lara and her Italian origins. And bravo to Carlo Conti, who having pushed to ‘internationalize’ the contest, had the good sense to pick someone like Lara who is Italian in everything but her citizenship – that makes the whole process easier for everyone concerned, and from the enthusiastic media response, is obviously a popular choice.
A nice poster of Lara for the festival can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/sanremo2015.65/photos/a.400823940085821.1073741828.400252740142941/400830733418475/?type=1&theater
In addition, an article on the Eurovision web site (http://www.concours-eurovision.fr/eurovision-2015-revenir-est-pas-si-facile/) again noted that the winner of the San Remo established singer contest will represent Italy in the 2015 Eurovision contest. They also commented on the fact that several of the San Remo entrants had sung for Eurovision in the past. Here’s their (translated) article:
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Eurovision: To Return Isn’t So Easy
The artists who participated in the contest, regularly report that they have had a unique experience on the biggest stage in Europe. They live for days under the flashes of cameras, linking together interviews and rehearsals. Media coverage is without precedent. To live these moments remains exceptional, and several try their luck again, with more or less success, as competition is often fierce and the national selections ruthless. The 2015 Eurovision contest is no exception to the rule, and many artists are positioning themselves to relive those moments.
ITALY:
The settlement of San Remo festival is clear: The winner will represent Italy in the Eurovision 2015 contest, and vying are several artists who were already up on the contest stage. The San Remo festival will take place from 10 to 14 February 2015:
Lara Fabian - Voce
Lara Fabian represented Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 1988. She performed ‘Croire’, and finished in 4th place. The competition was won by Celine Dion!
RAF - Come una favola
RAF duet with Umberto Tozzi, represented Italy in 1987 with the song ‘Gente di mare’ and finished in 3rd place!
Nina Zilli - Sola
Nina Zilli in 2012, had participated in the San Remo Festival in the "big" category with the song ‘Per semper’. During this festival, she was chosen to represent Italy in the Contest 2012 in Baku. Before initially singing the song ‘Per Sempre’, she finally chose the song ‘L'amore è femmina’. It ranked ninth with a total of 101 points.
(they then go on to discuss candidates from several other countries who had appeared before…)
-----------------------------------------------------------
A video presenting the candidates for the San Remo festival can be seen at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxzi54ozW-g
with Lara appearing at 0:34 (showing her recent appearance in the recently televised Krutoi anniversary show; the only rational for that was at least she was performing a song in Italian, ‘Toccami’). BTW, Lara is third in the unofficial vote tally of preferred artists from San Remo, with 12% of the vote (the leader has 16%) (http://musiconlineofficial.altervista.org/votazioni-cantanti-sanremo-2015/). Perhaps the only thing that popularity poll is worth is as an indication of fan sentiment, as public voting ultimately will be one of the scoring factors in the final decision. [The Lara Fabian Web site has a complete description ((in French) of all the procedures followed for the four nights of competition, at: www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=987808614568007&id=246805652001644. It will become more relevant as the competition begins…].
This coming week of course features the Christmas holiday. Happy Holidays to Lara, and to all of you!
