Post by davidhr on Dec 21, 2021 9:06:06 GMT -5
This past week we found out about the ‘something to celebrate’ Lara had announced would be forthcoming associated with her latest album, ‘The Lockdown Sessions’. The news is that it is available for listening and buying on a much more expanded set of platforms. As Lara explained:
-------------------------------------
“After one year of the limited edition Lockdown Sessions, (which have nearly sold out, thank you!) I have decided to share the specialty album across all digital platforms. I wanted to celebrate this with you since it has been so long since we have all been together. I hope you enjoy listening freely to each experiment wherever you are.
Miss you all
#LockdownSessions
Listen now: smarturl.it/LaraLockdownSessions
------------------------------------
A sample was provided on her FB and Instagram pages, at
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/videos/704272657643745
and
As one can see on the site Lara indicated, it is now available for listening on the major download platforms: Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Youtube , Tidal. In addition, it is available to purchase (as mp3s) from
Amazon.com at www.amazon.com/dp/B09NCBRYTJ
Amazon.fr at music.amazon.fr/albums/B09NDR46P5
iTunes at music.apple.com/us/album/lockdown-sessions/1598494261
Previously it was only available to buy at Lara’s store (which still seems to be the only site for CDs and vinyls). Clearly Lara is trying to maximize the amount of listeners who get to hear this ‘specialty’ album. She must be pleasantly surprised by the reaction it has gotten, and has moved away from her tentative presentation of it – in effect, it has been upgraded to a ‘real album’
(and on some sites is now listed as her 15th studio album).
.
As noted by the ‘Lara Fabian Lockdown Sessions’ and the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ FB sites, Lara, as spokesperson for the Leski Foundation provided a video concerning their activities, available at
www.facebook.com/FondationLeski/videos/869392403735829
In it Lara announced that due to a grant of $250,000 from the Minister of Justice, the Leski Foundation has been able to provide additional help to victims of the acts of criminals, including dental health. She notes that this past year has seen a crisis in the number of victims of passion, femicide and violence against women. She also thanks all those volunteers who have made a difference, and the support dogs that the Foundation provides to accompany those with mental problems.
An article appeared in ‘7 Jours’ a bit earlier this month (https://www.7jours.ca/2021/12/08/apres-deux-ans-loin-de-lui-lara-fabian-va-enfin-retrouver-son-pere); here’s the translation:
--------------------------------
After two years away from him, Lara Fabian will finally find her father
Before meeting the new cohort of young singers at Star Academy in mid-January, Lara Fabian has planned to spend a month in Europe. "I'm going to find my daddy, whom I haven't seen for some time. He will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Christmas Day - he was born on December 25th!” The singer was eager to be able to cross the Atlantic again to reach her native land and see her father, whom she has not hugged for almost two years.
Since she returned to settle in Quebec, there have been fewer opportunities for her to reunite with her family and that of her husband, Gabriel, as well as her Belgian and French friends. She did not wish to give details of their program during these few weeks across the Atlantic, but we can bet that she will be full of fatherly love during all this time. Lara Fabian will be back to take over the management of the Academy in January.
-----------------------------------
And, following that up, in Star Academie news, first a nice video of the ‘Academic Staff’ for the show this season, at
www.facebook.com/staracademietva/videos/694578794844022
And then in what certainty cannot be classified as a surprise, the cameras will be back following the Academicians, but with a little additional footage, as discussed in (https://hollywoodpq.com/retour-des-cameras-a-lacademie/):
------------------------------
It's the return of 24-hour cameras to the Academy!
Good news for all Videotron subscribers, the daily cameras will be on in the Academy, once again this year! Exclusively for Videotron customers, the cameras will reveal the moments of the candidates' daily life, new friendships, all the courses, and more! We will even be able to follow the lessons with them, live, enough to become musicians ourselves! Obviously, for all those who are not Videotron customers, do not panic! Since we will have access to daily broadcasts that promise to be full of surprises and learning for academics! New this year: the studios and the bus will be filmed, like the Waterloo manor… Wow, even more content! We will get to know our academicians well during the season, we can't wait!
“Good news, the 24/7 cameras are back!
Offered exclusively to Mobility and Helix Télé customers of Videotron , these hours of original content will provide unique access to the life of Academicians, live from Waterloo, MELS studios and even from the bus!
