Culture

Singing in the Rain...

by rumana husain | July 8, 2010 at 03:37 am

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Besides many Pakistani and Indian folk and pop songs and ragas, the rain playlist according to The Express Tribune published from Pakistan includes the following songs. When the Monsoon fever hits the subcontinent, Southasians go a bit crazy! This is what happened in Karachi yesterday, when the city got a taste of its first heavy monsoon showers and despite many streets getting inundated with water, power outages and other myriad problems, in particular for the poor, people were out playing, singing, dancing in the rain... Bob Dylan – “Hurricane” Bob Dylan – “Shelter from the storm” Neil Young – “Like a Hurricane” The Scorpions – “Rock You Like a Hurricane” The Beatles – “Rain” The Beta Band – “Dry the Rain” Travis – “Why Does it Always Rain on Me?” REM -”I’ll Take the Rain” Guns n Roses – “November Rain”

The monsoon season is a source of inspiration for novelists and composers alike in the subcontinent. Rain, like food, is often mentioned in novels published in Pakistan and India, and the number of songs composed about rain would fill several pages.

When asked why poets and singers in the east have stressed on the monsoon season, Arshad Mahmood laughingly says, “Rain brings happiness. This culture of celebrating rain is not new in our culture. People residing in other regions may not know the kind of relief from heat that the people of the subcontinent feel when the monsoon season begins.”