Chhath geetBhojpuri
Songs to the sun and to Chhathi Maiya, sung on the walk to the ghat and through the night. This is the festival's heartland, and the songs are among the most widely recognised in north India.
Sung at: Chhath, Kartik and Chaitra.
Bhojpur & Purvanchal · Middle & Lower Gangetic Plain
Folk songs
BidesiyaBhojpuri
The man who leaves for Calcutta and the wife who waits. Composed by Bhikhari Thakur in the early twentieth century, when the migration he describes was at its peak.
Sung at: Performed year-round, and at weddings.
PurviBhojpuri
Separation and eastward migration, associated with Mahendar Misir of Saran — the region's own account of what indenture and labour migration did to its households.
Sung at: Sung as a concert and village form.
KajriBhojpuri
Monsoon songs of longing, sung on swings by women and, at Mirzapur, in competitive all-night sessions with professional singers.
Sung at: Sawan.
Chaiti and GhatoBhojpuri
Spring songs addressed to Rama's birth month, sung in a distinctive descending line.
Sung at: Chaitra.
BirhaBhojpuri
Separation, cattle, caste pride and current affairs, sung solo at volume with a chorus refrain — a folk form that became a professional stage industry.
Sung at: Night gatherings and stage competitions.
Sohar and vivah geetBhojpuri
Household life-cycle song, with a large gaari repertoire of ritual abuse aimed at the groom's party.
Sung at: Births and weddings.
NirgunBhojpuri and Hindi
The formless divine and the body's impermanence, in the Kabir line — sung at cremations, including at Manikarnika itself.
Sung at: Deaths and night vigils.
The folk songs of Bhojpur & Purvanchal — what they are about, who sings them and when. (8)