The opportunity to know EVERYTHING about the course of the Academicians!
______
The final audition: January 10 to 13, 7:30 p.m.
Variety: Sunday 7 p.m., from January 16
TVA and TVA+
------------------------------------------------------
In news concerning her book, Lara was featured in an interview with 'Flash Magazine', and the Lara Fabian America FB site posted the following picture
www.facebook.com/983468525139880/photos/a.1016771981809534/2195992063887514/
and link (http://www.flashmagazine.ca/2021/12/15/%e2%84%96-21-decembre-janvier/?fbclid=IwAR3M_V5ZCSbcn97SzuPbJrBqUzMHJjsYQcddaMyBi5IUb67yIvQvNEUrhiA),
noting that it’s available for download free. They also posted the scans (thank you!); here’s the translation:
-----------------------------
Lara tells her story and cooks!
We can affirm that the singer Lara Fabian has had a busy year in 2021 during which her popularity has increased in Quebec. She was first director of the Academy for the popular show Star Académie which aired last winter. Viewers of course knew the performer who has had a career for more than thirty years, but with the broadcast of this program, they were able to discover a Lara that they knew perhaps a little less, a woman who is endearing, moving, sensitive, passionate, devoted and touching.
"I agree with you”, she confides in an interview. “I think that all of a sudden the human side of things came to the forefront and brought out something that people hadn't seen in me before."
It is already known that Lara will resume her role as director in January - the first gala will be held on Sunday, January 16 at TVA – and, voilà, on November1, she offered us her first cookbook entitled ‘Je passe à table’.
"I've received very good feedback, people seem to be very happy people seem to be very happy with this somewhat new idea of telling their stories while at the table," says Lara.
In this cookbook, there are of course many dishes that one will enjoy concocting and tasting, but this book is enriched with stories that the singer tells us. Her childhood, her relatives, her daughter Lou, her many trips, Sicily, Brussels, that nightmare lived in Russia, everything is there. From anecdotes related to food, others not, with which Lara tells us about her journey, her ups and downs, the international success and then the descent into hell, her mother's departure, her intolerance to gluten. Among other things. It's passionate, well written, and it gives us of course a taste for cooking.
You had this idea for a long time of doing a book like this?
Lara: Yes, I didn't want to do a standard biography, it seemed a bit heavy. I didn't want to dwell on my story, for me it didn't make sense halfway through. I tried to find a convergence that was relevant to me, and that seemed to be the right idea.
We discover with your book that you are passionate about cooking. You don't present yourself as a chef, but as a mother and a companion who simply loves to get together in the kitchen to cook?
Lara: Yes, so much! It's been like that since always- it's been passed down to me from my grandmother and my mother.
In the kitchen, are you the type of person who repeats the same recipes or are you more daring?
Lara: I'm more of an adventurer, like in my life.
So you like to discover new foods, new dishes?
Lara: Absolutely. If you say to me, "You're going to eat, for example, dried carp eggs wrapped in a lotus leaf, with a sauce that has an exotic base maybe poisonous, I will try it.
I like to keep things unique in the kitchen, and I try, most of the time, to focus on what is local.
You’ve made discoveries in Quebec?
Lara: Oh my God, yes, there is a lot of richness there, for example some cheeses, some vegetable producers, some incredible berry producers. It's spectacular what we have here.
You made the recipes in the book, and had a stylist do the presentation. Are there any dishes that you haven't made in a long time?
Lara: No, not really, because these are recipes that speak of my daily life. They are recipes that I have passed on to my children and young adults.
Last year, when you were on Star Academy, did you still cook?
Lara: Yes, I always cooked even if I entered late. I always managed to make something the night before for the next day. For me, cooking is a gesture that brings the family together at the table and allows a moment of sharing. It is fundamental for me.
It is also a way for you to escape?
Lara: Yes, absolutely, and above all, it is a way to free yourself afterwards.
If you invite me to your place, what are you going to prepare to make me fall in love?
Lara: Probably Osso Buco or Risotto. Things that I could make with a lot of ease and I would really put all my enthusiasm into it, there's a good chance that you'd fall for it," she says, laughing.
Speaking of winning recipes, you're getting ready to do Star Academy again for a second season, you must be looking forward to meeting the candidates?
Lara: Oh yes, my God! I'm really looking forward to going through it again and seeing how I can contribute this year. It's always a bit of an unknown before it starts.
