On the poetic level , rhyme and couplets are two of the main points that differentiate The island songs from those of the land, the latter still maintaining the form of blank verses with a musical-poetic structure of three half-verses (one verse and a half on each musical strophe)This form of island song can be found in a few narrative sings (like the Syrmaticos from Carpathos) .Furthermore the poetic improvisation and the lively melodies characterizing the island songs are less likely to be found in the songs of the land, the latter being mostly characterized by great embellishment of the melody On a thematic level , the free songs of an epic-lyric character , the so-called "kleftika" so common in the mainland of Greece , are almost absent in most of the insular regions .
   Other points of differentiation include the following: 1) The musical scales used,2)The dances and rhythms, and 3 The instrument.
1)The musical scales used.
Scales lack semitones in the mainland of Greece (mosly in Epirus and Thessaly) but include semitones in the island regions. Probably this dissimilarity is contributing , more than anything else , to the immediately recognizable difference -the so called "ethos" between the sound of mainland and island songs.
2)The dances and rhythms
Three-part , five-part and seven-part rhythms are used in the southern mainland , but also eight-part , nine part and twelve-part rhythms are used in the northern mainland of Greece, corresponding to dances like the Tsamikos, the Syrtos of mainland, the calamatianos , etc.On the conracy , in the islands we find the two-part rhythm dominating, corresponding to the prevailing dances [Syrtos (round dance) and being more widely spread , but also Sousta , Pidichtos and other dances as well].Without ecluding other rhythms .Dances like the Calamatianos ,the Zeibekiko and the Carsialamas, corresponding to assymetrical rhythms (seven-part and nine-part) are considered by the islanders as outlandish, having been brough either from Morias (Pelloponese) or Fron Asia Minor.Moreover , the island dances in general, in contrast with most of the main land dances ,are characterized by a lightness of movement , a suspension of the knees and the small hops of the leading dancers.
3)The instruments
In costrast to the typical mainland Compania (clarinet, violin, lauto, santouri, and tambourine)in which the clarinet in the leading instument, or the older type of Zygia (zournas and dauli), the island songs are mostly associated with the type of zygia including the lyra and the lauto.In the older days the kind of Zygia more widely used (especially in oudoors celebrations0was the one including tsampouna and toumba , or the lyra (usually with its bow bearing little bells) combined with kanonaki, the santuri, the oud , the clarinet, the toumpeleki or the brass have only been locally spread and in limited scale,mostly associated with the areas of Asia Minor(the center being Smyrni in its prime )and also with the influence these had upon the entire Aegean.