Post by davidhr on Sept 1, 2015 8:08:00 GMT -5
In what is arguably the highlight of the summer, out of nowhere Lara’s FB site reported that she would sing in Amsterdam on a program of musical homage to Belgium, and then, quickly, it took place. A video of the televised performance, kindly provided by the Operation Fan Club Lara Fabian, can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kco95rbP78A
Two songs were presented – the first live version of ‘Quand je ne chante pas’, and also a rendition "La chanson des vieux amants" from Jaques Brel (the Belgian master of the ‘modern chanson’). Lara was extremely attractive and sang with the same high quality she’s been showing all year. The audience seemed to enjoy both songs immensely, especially the second one which, as can be seen, was accompanied by a ballet performance. As of the time of this writing, close to 5,000 fans have ‘liked’ the video on Lara’s FB site.
A fan-filmed high quality version of the two songs is also available, at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3EKdVOxmTU
and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo3YAvz5Ncc
The second of these is focused entirely on Lara, as opposed to splitting time with the dancers.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, here is the English translation of the Jaques Brel song (http://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-chanson-des-vieux-amants-song-old-lovers.html), one of his most famous numbers…
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Song of Old Lovers
Certainly, we’ve had stormy times.
Twenty years of love--it’s a crazy love.
A thousand times you took your luggage
A thousand times I took off.
And each piece of furniture
in this room without a cradle calls back
the flashes of old tempests.
Nothing makes sense.
You’ve lost your taste for the waters
and I for the conquest.
But, my love,
my sweet, my tender, my marvelous love,
in the clear light of dawn until the end of the day,
I love you still, you know. I love you.
Myself, I know all your spells;
you know all my charms.
You’ve protected me from pitfall to pitfall.
I have forgotten you from time to time.
Of course, you took a few lovers;
time had to be spent well,
the body must rejoice.
Ultimately, in the end,
we had to have a good deal of talent
to be this old without being grown-ups.
Oh, my love,
my sweet, my tender, my wonderful love,
in the clear light of dawn until the end of the day,
I love you still, you know. I love you.
The more time marches us on (toward our funerals),
the more time torments us.
But is it not the worst trap
for lovers to live in peace?
Certainly, you no longer cry as quickly;
I tear myself apart a little later--
we protect our secrets less.
We leave less to chance,
we’re cautious of the current of the waters,
but it’s always “the tender war.”
Oh, my love,
my sweet, my tender, my marvelous love,
in the clear light of dawn until the end of the day,
I love you still, you know. I love you.
---------------------------------------------------------
Lara's presentation gave the proper weight and respect to these sentiments.
The emcee noted that it was strange Lara had never sang in Amsterdam before; she replied that she had been on a show with Cor Bakker (who was there in the back), but agreed that she has never given a full-scale concert there. [As far as Europe goes, it seems the closer the country is to Belgium/France, the less likely Lara will have given a full concert there
– see also Italy, England, Spain, and Germany only recently…].
Some nice photos of the event are available from the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ site,
www.facebook.com/166959643357708/photos/pcb.887815037938828/887814927938839/?type=1&theater
A rehearsal video of Lara’s singing ‘Quand je ne chante pas’ is also available, at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5jdY_rGvUE
In some respects, her singing of this during the rehearsal was freer, a bit more creative than during the show itself, which, nevertheless, was quite good.
As pointed out by some fans, when the emcee during the rehearsal listed the various duets Lara had performed, he included Celine Dion – with whom Lara has never sung a duet. One could also see Dion’s picture in the background as the various duets were being illustrated. For the broadcast TV show, that mistake was rectified – neither her name nor picture were included.
Lara’s reference to her appearance with Cor Bakker was part of the aborted 2004 promotion for ‘A Wonderful Life’. It featured her performance of the song of the same title, and also a wonderfully unique version of “The Last Goodbye” up in a hot air balloon. It can be seen at,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uap6Xkc4P-4
In the comments to this video it is noted that Lara appears to have some understanding of the Dutch language – and this was true on the TV show from this past weekend, as well. Of course, as Lara remarked there, her father was born in the Flemish portion of Belgium, and obviously spoke Dutch fluently, but it was not the language of choice in her household when she was growing up.
