The Durutti Column/Stephen Wright/Getty Images
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.)
Vini Reilly, whom we have previously talked about in connection with Morrissey's Bengali-inspired tune, is Manchester's guitar virtuoso, and he is hailed by some as the world's finest six-string maestro. His band The Durutti Column emerged in the early ’80s, technically riding the post-punk and new-wave currents. But make no mistake—they're actually a breed apart!
Imagine instrumental guitar sketches and minimalist lullabies that flirt equally with experimental rock and contemporary classical vibes. Picture Turgenev's poetic description of ‘the sound of strings as if from a guitar that has fallen on a carpet’ and you’ll have an idea of how Vini Reilly plays.
‘Bollywood’, a track from a later album, breaks the mold with vocals, a rarity for The Durutti Column's classic era. Yet it still showcases that unmistakable string drive, this time with an Indian twist.
Incidentally, the band's namesake, the Durutti Column, was an anarchist group in the Spanish Civil War. In a quirky Eastern connection, their leader, Buenaventura Durruti, was portrayed by Georgian actor Vakhtang Kikabidze in the 1976 Soviet-Hungarian film Alias Lukács.