David
Many French media outlets picked up the story. The wonderful new FB site “operation-fan-club-lara-fabian” (https://www.facebook.com/OperationFanClubLaraFabian) produced a nice comprehensive list of them (https://www.facebook.com/notes/op%C3%A9ration-fan-club-lara-fabian/19-12-14-concerts-festival-dvd-vivacit%C3%A9-nouvel-album-sant%C3%A9-engagement-the-voice/694452833995249), and, with one small addition, they are reproduced here for convenience:
**http://www.purepeople.com/article/lara-fabian-et-sa-sante-c-est-presque-un-mauvais-souvenir_a152427/1#lt_source=external,share_fb,manual,manual
**http://www.public.fr/News/Lara-Fabian-evoque-sa-maladie-Malheureusement-on-ne-s-en-remet-pas-a-100-646848
**http://musique.ados.fr/news/lara-fabian-maladie-retour-album-2015-oreille_article3650.html
**http://fr.canoe.ca/divertissement/celebrites/nouvelles/archives/2014/12/20141219-101217.html#.VJSOfW5c_nM.facebook
**http://www.non-stop-people.com/actu/musique/lara-fabian-voulait-faire-voice-72532#Umrhdh1ogF3bDim1.01
**http://www.programme-tv.net/news/people/60759-lara-fabian-sa-maladie-est-derriere-elle/
**http://www.closermag.fr/people/people-francais/lara-fabian-se-confie-sur-son-probleme-d-audition-c-est-presque-un-mauvais-s-447290
**http://www.potins.net/celebrites/le-grand-retour-de-lara-fabian-cest-deja-un-mauvais-souvenir-109982.html#widget_video
**http://www.bluewin.ch/fr/divertissement/people/2014/12/19/lara-fabian---un-nouvel-album-pour-2015--.html
[Thanks again to Eve Leroy for this excellent compilation; although her site has just opened, it already has many wonderful submissions…]
As one can see, a number of these outlets are ones that cover Lara on a regular basis, and they were apparently eagerly awaiting news from her that actually pertained to France/Belgium. The reports are quite similar (though they use different stock photos); here is a summary of what Lara said:
--------------------------------------------
** About her health: After months of extensive care and a "heavy treatment with infusions", "it's almost a bad memory. I feel better. You know when you live an accident of that order, unfortunately one does not recover 100%, but I would say that it is already a bad memory.”
** Her role with UNICEF: She is the patron of the Frimousses [Doll] creation enterprise for UNICEF, a role close to her heart. Lara Fabian describes herself as "a sort of nice little sympathetic booster. I usually participate in auctions, I try to present myself with great enthusiasm. I motivate the troops during the selling of the creators’ dolls, I act automatically as a wagon to the children of UNICEF. I am the little wagon which arrives in these rooms and tries with her humor and her devotion to raise people's enthusiasm, and then to see to it that the bid is rising "
Her actions with UNICEF fill Lara with joy. “I think that to contribute to the well-being of others and especially that of a child, this is probably what can bring us the most joy as a human being. See the face of a kid light up, I believe that there is no greater gift [...] As a humanist, able to wake up and say "Today at my little level I have contributed to the joy of a child, I helped to remove a form of insecurity, I helped vaccinate, I helped him to school, to the hospital, to cure ... Being in itself a small dose of happiness, a dose of humanity, I think this is the purpose of life as a human being”.
**About her new album: “The new album, all in French, is completed, written with a great team. I had initially said it could be [released] in spring but now it seems a little early, so I would say it's more likely next fall. It's an album in the tradition of what I've done in the past, like Carpe Diem or Naked or Pure”. Lara didn’t want to reveal the name of the new album, saying that while it is essentially finished, she still wants to refine it, and in the course of such development, titles often change.
**About being a coach on ‘The Voice”: The idea seemed to appeal to Lara, although she received no official invitation from the channel. “I love so deeply to pass on [what I know] now I think if the TF1 team had proposed it to me, I would have considered it anyway”.
**About her morning habits (since the show was on at 7:45 in the morning): She prefers coffee with sugar; her ‘beauty’ routine includes brushing her teeth, washing her face, using moisturizing cream, and combing her hair. She gets in shape to greet the day by seeing “the smiles of laughter of my little Lou”.
**Her best memory of Christmas is the her oft-repeated story about the velour dress Lara wanted when she was eight years old, that was so difficult for her family to afford – and the magic she felt when, at midnight they brought out the blue bundle with a pattern of golden ducks, the logo of the store. How hard her family had had to work to provide her with her dream [and which Lara uses to emphasize the importance of giving to those in need].
