Françoise Cactus / from open access
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.)
In the second half of the 1990s, this Berlin duo was a symbol of the triumph of easy listening and various artisanal lo-fi pop—a golden time indeed! Stereo Total sang and screamed in all languages, covering artists from Celentano to Sylvie Vartan. In particular, they reworked the Tokyo ode by the Japanese band Pizzicato Five, who were also heroes, or rather heroines, of the 1990s. After all, it was the Japanese wave that played a major role in the revival of easy listening. Three years ago, Stereo Total’s singer Françoise Cactus died of breast cancer, and the poignancy that had always resonated in her seemingly carefree compositions became extremely poignant.