Country Roads concert for children ‘Music with Power to Heal’ on 5 October

Friday, 5 September 2014 01:28 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Country Music Foundation (CMF), together with the Mount Lavinia Hotel, presents the 2014 Country Roads concert for children, to be held at the hotel’s historic Main Ballroom on Sunday, 5 October from 6:30 p.m. onwards. This concert marks the 21st time Country Roads will be held over the past 26 years, which also further extends its streak as the longest-running concert series in South Asia, and probably Asia as well. A plethora of international fan favourites will be performing at this year’s concert. The world-renowned Mavericks, hailing from Germany, along with British folk star Astrid Brook will return to perform for their extensive fan following, courtesy SriLankan Airlines. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to this, both Anno Domini and the CMF’s own Country Revival Band (featuring Feizal and The Jury joined by Thilan Wijesinghe) will be performing, showcasing the best Sri Lanka has to offer in terms of country music.

Apart from being a good time, this concert has been undeniably charitably significant, raising millions of rupees for the aid of children, using these funds to build preschools and to provide learning and teaching materials, including building libraries and providing books to disadvantaged children. Furthermore, much of this aid has been channelled towards other noble causes, such as providing tsunami relief after the tumultuous events of 2004 and providing drinking water and mosquito nets for the needy. Providing these relief services across the length and breadth of the country, often with the assistance of organisations like UNICEF, Save the Children, and local community groups such as Sarvodya, all money raised by the concert goes towards a good cause. Keeping this strong tradition of philanthropy alive, all proceeds from the 2014 edition of the Country Roads concert for children will go towards promoting mother and child-friendly initiatives in the plantations sector, in partnership with Save the Children. Commenting on the 2014 Country Roads concert for children, CMF President Feizal Samath said: “The foundation is excited to be working on a new project with Save the Children in enhancing the standard of living and the health status of women and children in plantations.” As part of the plantations initiative program, Ceylon Tea would see the emergence of a new certification that would label it as both mother and child friendly. This new quality standard is likely to both improve the image of Ceylon Tea worldwide. According to the founder of the CMF, proceeds from last year’s 25th anniversary concert were utilised by UNICEF Colombo in a program aiming at evolving a more sensitised approach to handling cases involving children in which training and awareness among magistrates and judges were given priority. With child-related cases being handled by the High Courts and Magistrates’ Courts, the CMF funding which contributed to the training of newly-recruited magistrates helped children’s cases in both the long and short run. This allowed them to deal with children’s cases using child-friendly court procedures and with child-friendly and child-sensitive handling of children. A UNICEF update on the project said that a series of workshops were held in May and June 2014 to sensitise newly-recruited magistrates on handling cases related to child protection, including training on the special court procedures related to children. A field visit was also conducted with the group in order to give the magistrates a first-hand exposure to the issues faced by children. These magistrates visited a number of schools, including Ranmuthugala Certified School for Girls, Ranmuthugala Remand Home for Girls, Makola Certified School for Boys and Makola Remand Home for Boys. Available at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, as well as at selected Cargills Food City outlets, tickets for the 2014 Country Roads Concert for children will be priced at Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 1,500 (limited back row seating). More information is available by calling Dhammika on 2479319 during office hours.