--------------------------------------------------
As various media people noted, Lara is therefore now officially preparing her (French) comeback 14 months after her accident. It will mark a new beginning. One site (http://musique.ados.fr/news/lara-fabian-maladie-retour-album-2015-oreille_article3650.html) summarized it properly by noting that this is “in a way, perhaps, finally turns the page of ‘Le Secret’ disk. An album on which she proclaimed precisely the reconciliation between body and mind, and that is, to date, her best record”. Too bad the reduced sales and abbreviated tour may keep that assessment from becoming the general impression.
Note that in the above discussion Lara said nothing to this audience about the forthcoming English album. As the Mademoiselle Zhivago FB site reminded us, we have some information about it (also given in a previous update), from John Metcalfe (who has worked with Coldplay, Peter Gabriel, George Michael, etc.). He indicated he is co-writing and co-producing it with Lara for the American market (http://www.operapoponice.com/intimissimi/creative/john-metcalfe/). No specific release date is available for this either, although, like the French album, Lara had initially indicated spring of 2015. It would have made sense for that to really be the release date, co-inciding with her North American tour, but all indications are that that will be a ‘Best of’ concert series. [Metcalfe has not said anything about such work recently on his website or Twitter account, e.g., johnmetcalfemusic.blogspot.co.uk/]. Given the past history of Lara’s English album releases, its release date is probably even more uncertain than that of the French album.
In addition, Lara made a surprise visit to VivaCité, a Belgian public service radio station operated by RTBF (http://www.rtbf.be/vivacite/article?id=8603238; www.rtbf.be/vivacite/emissions_viva-for-life//article_lara-fabian-encourage-nos-animateurs?id=8603238&programId=5973;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QriVuDleRPs). After ‘stumping’ the host about who was calling, Lara discussed her association with the ‘Papillon’ Foundation. The website ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ had the following report:
--------------------------------------------------------
Lara Fabian Encourages our Emcees!
Lara Fabian gave a surprise to Raphael, Vivacite's radio emcee in Belgium by contacting him, in the context of "Viva For Life" (Humanitarian Action for Children in precarious situation). She talked about her various activities to support children (and especially the association known as "La foundation Papillon", "AMTM" for children in Nepal) :
Her message for the cause of precarious childhood: "There's a real awakening of conscience to have. There's a leap in consciousness to make. And sometimes, it's not a very big thing. But if this "not very big thing" was done to infinity, there are a lot of people who would come out of this insecurity... I believe that apart from the fact that we can reason thanks to our fiber of mom or dad, I think that it is the fiber of the human being in everyone of us, the humanist in each one of us. Whoever has in heart to contribute to the well being of the other. Let us remember our essence, let us remember our basic condition. I think the first gesture that makes us happy it is to make one that guarantees the happiness of someone else. I think the times when we vibrate the most in life, it is when we see that we contributed to someone's happiness. I believe that I am not unique in this sense, we all have this stuff. I'll talk about a simple gesture, a flower that we offer, a box of chocolate, a concert ticket, an outfit that we no longer use but that gives pleasure to someone. And seeing the face of a child light up because we contribute to its happiness, that's it. So just remember, to mobilize yourself, the profound joy that that can give you to help someone in need."
-------------------------------------------------------
In both the MFM and Vivacite interviews, Lara spoke wonderfully about how helping others in need provides us with our greatest 'raison d'etre' – one can see why Lara’s such a good promoter for these charities.
Meanwhile, at the same time this was going on, Lara was expanding her international tour. Additional dates were added to the official site tour schedule for Richmond, Canada on April 2; for Bratislava, Slovakia on June 3; and for Prague on June 5th (without any acknowledgement of the DVD recording on that date). For those of you not familiar with it, Richmond, Canada is part of the Metro Vancouver area, so along with Toronto and Montreal, Lara’s Canadian concerts are in the 1st, 2nd and 8th largest cities in the country of which she is (still) a citizen. A nice poster for her Montreal show can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/353946178085395/photos/a.353954938084519.1073741828.353946178085395/588860414593969/?type=1&theater
and beautiful promotional video for it at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdXkXR1Pg6c
In one of the many ironies concerning this tour, the promotional dialogue – for Montreal - is in English! One also would have thought Montreal was the one place there wouldn’t need to be a video introducing Lara there, even though it’s been a long time since she was an active resident. But it is a great video!