In addition to Star Ac, do you have an album project?
Lara: I'm writing these days, I'm writing things.
Do you have any ideas for a second book?
Lara: Yes, because my life is long, I've had some epic adventures around the table to make some fundamental parts of my life happen. So where, absolutely, I don’t lack for ideas. It will be very different, but just as endearing, I hope.
------------------------------------------
And speaking of the book, here is the next translated extract from ‘Je passe a table’:
-----------------------------------------
Fourth Story - Shock of the Return
Primary school, academy
I have grown up, I am now seven years old.
The winters in Sicily are over. I'm going back to school.
I remember this shock that I will live every day of my first school year, without ever really getting used to it.
Dad takes me every morning in his Volkswagen van to Saint Ursula, my primary school, before going to work.
The windshield is always covered with rain, chased by the windshield wipers. The reflection of the red reflectors of the car in front of us makes purple waves on dad's face. The waves must be on my face too, it suits me well...it hides my tears, the mornings when I miss my island too much.
Later in the afternoon, the same waves are there to hide my confusion. When I come back from school, it's already dark, and dad comes to pick me up in a van, it's all dark. He asks me if my day went well.
I remain in silence, because I can't express my feelings. I can't explain to myself why I am so sad. Why being different from others is a problem. I simply don't understand it.
I wasn't raised that way.
It's true that I don't look anything like those pretty blue-eyed sylphs, one hundred percent Brussels.
These pretty girls, perfect in their navy blue uniforms, have a white bread sandwich with ham and mayonnaise and a green apple in their lunch box.
They usually excel in mathematics.
Not me.
My lunchboxes are filled with my mother's culture and generosity. They often arouse curiosity and mockery. To me, they look like our summer tables. I close my eyes, hiding away.
When you are small and don't understand the other person, you are often mean in spite of yourself. So, it’s necessary for me to get used to it and I get inside my own head. Friends are rare, those I dream of having don't work out for me.
I believe that it is there that my first melodies and my first texts appeared without warning.
A little bit like we don't control our mind anymore. A bit like finding an outlet for what seems to us unfair and incomprehensible.
That year, my parents bled themselves and gave me an upright piano, a mahogany Petrof. It is still at dad's house.
They enroll me in music at the Royal Conservatory, not far from my school. There, I meet another Belgian-Italian family: their daughter Francesca, gifted in everything, will take musical theory lessons with me.
Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Francesca's mother, Mrs. Nastri, will welcome me at her home.
She will pick me up at the exit of the school and will take care of me. On the kitchen table of this magnificent mansion, a big sugar snack, cake, cookies, hot chocolate, hot tea, fruits...
The children laughing.
A little air of Sicily that warms my heart.
Daddy is all black when he comes home from work
My mom, who has now learned to drive, picks us up at the music academy at 6:30 p.m. and drives my friend home, before returning to our house.
At home, commotion: dad is about to arrive from work. We always eat together, even if it is late. Family meals are sacred!
So it’s necessary to get a move on. It’s necessary to run his bath, start supper. And do the homework.
When mom has little time, she takes out her pressure cooker, puts the desired vegetables in it and quickly fries a piece of meat.
It must be said that mom quickly adapted and that she incorporated into her menus several dishes adored by my father, all from his childhood.
At the same time, I empty my satchel, my lunch box, I run his bath water, then set the table and open my math notebooks ...
I am not in bed.
As if by magic, everything is done in a fluid way, the saucepan is on the fire. The table is ready.
Daddy already in the bath, mom closed the door behind her. In her pretty sonorous voice, she tells me: "Laruccia (pronounces Larutcha), go get daddy's clean pajamas in the nightstand next to our bed."
I am not allowed to enter the bathroom, I have to put the pajamas and the slippers down in front of the sliding door of the tiny bathroom in the hallway.
All I know is dad comes out clean and all smiles. Glad to sit down at the table to eat this wonderful creamy and fragrant hotpot.
At the last minute, mom fries the three slices of bacon bought at the butcher's shop in the little store next to us. Everything is perfect.
Tomorrow will be another day that will bring me a little closer to my Sicilian summer.
I was freediving. But all went well, it had to.
---------------------------------------------------------
A story that sort of dovetails with her going back to Belgium this month, described in the previous article – but currently Belgium (and particularly her father) is the home she is missing.