This whole topic of an Amsterdam performance developed very rapidly, or at least the publicity for it on Lara’s FB page did. It started with Lara’s team posting this announcement:
-----------------------------------------
Lara will be this evening on the main stage of the "Uitmarkt", for a tribute to Belgium and Belgian Music: “Symphonica Belgica".
Saturday, 29th August, at 21.05h, Museumplein, Amsterdam
(live on TV, NPO 2)
------------------------------------------
They then provided a link to the “Uitmarkt” (http://www.uitmarkt.nl/download/uitmarkt-2015-programma-english.pdf) which gave the following explanation:
---------------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE UITMARKT
The Uitmarkt is the official opening event of the new cultural season. Entering its 38th year in 2015, it runs from 28 to 30 August. The Uitmarkt is an annual fixture in Amsterdam’s cultural calendar and takes place at Museumplein and Leidseplein.
A free festival, the Uitmarkt draws around 500,000 visitors each year – visitors who are interested in arts, culture and literature in every shape and form. The Uitmarkt refelects all aspects of Dutch cultural life and focuses on what will be on offer on Dutch stages and in Dutch museums during the coming cultural season. To help maintain the accessible character of the festival, all performances are completely free and all organizations and artists waive their fees for taking part.
(and in the description of the actual program, included…)
Music/pop
SYMFONICA BELGICA
Symfonica Belgica invites music aficionados to the Museumplein to immerse in an assorted showcase of Belgian music and dance fêtes. With a blend of (inter)national artists such as Lara Fabian, Huub van der Lubbe and Tourist Le MC.
----------------------------------------------------------
The performance was really the following day, and that started with Lara posting a picture of herself, at:
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/971942759513888/?type=1&theater
with the caption, “6AM, on my way to Amsterdam... Zie je deze avond ! [See you this evening! – in Dutch].
This was followed six hours later by her posting what seems like a very representative picture of the country, with the caption, “Amsterdam”, at:
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.622966977744803.1073741829.201065806601591/972484329459731/?type=1&theater
and, later in the day, a picture of herself
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.622966977744803.1073741829.201065806601591/972585662782931/?type=1&theater
with the caption “Rehearsing for tonight” [in doors, rather than outside as in the rehearsal video].
Afterwards, the conductor Ivan Meylemans posted the following comment on Twitter, "Big privilege to work together with miss Lara Fabian @lfabianofficial for the 1st time in Holland. #uitmarkt2015 @uitinams @hetballetorkest.
One wonders how quickly this all came together…The music program, and the planning for the three days of performances has the appearance of a well-thought out schedule, so in all likelihood it’s been known for some time. It would also explain why Lara had to end her vacation last week. So it may well be that it suddenly occurred to Lara’s team that nothing had been said about this beforehand, and they better catch up, quickly. Of course, that could be wrong...the Lara Fabian Holland site (https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Lara%20Fabian%20Holland/keywords_top) did not provide any advance notice, either...but the practical effect, for those who didn't read about it elsewhere, was that it limited the ability of Lara's Dutch fans to see her in person, for perhaps the first time.
That same situation will not be the case for any shows Lara seems to be planning for the fall, a case in point being her newly announced appearance in Istanbul, on October 15th
www.facebook.com/events/1611815025738990/
with a poster that can be seen at,
www.facebook.com/Larafabianturkiye/photos/a.682431461833636.1073741829.682422835167832/886485608094886/?type=1&theater
Lara seems to be pursuing this ‘Turkish connection’ with the same vigor she has displayed towards Russia. There is no accompanying description of just what sort of show is to be expected, but it is unlikely there will be much from her new album unveiled there; in addition to the language barrier, historically Lara never sings songs from her upcoming new album before it’s out, with the possible exception of any singles that have been released. ‘Quand je ne chante pas’ might therefore be a possibility, especially given the ease with which she sang it in Amsterdam. Otherwise, one would expect some component of her ‘Best of’ tour, if not the whole show. It might be that Lara will be keeping the ‘best of’ program in her back pocket for non-French locales, which would also mean that the backup musicians would be on call when such concerts/locales arise.
