Mehfil
A Mehfil ( Hindi : महफिल, mahaphil , also Mahfil , from Arabic محفل, DMG mahfil , “assembly”, “meeting place”) is a form of event of classical North Indian music , but also a dance performance or a poetry recitation. It takes place in India for a small, select audience in an intimate setting.
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 wealthy were at the same time the patrons of the artists for millennia and thus provided the economic basis for generations of artists of Hindustan music.
The semi-classical and religious forms of singing Ghazal , Thumri and Qawwali are also performed as part of a mehfil , although this was more widespread in the past than it is now.
In the mosques in Turkey, Mahfil is a raised platform that is mostly made of wood, corresponding to the Arabic word dikka . The muezzin used to sit on this prayer area, surrounded by a lattice-shaped balcony railing opposite the minbar (preacher's pulpit), or the sultan and his court (sultan's box) during prayer times.
In Indian Sufism , mehfil-e-sama , listening to music, means a way of thinking about God, similar to the Dhikr .