Interesting photo(s)/video(s) of the week:
Certainly the appearance of Lara’s ‘Lockdown Sessions’ songs on youtube is the lead item here; and one has to say, they sound wonderful. At the time of this writing, ‘Listen to the Silence”, for example, is at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zv8MAQEvxE
has 14,000 views (listeners), with most of the others (so far) between 1500 and 3000. It’s nice to see these songs ‘unleashed’.
If one thinks that the appearance of Lou on some of these songs is in any way ‘cute’, then it would be appropriate to have a ‘cute’ interesting set of pictures of Lara, and such is provided by the larafabian_fanpage_ Instagram site
They feature a potential ‘companion animal’ for Lou (at least when she was younger)…
The ‘Lara Fabian Lockdown Sessions’ provided a reminder of the song ‘What If’ performed by Lara on the soundtrack of the animated film "The Giant Battle of Snowballs 2", and provided a youtube link for the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3IihIDNeEQ) – listed as being from Lara’s official youtube channel. Unfortunately the song/video is no longer available there. Instead, it can be found at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9dwnNj6vS4,
(which is also on Lara’s official channel). The song can also be found on various streaming platforms (e.g., Apple Music (music.apple.com/us/album/what-if/1440335705?i=1440336640).
This also gives us a chance to remind people of Lara’s youtube channel,
www.youtube.com/channel/UC1gUvXeeznSixecbi16b8yg
One can find various official music videos, and songs from most of her albums (except the first two), including the Lockdown Sessions, as noted earlier.
It has 544,000 subscribers.
If Lara is really spending the rest of this month and the beginning of January in Belgium, good luck to her. The Belgium COVID – Coronavirus Statistics Worldometer (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/belgium/) indicates that the number of new cases peaked earlier this month at close to its all time high, though it has since been reduced by about one-half. Still, it is above 10,000 new cases daily, with 500,000 active cases. The number of deaths, fortunately, has not (yet) shown an equivalent peak, presumably thanks at least in part to vaccinations. In Brussels itself (https://coronalevel.com/Belgium/Brussels/), the trend is somewhat similar, though with reduced numbers (currently 1000 new daily cases). Presumably all concerned are being careful – both Lara and her fans, wherever you are. Have a happy holiday, everybody,
David
-------------------------------------
“After one year of the limited edition Lockdown Sessions, (which have nearly sold out, thank you!) I have decided to share the specialty album across all digital platforms. I wanted to celebrate this with you since it has been so long since we have all been together. I hope you enjoy listening freely to each experiment wherever you are.
Miss you all
#LockdownSessions
Listen now: smarturl.it/LaraLockdownSessions
------------------------------------
A sample was provided on her FB and Instagram pages, at
www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial/videos/704272657643745
and
http://instagram.com/p/CXjWlJrLYgG
As one can see on the site Lara indicated, it is now available for listening on the major download platforms: Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Youtube , Tidal. In addition, it is available to purchase (as mp3s) from
Amazon.com at www.amazon.com/dp/B09NCBRYTJ
Amazon.fr at music.amazon.fr/albums/B09NDR46P5
iTunes at music.apple.com/us/album/lockdown-sessions/1598494261
Previously it was only available to buy at Lara’s store (which still seems to be the only site for CDs and vinyls). Clearly Lara is trying to maximize the amount of listeners who get to hear this ‘specialty’ album. She must be pleasantly surprised by the reaction it has gotten, and has moved away from her tentative presentation of it – in effect, it has been upgraded to a ‘real album’
(and on some sites is now listed as her 15th studio album).
.As noted by the ‘Lara Fabian Lockdown Sessions’ and the ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ FB sites, Lara, as spokesperson for the Leski Foundation provided a video concerning their activities, available at
www.facebook.com/FondationLeski/videos/869392403735829
In it Lara announced that due to a grant of $250,000 from the Minister of Justice, the Leski Foundation has been able to provide additional help to victims of the acts of criminals, including dental health. She notes that this past year has seen a crisis in the number of victims of passion, femicide and violence against women. She also thanks all those volunteers who have made a difference, and the support dogs that the Foundation provides to accompany those with mental problems.
