The words “my mum needs to see this” aren’t ones you often hear after 2am at Glastonbury, but that’s what festival-goer Shivali said as she took a video of her fiance dancing to a DJ set inside a new south Asian space in the festival’s iconic Shangri-La area.
From Indian to Nepalese, Bangladeshi to Sri Lankan, and beyond, the representation at Arrivals – Glastonbury’s first ever dedicated south Asian space – was as diverse as the music genres they brought to the stage. As a British-Indian journalist with ties to west Africa, I felt seen and at home in a place that seamlessly and joyously blended sounds and influences from across cultures.
