{"id":20032213,"date":"2020-03-20T14:15:48","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T08:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=32213"},"modified":"2020-12-10T21:52:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T16:22:30","slug":"rocking-for-the-globe-in-guwahati","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/rocking-for-the-globe-in-guwahati\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocking for the globe in Guwahati"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWhere have our leaders gone? Running a global con. Poison our planet with your fossil fuel marathon,\u201d Rain Jong, the lead vocalist of Rain in Sahara<\/em> belted away at Freemason\u2019s Brew Works, a pub in Guwahati, on February 7 this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based in Guwahati, the largest city of the northeast Indian state of Assam, Rain in Sahara<\/em> is a difficult band to describe. It blends hip hop, rock, R&B, Indian and western classical styles, while calling to its audience to rise to save the planet and humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enthusiastic response they received that evening, as well as their general popularity, shows that this call for the youth to rise against those responsible for the climate emergency resonates powerfully. It helps that India\u2019s northeastern states, as well as the neighbouring countries in the region \u2013 Bhutan and Nepal \u2013 have a robust music scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If we don\u2019t tell the truth now it is not possible to take action\u2026 Basically we are leveraging music, technology and activism to catalyse generations with these issues.”<\/blockquote>Lain Heringman, Keyboard player<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n

Shillong, the capital of the adjacent Indian state of Meghalaya, is colloquially known as the Rock Capital of India, and each state has its music festivals, with many local bands performing. The popularity of Rain Jong and the drummer Rui Xing also known as Majid extends across to Sikkim and Nepal.<\/p>\n

\"The
The drummer, Rui Xing, and the vocalist, Rain Jong, were already well known in the region [image courtesy: Rain in the Sahara]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The group comprises people from various backgrounds, many of them with some sort of musical career or interest before. What has bound them together is a focus on the climate emergency, manipulative politicians and corruption.<\/p>\n

Lain Heringman plays the keyboard. He is a graduate in western classical music from Trinity College in London, and currently runs a social enterprise in Guwahati. It was here that he met like-minded talented musicians – Rui Xing, Rain Jong, the guitarist Pawan Damai and the bassist Rajat Bangia. Unlike him, most were self-taught, but like him, all were interested in making music about the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

This concern is not unique to them. As Rain Jong shouted, \u201cWe rise! We rise!\u2019 from the \u201cYou Think Our Future is a Joke\u201d, the young audience in the pub broke into applause. The song underscores the harsh reality of how increasing emissions and pollution are suffocating their lives. It commits to resolute action. \u201cWe rise!\u201d<\/p>\n

Their message is for the youth to rise against these interconnected problems. The resonance it gets has much to do with local issues that have been ignored, many of them related to the environment. For example one of their biggest hits is \u201cBlack Water\u201d. Heringman said, \u201cit was inspired by a river in Guwahati, right next to my old apartment building that was referred to by almost everyone in the area as a drain. I saw people regularly throwing garbage into it. The river itself had turned black, often smelled foul, and during flooding (which would often shut down the main road it was next to until very recently) immense piles of garbage would accumulate at the bridges.”<\/p>\n