An article appeared in ‘7 Jours’ a bit earlier this month (https://www.7jours.ca/2021/12/08/apres-deux-ans-loin-de-lui-lara-fabian-va-enfin-retrouver-son-pere); here’s the translation:
--------------------------------
After two years away from him, Lara Fabian will finally find her father
Before meeting the new cohort of young singers at Star Academy in mid-January, Lara Fabian has planned to spend a month in Europe. "I'm going to find my daddy, whom I haven't seen for some time. He will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Christmas Day - he was born on December 25th!” The singer was eager to be able to cross the Atlantic again to reach her native land and see her father, whom she has not hugged for almost two years.
Since she returned to settle in Quebec, there have been fewer opportunities for her to reunite with her family and that of her husband, Gabriel, as well as her Belgian and French friends. She did not wish to give details of their program during these few weeks across the Atlantic, but we can bet that she will be full of fatherly love during all this time. Lara Fabian will be back to take over the management of the Academy in January.
-----------------------------------
And, following that up, in Star Academie news, first a nice video of the ‘Academic Staff’ for the show this season, at
www.facebook.com/staracademietva/videos/694578794844022
And then in what certainty cannot be classified as a surprise, the cameras will be back following the Academicians, but with a little additional footage, as discussed in (https://hollywoodpq.com/retour-des-cameras-a-lacademie/):
------------------------------
It's the return of 24-hour cameras to the Academy!
Good news for all Videotron subscribers, the daily cameras will be on in the Academy, once again this year! Exclusively for Videotron customers, the cameras will reveal the moments of the candidates' daily life, new friendships, all the courses, and more! We will even be able to follow the lessons with them, live, enough to become musicians ourselves! Obviously, for all those who are not Videotron customers, do not panic! Since we will have access to daily broadcasts that promise to be full of surprises and learning for academics! New this year: the studios and the bus will be filmed, like the Waterloo manor… Wow, even more content! We will get to know our academicians well during the season, we can't wait!
“Good news, the 24/7 cameras are back!
Offered exclusively to Mobility and Helix Télé customers of Videotron , these hours of original content will provide unique access to the life of Academicians, live from Waterloo, MELS studios and even from the bus!
The opportunity to know EVERYTHING about the course of the Academicians!
______
The final audition: January 10 to 13, 7:30 p.m.
Variety: Sunday 7 p.m., from January 16
TVA and TVA+
------------------------------------------------------
In news concerning her book, Lara was featured in an interview with 'Flash Magazine', and the Lara Fabian America FB site posted the following picture
www.facebook.com/983468525139880/photos/a.1016771981809534/2195992063887514/
and link (http://www.flashmagazine.ca/2021/12/15/%e2%84%96-21-decembre-janvier/?fbclid=IwAR3M_V5ZCSbcn97SzuPbJrBqUzMHJjsYQcddaMyBi5IUb67yIvQvNEUrhiA),
noting that it’s available for download free. They also posted the scans (thank you!); here’s the translation:
-----------------------------
Lara tells her story and cooks!
We can affirm that the singer Lara Fabian has had a busy year in 2021 during which her popularity has increased in Quebec. She was first director of the Academy for the popular show Star Académie which aired last winter. Viewers of course knew the performer who has had a career for more than thirty years, but with the broadcast of this program, they were able to discover a Lara that they knew perhaps a little less, a woman who is endearing, moving, sensitive, passionate, devoted and touching.
"I agree with you”, she confides in an interview. “I think that all of a sudden the human side of things came to the forefront and brought out something that people hadn't seen in me before."
It is already known that Lara will resume her role as director in January - the first gala will be held on Sunday, January 16 at TVA – and, voilà, on November1, she offered us her first cookbook entitled ‘Je passe à table’.
"I've received very good feedback, people seem to be very happy people seem to be very happy with this somewhat new idea of telling their stories while at the table," says Lara.
In this cookbook, there are of course many dishes that one will enjoy concocting and tasting, but this book is enriched with stories that the singer tells us. Her childhood, her relatives, her daughter Lou, her many trips, Sicily, Brussels, that nightmare lived in Russia, everything is there. From anecdotes related to food, others not, with which Lara tells us about her journey, her ups and downs, the international success and then the descent into hell, her mother's departure, her intolerance to gluten. Among other things. It's passionate, well written, and it gives us of course a taste for cooking.
You had this idea for a long time of doing a book like this?
