Tanweer Festival opens in Sharjah's Mleiha Desert

The second edition of Tanweer Festival opened on Friday evening in the awe-inspiring Mleiha Desert of Sharjah, setting the stage for a transformative three-day celebration that brings together art, music, heritage, and human connection.

- Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Under the guiding theme “What You Seek Is Seeking You,” inspired by the timeless wisdom of Rumi, the festival welcomed audiences from across the world for starlit concerts, intimate encounters, and shared experiences across four immersive performance spaces.

Framed by the desert’s ancient horizons and the newly inscribed Faya Paleolandscape on the UNESCO World Heritage list, the opening ceremony underlined Tanweer’s vision to convene global talent around values of stewardship, cultural memory, and communal creativity.

In her opening remarks, Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Founder and Visionary of Tanweer Festival, welcomed festivalgoers with a heartfelt message: “At Tanweer, we gather in the sacred Mleiha landscape to pause, reconnect and find stillness far from the rushing, agitated world. Rumi tells us that when we polish the mirror of the heart, we rediscover the light that has always been within us. My hope and belief is that Tanweer offers each of us that - a moment of clarity, presence and renewal.”

Sheikha Bodour’s speech was accompanied by the music of Iraqi santur player Azhar Kubba.