In somewhat related news, Tom York, posted the following on his site (https://www.facebook.com/tom.york.7),
“My remix of Make Me Yours Tonight of Lara Fabian just entered in 36th place in ranking of DJ Buzz / Nrj, it's a party no??”
You may remember it’s available on Lara’s ‘Selection’ CD, and can be heard at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=449wvu_apBg
And, with respect to that album…as reported by Lara Fabian Turkey (and the MZ FB site), the hard copy of the CD has finally been made available in Turkey, as seen at:
www.dr.com.tr/Muzik/Selection/Lara-Fabian/Yabanci-Albumler/Pop-Music/Pop/urunno=0000000660228
As we have heard previously, the tracklist is:
DISC 1: 1. Je T'aime 2. Takes Take Me (Radio Edit) 3. Tango 4 Tout 5. Mademoiselle Hyde 6. Si Tu M'aimes 7 Immortelle 8. Desperate Housewife 9. Tu Es Mon Autre 10. Humana 11. Angel 12. Papa Can You Hear Me (Live) 13. Calling You (Live) 14. Adagio (Live) 15. Caruso (Live) 16. Stone Male 17 Voce
DISC 2: 1. Make Me Yours Tonight (Tom York Lounge Mix) 2. Make Me Yours Tonight (Tom York Swedish Mix) 3. Make Me Yours Tonight (Tom York Club Mix) 4. Make Me Yours Tonight (Ceceli Club Mix) 5. Every Woman In Me (Dave Aude Radio Remix)
It's certainly taken a long while...The Lara Fabian Turkey site said they believed the release was timed to coincide with the announcement of the new concert. As can be seen, the price for a double CD is only 5 euros - but - so far it doesn't seem to be available in other countries. The Lara Fabian Turkey site said that they had wanted to be able to make it available elsewhere by sending it out to interested parties themselves, but they were not sure about how to handle the various customs rules in different countries. Maybe it will eventually show up on the big internet sites, e.g., amazon.fr...
And, since we were speaking of Russia above –one of the comments left in conjunction with Lara’s performance in Amsterdam, was the following submission:
Vanessa Karapetyan: “How beautiful Please come to Russia I will write it in every post because you are my life, Lara And I want to see you.”
The response was, “Hello Vanessa ! Lara will surely perform again in Russia too Team Lara”.
Assuming Lara is engaged with publicizing the new album in November, between that time and the start of her France/Belgium concert tour next March (whose dates Lara’s team say will be announced shortly), there would seem to be space for a variety of ventures, including a trip to Russia. If it is to be a real tour, however, it might well wait until late spring or summer (the time of year her Russian concerts were held, historically). From their comment, it would seem Lara and her team are not going to be dissuaded by the current political climate visa vi that country.
Interesting photo(s) of the week: from the Lara Fabian Voice of Passion site,
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianTheVoiceOfPassion/photos/a.789993644349446.1073741860.720473304634814/1230915480257258/?type=1&theater
and from Lara’s appearance in Amsterdam (one of the pictures from Lara Fabian est ton autre ),
www.facebook.com/166959643357708/photos/pcb.887815037938828/887814944605504/?type=1&theater
And so it is “À la rentrée”, the first week in September, and things should be picking up, media-and-otherwise throughout France. Lara got into the swing of it, first by being among the personalities wishing a good ‘return' to Cyril Hanouna of the show Touche Pas à Mon Poste (TPMP)
www.facebook.com/larafabian.artist/videos/727879620689336/?hc_location=ufi
and then with the following message this morning,
“Have a good return to school to all children and parents in France, Belgium, in Quebec, and everywhere in the world.. L”
The topic is of course relevant for Lara and her child as well, and fans wished them good luck. Lara also included a link to an appealing video of children in different countries going to school despite physical obstacles:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIsQ0B43Q9Y&feature=youtu.be
Lou will probably not face the same physical challenges.
