Folk Marriage songs in Madhya Pradesh :

Music from the area includes rural folk and tribal music, ceremonial and ritual music and Indian classical music. Unlike in many parts of India, the people of Madhya Pradesh place few restrictions on who can sing which songs. With the exception of some ritualistic works, people sing songs from across ethnic and racial boundaries.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.

Leja songs : 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.

Chait Parah and the Dhankul 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.

Marriage songs of the Kamars : 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.

Songs of the poet Isuri : 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.

 Led and the Pai songs : 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.