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In the
surrounding villages of Jagdalpur, the Leja song has a significant
place. The Leja has its origin with the 'send off ' ritual to some dear one.
Literally, the Leja means 'take it'. Many of the Leja songs are lengthy. The
rhyming line serves as a relic and could be recited to unfold any song. The
recitative line seldom has any affinity with the actual song. It merely helps to
enhance the form of the song. Any subject could be the theme of the Leja songs.
The Bhatra and the Panka classes of the Adivasi population sing numerous Leja
songs.
The land
of Bastar is known for the Chait Parah and the Dhankul songs.
The former is of the seasonal category while the latter is associated with the
invocation to the goddess Danteshwari.
The stock
of the traditional music of Chattisgarh is semi tribal in texture. It has many
traces of tribal phrases woven into the fabric of its own music. The music of
Chhattisgarh is not fully agricultural in its socio-perspective.
The
marriage songs of the Kamars are generally short. Many of them are addressed to
the trumpeter Moharia. The Dadaria of this region has a pattern of rhyming
lines. They are also called Ban-Bhajans or Salho. The Dadaria has a style of
question-answer rendering.
The basic
structure of the songs from Bundelkhand rests on the medieval sentiments. The
musical compositions of the songs are simple and rigid. They have a few dominant
characteristics of rhyming phrases.
The
Bundelkhand region and Baghelkhand which is the land of the Baghelas are known
for their heroic deeds. Hardaul is the popular deity of both these areas. Though
semi-historical in character, Lala Hardaul has received deep reverence in the
contents of the folk music of Bundelkhand.
The songs
of the poet Isuri came into prominence among the people of this region. His
four-lined compositions (Chaukaria Phag) have become part and parcel of
the folk musical tradition of the region stretching down to Bhopal. In Nimad,
songs attributed to Singa and Daluji are very much alive. The ballads about
Chhatrasal and the Rani of Jhansi have also become one with the existing folk
music. As compared to the seasonal songs and the children's songs the music of
Bundelkhand is not of much antiquity.
There are
romantic Led and the Pai songs. The Pai is
associated with the Saira dance of the rainy season . The Bambulia
of Bundelkhand has religious fervour and is always sung by the people who go for
ceremonial bath to distant rivers. The song corresponds to the Batgamni of
Mithila. The Alha of Jagnik narrates the account of fifty-two battles
fought by both Alha and Udal against Prithviraj of Delhi. The Alha reciters are
known as Alhets.
The dirges
of Nimad are full of pathos and the Sati songs of Malwa are haunted by sadness
while the Jogiras and the songs about Raja Bharthari and the folk devotional type of
Sakhis of Kabir, sing of the transient nature of the world. The Garbi of the
Narmada valley has a softer melody than the Garba songs of Nimad. It has three
variations like the Rewari Garbi, the simple Garbi and the Gujarati Garbi.
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