Lengkhawm zaiMizo
Grief, consolation and Christian hope, sung in unison by a seated room over a slow khuang drum pulse. It is the living song form of the region — the one a household will sing all night — and the tune stock is Mizo rather than Welsh, whatever the theology on top of it.
कब गाया जाता है: Funerals, night gatherings, church and revival meetings. Formed in the revival movements of the early twentieth century by fitting new texts to the rhythm of the older village singing, which is why it does not sound like an imported hymn.
HladoMizo
Announcement and self-praise, chanted solo rather than sung, in formulaic lines naming the animal taken. Its melody is shared with the war chant.
कब गाया जाता है: Returning from a successful hunt.
Bawh hlaMizo
The warrior's own account of his success, chanted at pitch and improvised within a fixed frame.
कब गाया जाता है: After a raid, and in its retelling.
Chai hlaMizo
Courtship, village life and boasting, sung by the whole circle with men and women alternating lines as they move. The festival's dance and its song repertoire are the same object.
कब गाया जाता है: Chapchar Kut, danced in the Chai circle.
Chheih hlaMizo
Improvised praise, teasing and commentary on whoever is present, composed on the spot to a repeating tune while the group claps. A form that requires an audience it can name.
कब गाया जाता है: Evening gatherings.
Thuthmun zaiMizo
Condolence sung collectively — a documented older category of Mizo song whose function the lengkhawm zai later absorbed.
कब गाया जाता है: Bereavement and adversity.
Intuk hlaMizo
Satire and ridicule, sometimes affectionate and sometimes not, used to break the weight of a long or solemn gathering.
कब गाया जाता है: Social gatherings.
Puma zaiMizo
An open refrain to which anyone could add a verse. It spread across the Lushai Hills within a few years and is remembered as the first mass cultural movement here that no institution organised.
कब गाया जाता है: Village gatherings, from around 1907.