‘Close your eyes and lose yourself’: the Brighton community reviving mehfil culture

On a scorching Saturday in May, close to 100 people are packed into a cosy room in Brighton community venue The Rose Hill. Sitting cross-legged on Persian rugs and sipping drinks, the crowd ranges from a six-month-old baby to couples in their 70s, each listening intently to the sounds of South Asian classical music being performed only a few feet away. 

Over the next 24 hours, 30 artists will take to the makeshift stage to play 15 instruments across eight different lineups, all under one name: mehfil.

Taken from the Arabic term meaning “gathering”, a mehfil in the South Asian classical tradition is an informal, intimate space where musicians can perform to a committed audience and strive to reach the rasa — the emotional essence and connection of a musical work. 

Typically taking place as word-of-mouth, semi-private events in homes or community centres, the mehfil is a space for the diaspora to gather, but at The Rose Hill a new organisation, Mehfil Space, is trying something completely different. 

“I was born in Pakistan and lived in seven countries throughout my childhood but, no matter where we were, my parents would host small musical events in their home and it got me hooked on this sound,” founder Atiya Gourlay says. 

Read the feature in Hyphen.

[This piece was published on 27/05/25]