La femme/photo: selbymay/Wikimedia commons
Qalam strives to explore the interpenetration of different cultures. To this end, we have decided to launch a series of playlists in which music mediates between different geographical and ideological spaces. Our first playlist is called ‘West to East: One Hundred Best Songs’. It will be updated several times a week, and its curation will focus on how Western pop culture has reflected the realities of the East, whether they are musical, geographical, religious, or political. (The terms ‘West’ and ‘East’ should be taken as broadly and arbitrarily as possible.)
This band from Biarritz is known for combining vibrant colors and an eclectic mix of styles with a general leaning toward retro-exoticism. Perhaps their taste falters sometimes, which seems almost inevitable with such an approach. However, in their best works, when these carnival-like performers calm down slightly, La Femme have the potential to become one of the most striking parts of contemporary French pop music, and this is the case with the final track from their Spain-centric album from two years ago. It is a languid instrumental piece (except for a girl’s whisper promising ‘Maybe, someday’) styled after the times when Andalusia was still known as Al-Andalus, a period remembered in southern Spain through the Moorish architecture, the scent of almonds, and the vibrant Islamic colors on the facades.