Monsoon Songs

Monsoon - there's magic in the word. There's romance in it, there's life in it. The intoxicating smell of damp earth, sprouting leaves, washed streets, knee-deep water, crisp air and lots of fun, not to forget dark ominous clouds rolling across the sky. The monsoon has inspired many of our art and cultural forms. The monsoon brings with it a feeling of love, longing and romance. It sends pulses racing. The monsoon, of all the seasons, has been a source of inspiration to poets.

Rains are usually associated with feelings of sadness and despondence but in India it is usually associated with romance, rejuvenation of life and joy. Still nature shows off some of her beauty during the rains. Dark clouds hovering in the sky over a scenic beach with coconut palms swaying in the rainy breeze is the usual picture on a postcard or advertisement for a tourist destination.

And of course one of the unforgettable memories of childhood is of children playing in the puddles and rainwater running in ripples across the road and the sweet smell of the earth after the rains. Every dark cloud has a silver lining they say and this is so literally true the sun shining through the rim of the dark clouds looks beautiful as if the cloud has a silver lining and all the trees look so green and washed and the water glistening on the leaves looks like beads of pearls shining on the leaves. Rains are a part of life and a part of nature.

Rains and Indian classical music go hand in hand. Music has always been linked to the emotional context, and as such has a profound influence on the listener. Undoubtedly an intangible and wonderful gift from one human being to another, classical music is considered the language of the gods and has a sublime effect with the sound of the rains. In India classical music has an esoteric experience integral to human existence. Careful intonation has always been at the core of Indian classical music.

Classical Indian music is rich, with its historical, cultural, aesthetic, theoretical, and performing facets. Melody is the fountainhead of this kind of music and ragas are the fundamental organizing principle of Indian classical melody. Ragas meaning colour or passion, are supposed to evoke various moods in the listener. The monsoon ragas, belonging to the Malhar group, are mainly performed during the rains.

You are transported to an intense awareness of the richness of human genius in artistic endeavors, where the sensual pleasure in sound is capable of levitating one to a higher plane of existence, and joy is this journey with the artist riding high on waves and crashing into troughs of spells created by the sound spectrum-the moods of ragas. When you listen to Megh Malhar, you experience it… live it.

There is thunder, there is lightning, heavy rains and human emotions in response to all this. It is not just about a musical arrangement that was composed to honour the rainy season and its consequent impact on the ambience. It has a greater, rather simpler base, which is, in turn, directly linked to folk traditions. From there it was picked up for refinement and codification. That was how Malhar became so classical in appeal and has become so enchantical along with the sound of the rainfall.

Music and dances of welcome herald the coming of the rains. It is the moment of madness, when love seeks love and life knows no death, and the music of the monsoon, the dance of the rain overwhelm our hearts and the spread of our land and leave us trembling in the hazy highlands of desire and fulfillment, of hope and fear, of promise and neglect, that unrecognized moment that cannot distinguish between the first and the last breath!

To see more pictures of monsoons and getting drenched in the rains, visit here...

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