KARACHI, March 18: Abida Perveen and a band of equally gifted folk singers from the interior of Sindh and Balochistan on Saturday night sent a highly receptive audience into raptures as the Dawn Group of Newspapers gave the Aurora Awards to some of the most prodigiously talented people of the advertising industry.

The Aurora Awards for Excellence in Advertising were first held in December 1992 at Baleji Beach.

Leon Menezez and Ayeshah Alam, who looked absolutely stunning in what looked like a violet sari from afar, explained to the audience that Aurora is the radiant Roman goddess of dawn.

“The awards are basically divided into four categories: Aurora-Boreas, Aurora-Zephyr, Aurora-Eurus and Aurora-Notus. Boreas, Zephyr, Eurus and Notus were Aurora’s four sons,” they said.

Sitting on the lawns of the Mohatta Palace and enjoying a light breeze from the Arabian Sea, the audience patiently listened to the brief lecture on Greek mythology.

Some of those who were still curious about the gourmet food they had eaten earlier were relieved when the Chief Executive Officer of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, Hameed Haroon, had the menu distributed and shed much-needed light on Prawns Mohana, Mutton Chops Kohistani, Pakora Maghazi, Chicken Morano, Goth Chattpato Jo Tempuro, Ra’oo Samundi, Murgh Shikargarhi, Kofta Nizamshahi, Shah Shuja Jo Murgh, Noorie’s Ransom, Daal Sehwani, Poulet A La Facon Pondicherry, Tournedos Manucci and Coupe Zafarelli.

Mr Haroon also announced that the Aurora Awards would now be given every three years.

In addition to 18 competitive awards (reported in the March 18, 2007 edition of Dawn), 10 lifetime achievement awards were presented to S.M. Shahid, Sultan Mahmood, F.H. Punthakey, Rashid Thanvi, Bashir Mirza, S.M. Akhlaq, C.A. Ghafoor, C. A. Rauf, Naseer Haider and S.H. Hashmi.

The moderators of the show repeatedly pointed out to the audience that the music performances they were being treated to represented a dying art. The folk singers whose highly soulful performances brightened the evening included famous Sharnai player Abdul Faqir, Dhamali Alam Faqir, flute player Ghous Buksh Brohi, Sanam Marvi, Mohammad Faqir Junior, Aziz Baloch, Akhtar Chenar Zehri and Faqirs from the tomb of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai.