Question: In *Asterix and the Magic Carpet*, [Cacofonix's](https://www.asterix.com/en/portfolio/cacofonix/) singing produces rain. (Previously, this had never happened.)

**Why is it that when Cacofonix sings, it rains in #28 (*Magic Carpet*, 1987), but not in Books #1-27 (1961-83)?** (Others may disagree, but I find this problematic, puzzling, and in need of explanation.)

(This effect also continues in the next book *Asterix and the Secret Weapon*.)

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Four of the five current answers simply quote from Wikipedia's (unsourced) assertion that there is a French saying that when one sings poorly, it rains.

This could very well be an explanation. But absent either in-universe (i.e. within the comic books, perhaps cleared up in later books) or out-of-universe (e.g. interviews with Uderzo) evidence, this is just speculation. Moreover, it is unsatisfying because it fails to address my above question (in bold).

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Edit: In case it isn't clear, I am not disputing the existence of such a French saying. I am disputing that the existence of such a French saying is a satisfactory explanation to my question. In particular, it fails to explain why Cacofonix's singing had not previously produced rain in the previous 27 books.

Answer: 
This is an ongoing joke that Cacofonix's singing is so bad, it causes negative things to happen (a common trope). 

[![A group proposes a toast at a banquet but Cacofonix starts signing in a  treehouse which causes it to rain; when he stops singing the rain stops again](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6xBoN.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6xBoN.jpg)

According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asterix_characters#Cacofonix) (My emphasis):

> 
> In Asterix and the Normans [his singing] is so unbearable that it teaches the fearless Normans the meaning of fear. In later albums his music is so spectacularly horrible that it actually starts thunderstorms (even indoors), **because of an old French saying that bad singing causes rain.**
> 
> 
> 

The joke even leads to him causing it to rain inside:

[![Cacofonix sings inside and it starts raining in the building, a gentlemen walks passed in the sun and notices it is only raining inside the bulding](https://i.stack.imgur.com/groSL.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/groSL.png)

And sometimes even leads to Cacofonix saving the day:

[![Cacofonix's singing started the monsoon season which was delayed resulting in people bathing in a stream](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wURO3.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wURO3.png)
As many have pointed out, it could be because of the French connection and the French proverb that bad singing may cause rain.

Another possibility could be interpreted from the fact that Watziznehm requests the Gauls to help him with draught in his region in the Ganges region. In the Ganges region, although the timeline doesn't match, back in the days, there exists a myth that a singer "Tansen", residing in a Mughal emperor's court, was capable of causing rain and thunderstorms merely by his singing. It might be a small chance that the writers slipped a reference to Tansen but I wouldn't put it past them to have thought of this too!