In contrast, Lara’s three U.S. locales (so far), Atlantic City, Hollywood, Florida and Los Angeles seem designed, most likely, for their access to Russian speakers [and hence another irony – for Lara to give concerts in the U.S., she feels she has to rely on the Russian population!]. None of the big east coast cities is targeted: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, though one can argue that Atlantic City is reachable from all of them. Other venues of course could be added in the future, but at this point it would seem Lara has little confidence in her ability to appeal to native-born U.S. citizens – which may well be an accurate reading.
Regarding the upcoming recording of the DVD in Prague, it is noted that it will be a ‘Best of’ concert (http://www.t-music.cz/magazin/lara-fabian-si-vybrala-nejlepsi-publikum-to-prazske-zpevacka-u-nas-natoci-dvd--8582/). The article also emphasizes the tremendous response she got at her previous show there last October. In a somewhat confusing note, an article appeared in a Czech publication claiming that Lara will be releasing a DVD of ‘Le Secret’ associated with that previous concert in Prague (http://www.radio.cz/fr/rubrique/bulletin/infos-du-jour-2014-12-18). The article is wrong on multiple accounts, but it reiterates how warm Lara’s reception was; more likely than not, that has led to her choice of this locale for her coming filming. It also serves to remind us that Lara has never released the ‘fan version’ of ‘Le Secret’ from all the videos that were sent to her. By jumping to a ‘Best of’ DVD, which sounds like a video version of ‘Greatest Hits’, she has chosen a product that could have great appeal for her international audience, but which may not have much cache in France or Belgium, as most of those songs having shown up on a DVD in the past.
Lara’s coming appearance at the San Remo festival, February 10-14, 2015 is continuing to draw commentary. Many of the European and Italian articles on the festival use Lara’s picture as the lead-in (e.g., oikotimes.com/2014/12/14/italy-2015-fascinating-sanremo-festival-line-up/). A nice article about Lara’s coming appearance showed up in Vanity Fair- Italy (http://www.vanityfair.it/show/tv/14/12/15/sanremo-2015-big-lara-fabian-chi-e-foto). Here’s the translation:
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San Remo 2015, WHO IS LARA FABIAN. Less than twenty-four hours after the announcement of the Big 20 race at the San Remo Festival in 2015, 10 to 14 February on RAI 1, together we discover who is Lara Fabian, the only foreign artist to tread the stage of the Ariston as a competitor although, for her, it is far from new...
As promised, the internationality cleared by Carlo Conti in recent months has come and has the name of Lara Fabian. The Canadian singer-songwriter of Belgian origin will, in fact, be the only foreign artist in the race at the San Remo Festival 2015, 10-14 February on RAI 1. This year, in fact, would be the first time that the festival would open the door to a non-Italian singer, as long as they are singing a song in our language. Definitely not a great effort for Fabian who owes much of her success to a song in Italian, "Adagio". And if the singer had ‘let the cat out of the bag’ with a tweet unambiguous and immediately deleted [on her FB site] before the announcement of Carlo Conti in the Bel Paese for the Festival, it's time to find out who she really is, her past musical and human history. Lara Fabian, stage name of Lara Crokaert, born in Etterbeek, Belgium, January 9, 1970. She lived most of her childhood in Sicily, where she got to grips with the Italian language along with Spanish, Portuguese, German and English [Ed: NOT REALLY!]. Her real debut came in 1991 with the album "Lara Fabian", while the first consecration touches her three years later with the second album, "Carpe Diem", winner of the Prize Félix for Best Performer of the Year and, of course, the gold record and three platinum. The success in Italy will come with the song "Adagio", written in both English and Italian, and developed on the basis of a classical piece. The Adagio is precisely composed by Remo Giazzotto on the theme by Tomaso Albinoni. After other major publications, such as "I Will Love Again" and "The Secret", the Fabian takes off two other [Italian] satisfactions: duet with Laura Pausini in 2002 and taking the stage of the Ariston Theatre in San Remo March 2 in 2007 , singing "Adagio "and" Un cuore malato" in couple with Gigi D'Alessio . Will she win back the heart of the Italian public and to be the first foreign singer to win the event? Appointment February 10 to find out. Browse the gallery above to discover all the photos of Lara Fabian.