Career-wise, we’ll see what this month brings. Even though her new album release is still two months away, Lara appears to have her health, self-confidence and drive for success, so we may very well see her showing up at all sorts of events. Let's see what Lara’s team has in store!
David
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kco95rbP78A
Two songs were presented – the first live version of ‘Quand je ne chante pas’, and also a rendition "La chanson des vieux amants" from Jaques Brel (the Belgian master of the ‘modern chanson’). Lara was extremely attractive and sang with the same high quality she’s been showing all year. The audience seemed to enjoy both songs immensely, especially the second one which, as can be seen, was accompanied by a ballet performance. As of the time of this writing, close to 5,000 fans have ‘liked’ the video on Lara’s FB site.
A fan-filmed high quality version of the two songs is also available, at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3EKdVOxmTU
and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo3YAvz5Ncc
The second of these is focused entirely on Lara, as opposed to splitting time with the dancers.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, here is the English translation of the Jaques Brel song (http://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-chanson-des-vieux-amants-song-old-lovers.html), one of his most famous numbers…
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Song of Old Lovers
Certainly, we’ve had stormy times.
Twenty years of love--it’s a crazy love.
A thousand times you took your luggage
A thousand times I took off.
And each piece of furniture
in this room without a cradle calls back
the flashes of old tempests.
Nothing makes sense.
You’ve lost your taste for the waters
and I for the conquest.
But, my love,
my sweet, my tender, my marvelous love,
in the clear light of dawn until the end of the day,
I love you still, you know. I love you.
Myself, I know all your spells;
you know all my charms.
You’ve protected me from pitfall to pitfall.
I have forgotten you from time to time.
Of course, you took a few lovers;
time had to be spent well,
the body must rejoice.
Ultimately, in the end,
we had to have a good deal of talent
to be this old without being grown-ups.
Oh, my love,
my sweet, my tender, my wonderful love,
in the clear light of dawn until the end of the day,
I love you still, you know. I love you.
The more time marches us on (toward our funerals),
the more time torments us.
But is it not the worst trap
for lovers to live in peace?
Certainly, you no longer cry as quickly;
I tear myself apart a little later--
we protect our secrets less.
We leave less to chance,
we’re cautious of the current of the waters,
but it’s always “the tender war.”
Oh, my love,
my sweet, my tender, my marvelous love,
in the clear light of dawn until the end of the day,
I love you still, you know. I love you.
---------------------------------------------------------
Lara's presentation gave the proper weight and respect to these sentiments.
The emcee noted that it was strange Lara had never sang in Amsterdam before; she replied that she had been on a show with Cor Bakker (who was there in the back), but agreed that she has never given a full-scale concert there. [As far as Europe goes, it seems the closer the country is to Belgium/France, the less likely Lara will have given a full concert there
– see also Italy, England, Spain, and Germany only recently…].Some nice photos of the event are available from the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ site,
www.facebook.com/166959643357708/photos/pcb.887815037938828/887814927938839/?type=1&theater
A rehearsal video of Lara’s singing ‘Quand je ne chante pas’ is also available, at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5jdY_rGvUE
In some respects, her singing of this during the rehearsal was freer, a bit more creative than during the show itself, which, nevertheless, was quite good.
As pointed out by some fans, when the emcee during the rehearsal listed the various duets Lara had performed, he included Celine Dion – with whom Lara has never sung a duet. One could also see Dion’s picture in the background as the various duets were being illustrated. For the broadcast TV show, that mistake was rectified – neither her name nor picture were included.
Lara’s reference to her appearance with Cor Bakker was part of the aborted 2004 promotion for ‘A Wonderful Life’. It featured her performance of the song of the same title, and also a wonderfully unique version of “The Last Goodbye” up in a hot air balloon. It can be seen at,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uap6Xkc4P-4
In the comments to this video it is noted that Lara appears to have some understanding of the Dutch language – and this was true on the TV show from this past weekend, as well. Of course, as Lara remarked there, her father was born in the Flemish portion of Belgium, and obviously spoke Dutch fluently, but it was not the language of choice in her household when she was growing up.
