Lara Fabian in 2012: New Tour, New Album, But No New Movie!

Lara Fabian, the Belgo-Canadian voice behind hits such as I Will Love Again and Adagio, will have a pretty busy 2012, with a new tour and a new album on the way. Unfortunately, her most anticipated project, a musical film called "Mademoiselle Zhivago", was just cancelled, after three years of shooting, editing and promoting.

In 2010, the singer-songwriter embarked on a cinematographic project with the Ukrainian director Alan Badoev: a musical film, called Mademoiselle Zhivago, where 12 unique stories are connected through one single feminine soul represented by different women in different times, from the past to the future. The movie will be the visual depiction of the complex story that the homonymous musical album describes in 12 songs (with a bonus cover), written in 4 different languages by Lara Fabian herself and composed by the Russian composer Igor Krutoy. "Doctor Zhivago", a famous novel written by Boris Pasternak and first published in 1957, is cited as a strong inspiration behind the project. Curiously, it's after one of the main characters of the book that Lara Fabian was named when she was born.

While the album has been made available in the Eastern European music market since 2010 (and will be released in France and Belgium in June and September, respectively), the musical film never had a defined release date. Information given by Lara Fabian in 2011 suggested that the editing work was progressing and that 2012 could finally be the year of Mademoiselle Zhivago. The singer promised that "ce ne sera pas que de la musique... mais beaucoup plus..." _{("It will be much more than just music")}. However, in April 2012, despite being made clear that the film was ready for launch, Fabian announced that it would not be released, because of conflicting artistic visions between herself and Alan Badoev. The latter disagrees with this position and hopes to be able to publicly display the movie, but 200 000$ for the movie rights, plus an undefined amount of money for the songs' rights (owned by Fabian), stand between him and his goal.

The final visual outcome of 'one of the most important projects' of Lara Fabian's life may be yet to be seen, but the music has been presented in several international stages, from Ukraine to Kazakhstan. However, it was in Russia that the promotional efforts were focused, peaking in a fully sold-out 4-night residency in The Kremlin Palace (in Moscow) in late 2010, the most important concert hall in the country. Not much of Mademoiselle Zhivago has been included in her tracklist for her concerts in 2012, but that hasn't stopped her anxious fans from compulsively buying tickets. Where have they seen her and where will they see her next?

In February 14th and 15th, 2012, Lara Fabian had planned to return to the international scene with two shows close to Lebanon's capital, Beirut, in the prestiged Casino du Liban. The ticket prices, which ranged between $200 and $500 (including dinner and drinks), had sparked some controversy.

However, a greater scandal arised when Lebanese activists aggressively campaigned for a boycott of the shows, given Lara Fabian's publicly displayed pro-Israel stance: Lara performed in France, in 2008, in an event where Israel's 60th anniversary was being celebrated, and shouted "I love you, Israel" before leaving the stage. Led by Asad Ghsoub, the Lebanese activists tried to involve Lebanon's government in the controversy, and their campaign escalated up to the point of sending death threats to Lara Fabian if she decided to go ahead with the shows. Choosing to protect herself, the singer cancelled her presentations and posted an open letter to her Lebanese fans in her official Facebook page, declaring her position, not as pro-Israel, but as pro-love and peace. Also, to compensate for her physical absence, she announced that she would perform a special show for Lebanon 'virtually'. The show, called "Entre Vous Et Moi...", was broadcast in MTV Lebanon and Radio Nostalgie Liban in February 14th, with guest stars Anggun, Sofia Essaïdi, Véronic DiCaire and Amel Bent. In March, Lara Fabian continued on to Czech Republic, Slovakia, Moldavia and Romania. Her Romanian fan club prepared a surprise for her first show in the country, raising over 4000 papers with a printed heart and the message "Tu Nous A Manqué" ("We Missed You"), bringing the singer to tears. She continued on to Kazakhstan in April, to perform in a charity ball, and Venice welcomed her in May, for a private performance. Israel will follow in June, and new concert dates may be released in time.

Still, to start off 2012, Lara fabian actually performed in France, one of the first countries where her career was established. In January 15th, the singer was in Paris for a private showcase exclusively held for members of her fan club. The fans themselves were invited by the singer to choose each song in her tracklist, and she humorously thanked them in a personal video, posted in her Facebook page, where she invited them to donate her a new lung after the show, considering the demanding tracklist she was given. The show was a success for the fans, with several of them being given the opportunity to ask questions and step on the stage to personally hug Lara Fabian, offer her gifts and even sing with her.

Although her international popularity reached a new and impressive climax in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia (one of the reasons why she was invited to perform at the opening of the Asian Winter Games in Kazakhstan, in January 2011, to a crowd of over 30 000 people), Lara Fabian hasn't lost her fanbase in other parts of the world, namely France, Belgium and Canada. To cater to all of them, the singer announced, in September 2011, that she was in studio working in a new album of originals called Le Secret_{("The Secret")}. Once again, no release dates were announced, but the artist shared some videos in her Facebook page documenting her studio sessions. In one of them, the Portuguese-Belgian singer Nuno Resende can be heard recording a demo for a possible future duet with Lara Fabian, an opportunity he was thankful for.

In fact, Lara Fabian has been dueting often lately, having performed with Voca People in December 2011 and having just recently been included in George Perris' new album Nana Mouskouri's new album Un Souhait (released in April 2012), to duet in the song "Ma Solitude". She was also credited as a songwriter for the song "Dis-moi comment t'aimer". Before that, Fabian was included in Nana Mouskouri's last album Rendez-Vous (released in November 2011), where they sang "La Vie, L'Amour, La Mort". Nana Mouskouri is one of the world's best-selling artists and was previously covered by Lara Fabian in her 2009 album Toutes Les Femmes En Moi.

Lara Fabian was also included in Michael Bolton's latest release, a duets album called Gems (released in June 2011), where the two covered "The Prayer", originally sung by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. A live performance of this duet was included in David Foster's DVD Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends, filmed in Mandalay Bay, Vegas, in October 2010 and released in February 2011. Lara Fabian had already collaborated with Foster before, in 2001. Also, in November 11th 2011, she was invited by the producer to perform at his wedding ceremony in LA. Fabian once again performed "The Prayer", this time in duet with Andrea Bocelli himself.

Lara Fabian also collaborated with Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and South Korean soprano Sumi Jo. The three, together with Igor Krutoy, performed in the New Wave Festival in Latvia, in July 2011, presenting new original songs that are rumored to be part of a future group project.

"I Will Love Again" and "Adagio" were Lara Fabian's biggest hits in the mainstream Anglophone market, but her repertoire is much larger than that, with songs like "Je T'Aime", "Broken Vow" (covered by Josh Groban and Jackie Evancho), "Je Suis Malade" (Serge Lama's original), "Immortelle", "I Guess I Loved You", "La Lettre", "On S'Aimerait Tout Bas" and any more. Her career might have suffered a decline in the already mentioned mainstream Anglophone market, but the singer, whose powerful voice can travel through 4 different octaves, still seems to have a lot to give to her fans. Her flawless vocal technique and dramatic interpretations set her apart for her fans and appreciators. Let's see what else 2012 will bring for her - and us.