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Probably the first article published in Europe that hasn’t mentioned ‘Je t’aime’ when discussing Lara! [You may have noted that in the ‘Vivacite’ phone interview, they of course used ‘Tout’ and ‘Je t’aime’ to let everyone know immediately who was on the line]. Win or lose, this competition is familiarizing the Italian public with Lara and her Italian origins. And bravo to Carlo Conti, who having pushed to ‘internationalize’ the contest, had the good sense to pick someone like Lara who is Italian in everything but her citizenship – that makes the whole process easier for everyone concerned, and from the enthusiastic media response, is obviously a popular choice.
A nice poster of Lara for the festival can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/sanremo2015.65/photos/a.400823940085821.1073741828.400252740142941/400830733418475/?type=1&theater
In addition, an article on the Eurovision web site (http://www.concours-eurovision.fr/eurovision-2015-revenir-est-pas-si-facile/) again noted that the winner of the San Remo established singer contest will represent Italy in the 2015 Eurovision contest. They also commented on the fact that several of the San Remo entrants had sung for Eurovision in the past. Here’s their (translated) article:
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Eurovision: To Return Isn’t So Easy
The artists who participated in the contest, regularly report that they have had a unique experience on the biggest stage in Europe. They live for days under the flashes of cameras, linking together interviews and rehearsals. Media coverage is without precedent. To live these moments remains exceptional, and several try their luck again, with more or less success, as competition is often fierce and the national selections ruthless. The 2015 Eurovision contest is no exception to the rule, and many artists are positioning themselves to relive those moments.
ITALY:
The settlement of San Remo festival is clear: The winner will represent Italy in the Eurovision 2015 contest, and vying are several artists who were already up on the contest stage. The San Remo festival will take place from 10 to 14 February 2015:
Lara Fabian - Voce
Lara Fabian represented Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 1988. She performed ‘Croire’, and finished in 4th place. The competition was won by Celine Dion!
RAF - Come una favola
RAF duet with Umberto Tozzi, represented Italy in 1987 with the song ‘Gente di mare’ and finished in 3rd place!
Nina Zilli - Sola
Nina Zilli in 2012, had participated in the San Remo Festival in the "big" category with the song ‘Per semper’. During this festival, she was chosen to represent Italy in the Contest 2012 in Baku. Before initially singing the song ‘Per Sempre’, she finally chose the song ‘L'amore è femmina’. It ranked ninth with a total of 101 points.
(they then go on to discuss candidates from several other countries who had appeared before…)
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A video presenting the candidates for the San Remo festival can be seen at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxzi54ozW-g
with Lara appearing at 0:34 (showing her recent appearance in the recently televised Krutoi anniversary show; the only rational for that was at least she was performing a song in Italian, ‘Toccami’). BTW, Lara is third in the unofficial vote tally of preferred artists from San Remo, with 12% of the vote (the leader has 16%) (http://musiconlineofficial.altervista.org/votazioni-cantanti-sanremo-2015/). Perhaps the only thing that popularity poll is worth is as an indication of fan sentiment, as public voting ultimately will be one of the scoring factors in the final decision. [The Lara Fabian Web site has a complete description ((in French) of all the procedures followed for the four nights of competition, at: www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=987808614568007&id=246805652001644. It will become more relevant as the competition begins…].
This coming week of course features the Christmas holiday. Happy Holidays to Lara, and to all of you!
David
