Mehfil

A Mehfil (Hindi: महफिल, mahaphil, also mahfil, from Arabic محفل, DMG mahfil, " meeting ", " meeting place " ) is an event organized form of North Indian classical music, but also a dance performance or a poetry recitation. It takes place in India for a small, select audience in an intimate setting instead.

Originally Mehfils were held in the private homes of the upper classes and at the courts of the Maharajas and the nobility. These nobles and rich were the same for thousands of years, the patrons of the artist at all, providing the economic foundation for generations of artists of Hindustani music.

The semi-classical and religious forms of singing Ghazal, Thumri and Qawwali coming through Mehfils for performance, but this was in the past more widespread than in the present.

In the mosque in Turkey mahfil is called a raised platform, which consists mostly of wood, according to the Arabic word Dikka. On this, from a latticed balcony railing surrounded the prayer-place opposite the minbar ( pulpit ) sat before the muezzin or prayer during the times of the Sultan and his court ( Sultansloge ).

In the Indian Sufism Mehfil -e- sama means listening to music, a sort of God remembrance, similar to the dhikr.

• Music ( India)