This whole topic of an Amsterdam performance developed very rapidly, or at least the publicity for it on Lara’s FB page did. It started with Lara’s team posting this announcement:
-----------------------------------------
Lara will be this evening on the main stage of the "Uitmarkt", for a tribute to Belgium and Belgian Music: “Symphonica Belgica".
Saturday, 29th August, at 21.05h, Museumplein, Amsterdam
(live on TV, NPO 2)
------------------------------------------
They then provided a link to the “Uitmarkt” (http://www.uitmarkt.nl/download/uitmarkt-2015-programma-english.pdf) which gave the following explanation:
---------------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE UITMARKT
The Uitmarkt is the official opening event of the new cultural season. Entering its 38th year in 2015, it runs from 28 to 30 August. The Uitmarkt is an annual fixture in Amsterdam’s cultural calendar and takes place at Museumplein and Leidseplein.
A free festival, the Uitmarkt draws around 500,000 visitors each year – visitors who are interested in arts, culture and literature in every shape and form. The Uitmarkt refelects all aspects of Dutch cultural life and focuses on what will be on offer on Dutch stages and in Dutch museums during the coming cultural season. To help maintain the accessible character of the festival, all performances are completely free and all organizations and artists waive their fees for taking part.
(and in the description of the actual program, included…)
Music/pop
SYMFONICA BELGICA
Symfonica Belgica invites music aficionados to the Museumplein to immerse in an assorted showcase of Belgian music and dance fêtes. With a blend of (inter)national artists such as Lara Fabian, Huub van der Lubbe and Tourist Le MC.
----------------------------------------------------------
The performance was really the following day, and that started with Lara posting a picture of herself, at:
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.215378125170359.50343.201065806601591/971942759513888/?type=1&theater
with the caption, “6AM, on my way to Amsterdam... Zie je deze avond ! [See you this evening! – in Dutch].
This was followed six hours later by her posting what seems like a very representative picture of the country, with the caption, “Amsterdam”, at:
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.622966977744803.1073741829.201065806601591/972484329459731/?type=1&theater
and, later in the day, a picture of herself
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/photos/a.622966977744803.1073741829.201065806601591/972585662782931/?type=1&theater
with the caption “Rehearsing for tonight” [in doors, rather than outside as in the rehearsal video].
Afterwards, the conductor Ivan Meylemans posted the following comment on Twitter, "Big privilege to work together with miss Lara Fabian @lfabianofficial for the 1st time in Holland. #uitmarkt2015 @uitinams @hetballetorkest.
One wonders how quickly this all came together…The music program, and the planning for the three days of performances has the appearance of a well-thought out schedule, so in all likelihood it’s been known for some time. It would also explain why Lara had to end her vacation last week. So it may well be that it suddenly occurred to Lara’s team that nothing had been said about this beforehand, and they better catch up, quickly
. Of course, that could be wrong...the Lara Fabian Holland site (https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Lara%20Fabian%20Holland/keywords_top) did not provide any advance notice, either...but the practical effect, for those who didn't read about it elsewhere, was that it limited the ability of Lara's Dutch fans to see her in person, for perhaps the first time. That same situation will not be the case for any shows Lara seems to be planning for the fall, a case in point being her newly announced appearance in Istanbul, on October 15th
www.facebook.com/events/1611815025738990/
with a poster that can be seen at,
www.facebook.com/Larafabianturkiye/photos/a.682431461833636.1073741829.682422835167832/886485608094886/?type=1&theater
Lara seems to be pursuing this ‘Turkish connection’ with the same vigor she has displayed towards Russia. There is no accompanying description of just what sort of show is to be expected, but it is unlikely there will be much from her new album unveiled there; in addition to the language barrier, historically Lara never sings songs from her upcoming new album before it’s out, with the possible exception of any singles that have been released. ‘Quand je ne chante pas’ might therefore be a possibility, especially given the ease with which she sang it in Amsterdam. Otherwise, one would expect some component of her ‘Best of’ tour, if not the whole show. It might be that Lara will be keeping the ‘best of’ program in her back pocket for non-French locales, which would also mean that the backup musicians would be on call when such concerts/locales arise.