Lara: Yes, I didn't want to do a standard biography, it seemed a bit heavy. I didn't want to dwell on my story, for me it didn't make sense halfway through. I tried to find a convergence that was relevant to me, and that seemed to be the right idea.
We discover with your book that you are passionate about cooking. You don't present yourself as a chef, but as a mother and a companion who simply loves to get together in the kitchen to cook?
Lara: Yes, so much! It's been like that since always- it's been passed down to me from my grandmother and my mother.
In the kitchen, are you the type of person who repeats the same recipes or are you more daring?
Lara: I'm more of an adventurer, like in my life.
So you like to discover new foods, new dishes?
Lara: Absolutely. If you say to me, "You're going to eat, for example, dried carp eggs wrapped in a lotus leaf, with a sauce that has an exotic base maybe poisonous, I will try it.
I like to keep things unique in the kitchen, and I try, most of the time, to focus on what is local.
You’ve made discoveries in Quebec?
Lara: Oh my God, yes, there is a lot of richness there, for example some cheeses, some vegetable producers, some incredible berry producers. It's spectacular what we have here.
You made the recipes in the book, and had a stylist do the presentation. Are there any dishes that you haven't made in a long time?
Lara: No, not really, because these are recipes that speak of my daily life. They are recipes that I have passed on to my children and young adults.
Last year, when you were on Star Academy, did you still cook?
Lara: Yes, I always cooked even if I entered late. I always managed to make something the night before for the next day. For me, cooking is a gesture that brings the family together at the table and allows a moment of sharing. It is fundamental for me.
It is also a way for you to escape?
Lara: Yes, absolutely, and above all, it is a way to free yourself afterwards.
If you invite me to your place, what are you going to prepare to make me fall in love?
Lara: Probably Osso Buco or Risotto. Things that I could make with a lot of ease and I would really put all my enthusiasm into it, there's a good chance that you'd fall for it," she says, laughing.
Speaking of winning recipes, you're getting ready to do Star Academy again for a second season, you must be looking forward to meeting the candidates?
Lara: Oh yes, my God! I'm really looking forward to going through it again and seeing how I can contribute this year. It's always a bit of an unknown before it starts.
In addition to Star Ac, do you have an album project?
Lara: I'm writing these days, I'm writing things.
Do you have any ideas for a second book?
Lara: Yes, because my life is long, I've had some epic adventures around the table to make some fundamental parts of my life happen. So where, absolutely, I don’t lack for ideas. It will be very different, but just as endearing, I hope.
------------------------------------------
And speaking of the book, here is the next translated extract from ‘Je passe a table’:
-----------------------------------------
Fourth Story - Shock of the Return
Primary school, academy
I have grown up, I am now seven years old.
The winters in Sicily are over. I'm going back to school.
I remember this shock that I will live every day of my first school year, without ever really getting used to it.
Dad takes me every morning in his Volkswagen van to Saint Ursula, my primary school, before going to work.
The windshield is always covered with rain, chased by the windshield wipers. The reflection of the red reflectors of the car in front of us makes purple waves on dad's face. The waves must be on my face too, it suits me well...it hides my tears, the mornings when I miss my island too much.
Later in the afternoon, the same waves are there to hide my confusion. When I come back from school, it's already dark, and dad comes to pick me up in a van, it's all dark. He asks me if my day went well.
I remain in silence, because I can't express my feelings. I can't explain to myself why I am so sad. Why being different from others is a problem. I simply don't understand it.
I wasn't raised that way.
It's true that I don't look anything like those pretty blue-eyed sylphs, one hundred percent Brussels.
These pretty girls, perfect in their navy blue uniforms, have a white bread sandwich with ham and mayonnaise and a green apple in their lunch box.
They usually excel in mathematics.
Not me.
My lunchboxes are filled with my mother's culture and generosity. They often arouse curiosity and mockery. To me, they look like our summer tables. I close my eyes, hiding away.
When you are small and don't understand the other person, you are often mean in spite of yourself. So, it’s necessary for me to get used to it and I get inside my own head. Friends are rare, those I dream of having don't work out for me.
I believe that it is there that my first melodies and my first texts appeared without warning.
A little bit like we don't control our mind anymore. A bit like finding an outlet for what seems to us unfair and incomprehensible.
That year, my parents bled themselves and gave me an upright piano, a mahogany Petrof. It is still at dad's house.
