Islamabad, November 9, 2017: Serena Hotels hosted a star-studded evening to launch SARANGI and to conclude the winners for the Photography and Music competition initiated by Serena. Both the photography competition and Sarangi are part of the hotel’s Cultural Diplomacy Initiative which aims to protect and promote the cultural heritage of Pakistan and encourage young talents by providing them with a platform through which their efforts can reach a broader audience.

Mr. Aziz Boolani, CEO of Serena Hotels, said, “Serena continues to promote the arts and intercultural activities to inspire a culture of peace and hope. We truly believe in providing platform to the emerging artists so that they are recognised by a larger audience.Social media was used for the competitions that received tremendous response  from all over Pakistan. Tonight, we are here to promote the incredible creative talent that Pakistan possesses”.

Sarangi – a musical initiative began with an online competition whichallowed amateur bands to compete. The 3 winners out of 50 entrieswere chosen by the professional jury panel comprising of Ali Noor of Noori, music director Nizar Lalani and Sarmad Ghafoor.

The winners of the first SARANGI competition were Sannan Mehboob from Swat, Ahad John & Band from Faisalabad and GoharNayab& Band from Faisalabad. The winners received a trophy, certificate and gifts from Serena Hotel and were given the opportunity to perform in the gathering of diplomats, bureaucrats, journalists and music lovers from Islamabad

The concept behind the photography competition was to give recognition to the emerging architectural photographers of Pakistan. The judges of the photography competition were Mobeen Ansari, Syed Mehdi Bukhari and Wajahat Malik who selected Minhaj Ahmad from Karachi as the winner of the BE THE NEXT SERENA PHOTOGRAPHER and Sakina Hassan, also from Karachi as the runner-up out of 1200 entries.

The evening concluded with a performance by students ofthe Leiflarsen Music Centre (LMC).While thanking the Leiflarsen students, Serena Hotels announced to contribute towards the learning of their skills in the music field.