In somewhat related news, Tom York, posted the following on his site (https://www.facebook.com/tom.york.7),
“My remix of Make Me Yours Tonight of Lara Fabian just entered in 36th place in ranking of DJ Buzz / Nrj, it's a party no??”
You may remember it’s available on Lara’s ‘Selection’ CD, and can be heard at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=449wvu_apBg
And, with respect to that album…as reported by Lara Fabian Turkey (and the MZ FB site), the hard copy of the CD has finally been made available in Turkey, as seen at:
www.dr.com.tr/Muzik/Selection/Lara-Fabian/Yabanci-Albumler/Pop-Music/Pop/urunno=0000000660228
As we have heard previously, the tracklist is:
DISC 1: 1. Je T'aime 2. Takes Take Me (Radio Edit) 3. Tango 4 Tout 5. Mademoiselle Hyde 6. Si Tu M'aimes 7 Immortelle 8. Desperate Housewife 9. Tu Es Mon Autre 10. Humana 11. Angel 12. Papa Can You Hear Me (Live) 13. Calling You (Live) 14. Adagio (Live) 15. Caruso (Live) 16. Stone Male 17 Voce
DISC 2: 1. Make Me Yours Tonight (Tom York Lounge Mix) 2. Make Me Yours Tonight (Tom York Swedish Mix) 3. Make Me Yours Tonight (Tom York Club Mix) 4. Make Me Yours Tonight (Ceceli Club Mix) 5. Every Woman In Me (Dave Aude Radio Remix)
It's certainly taken a long while...The Lara Fabian Turkey site said they believed the release was timed to coincide with the announcement of the new concert. As can be seen, the price for a double CD is only 5 euros - but - so far it doesn't seem to be available in other countries. The Lara Fabian Turkey site said that they had wanted to be able to make it available elsewhere by sending it out to interested parties themselves, but they were not sure about how to handle the various customs rules in different countries. Maybe it will eventually show up on the big internet sites, e.g., amazon.fr...
And, since we were speaking of Russia above –one of the comments left in conjunction with Lara’s performance in Amsterdam, was the following submission:
Vanessa Karapetyan: “How beautiful Please come to Russia I will write it in every post because you are my life, Lara And I want to see you.”
The response was, “Hello Vanessa ! Lara will surely perform again in Russia too Team Lara”.
Assuming Lara is engaged with publicizing the new album in November, between that time and the start of her France/Belgium concert tour next March (whose dates Lara’s team say will be announced shortly), there would seem to be space for a variety of ventures, including a trip to Russia. If it is to be a real tour, however, it might well wait until late spring or summer (the time of year her Russian concerts were held, historically). From their comment, it would seem Lara and her team are not going to be dissuaded by the current political climate visa vi that country.
Interesting photo(s) of the week: from the Lara Fabian Voice of Passion site,
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianTheVoiceOfPassion/photos/a.789993644349446.1073741860.720473304634814/1230915480257258/?type=1&theater
and from Lara’s appearance in Amsterdam (one of the pictures from Lara Fabian est ton autre ),
www.facebook.com/166959643357708/photos/pcb.887815037938828/887814944605504/?type=1&theater
And so it is “À la rentrée”, the first week in September, and things should be picking up, media-and-otherwise throughout France. Lara got into the swing of it, first by being among the personalities wishing a good ‘return' to Cyril Hanouna of the show Touche Pas à Mon Poste (TPMP)
www.facebook.com/larafabian.artist/videos/727879620689336/?hc_location=ufi
and then with the following message this morning,
“Have a good return to school to all children and parents in France, Belgium, in Quebec, and everywhere in the world.. L”
The topic is of course relevant for Lara and her child as well, and fans wished them good luck. Lara also included a link to an appealing video of children in different countries going to school despite physical obstacles:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIsQ0B43Q9Y&feature=youtu.be
Lou will probably not face the same physical challenges.
Career-wise, we’ll see what this month brings. Even though her new album release is still two months away, Lara appears to have her health, self-confidence and drive for success, so we may very well see her showing up at all sorts of events. Let's see what Lara’s team has in store!
David