They enroll me in music at the Royal Conservatory, not far from my school. There, I meet another Belgian-Italian family: their daughter Francesca, gifted in everything, will take musical theory lessons with me.
Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Francesca's mother, Mrs. Nastri, will welcome me at her home.
She will pick me up at the exit of the school and will take care of me. On the kitchen table of this magnificent mansion, a big sugar snack, cake, cookies, hot chocolate, hot tea, fruits...
The children laughing.
A little air of Sicily that warms my heart.
Daddy is all black when he comes home from work
My mom, who has now learned to drive, picks us up at the music academy at 6:30 p.m. and drives my friend home, before returning to our house.
At home, commotion: dad is about to arrive from work. We always eat together, even if it is late. Family meals are sacred!
So it’s necessary to get a move on. It’s necessary to run his bath, start supper. And do the homework.
When mom has little time, she takes out her pressure cooker, puts the desired vegetables in it and quickly fries a piece of meat.
It must be said that mom quickly adapted and that she incorporated into her menus several dishes adored by my father, all from his childhood.
At the same time, I empty my satchel, my lunch box, I run his bath water, then set the table and open my math notebooks ...
I am not in bed.
As if by magic, everything is done in a fluid way, the saucepan is on the fire. The table is ready.
Daddy already in the bath, mom closed the door behind her. In her pretty sonorous voice, she tells me: "Laruccia (pronounces Larutcha), go get daddy's clean pajamas in the nightstand next to our bed."
I am not allowed to enter the bathroom, I have to put the pajamas and the slippers down in front of the sliding door of the tiny bathroom in the hallway.
All I know is dad comes out clean and all smiles. Glad to sit down at the table to eat this wonderful creamy and fragrant hotpot.
At the last minute, mom fries the three slices of bacon bought at the butcher's shop in the little store next to us. Everything is perfect.
Tomorrow will be another day that will bring me a little closer to my Sicilian summer.
I was freediving. But all went well, it had to.
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A story that sort of dovetails with her going back to Belgium this month, described in the previous article – but currently Belgium (and particularly her father) is the home she is missing.
Interesting photo(s)/video(s) of the week:
Certainly the appearance of Lara’s ‘Lockdown Sessions’ songs on youtube is the lead item here; and one has to say, they sound wonderful. At the time of this writing, ‘Listen to the Silence”, for example, is at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zv8MAQEvxE
has 14,000 views (listeners), with most of the others (so far) between 1500 and 3000. It’s nice to see these songs ‘unleashed’
.If one thinks that the appearance of Lou on some of these songs is in any way ‘cute’, then it would be appropriate to have a ‘cute’ interesting set of pictures of Lara, and such is provided by the larafabian_fanpage_ Instagram site
http://instagram.com/p/CXg6w3MIbmo
They feature a potential ‘companion animal’ for Lou (at least when she was younger)…
The ‘Lara Fabian Lockdown Sessions’ provided a reminder of the song ‘What If’ performed by Lara on the soundtrack of the animated film "The Giant Battle of Snowballs 2", and provided a youtube link for the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3IihIDNeEQ) – listed as being from Lara’s official youtube channel. Unfortunately the song/video is no longer available there. Instead, it can be found at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9dwnNj6vS4,
(which is also on Lara’s official channel). The song can also be found on various streaming platforms (e.g., Apple Music (music.apple.com/us/album/what-if/1440335705?i=1440336640).
This also gives us a chance to remind people of Lara’s youtube channel,
www.youtube.com/channel/UC1gUvXeeznSixecbi16b8yg
One can find various official music videos, and songs from most of her albums (except the first two), including the Lockdown Sessions, as noted earlier.
It has 544,000 subscribers.
If Lara is really spending the rest of this month and the beginning of January in Belgium, good luck to her. The Belgium COVID – Coronavirus Statistics Worldometer (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/belgium/) indicates that the number of new cases peaked earlier this month at close to its all time high, though it has since been reduced by about one-half. Still, it is above 10,000 new cases daily, with 500,000 active cases. The number of deaths, fortunately, has not (yet) shown an equivalent peak, presumably thanks at least in part to vaccinations. In Brussels itself (https://coronalevel.com/Belgium/Brussels/), the trend is somewhat similar, though with reduced numbers (currently 1000 new daily cases). Presumably all concerned are being careful – both Lara and her fans, wherever you are. Have a happy holiday, everybody,
David
