Country Roads Silver Jubilee show to come alive next month

By Melissa Perera

The Country Music Foundation (CMF) will hold the Country Roads Silver Jubilee show on 17 February, with this year’s extravaganza dedicated to help needy children.

With the theme, ‘A voice for the voiceless’, the 25th anniversary show will feature a top line up of international and local country music talent, from the Mavericks, Astrid Brook and Bob Livingston, to Mariazele Goonetileke, Cosmic Rays, and Juragan Majid and Feizal Samath.

CMF is hosting Country Roads for children in partnership with UNICEF. It will be held from 6.30 p.m. onwards at the Main Ballroom, Hilton Colombo on Sunday, 17 February.

 ‘Helping the needy in music tune’ is the slogan for Country Roads for children. “We will be adding more flair to this year’s concert in celebrating 25 years of a long journey. The entire journey depended totally on volunteerism,” CMF President Feizal Samath said.

“We are attempting to raise a sum of Rs. 1 million from this year’s show, of which the proceeds will go towards a joint project between UNICEF and the Government, to create a third courthouse for cases involving children,” he added.

 “The 25 years of this journey has seen many obstacles and passed many milestones. The projects have gone to many cities, helping Sri Lanka’s children, including Monaragala, Hambanthota and Vavuniya which were indeed heart warming projects.” He said.

UNICEF Sri Lanka Country Representative Reza Hossaini thanked the management of the Country Music Foundation, for their donation and volunteerism in organising such an event and changing the lives of the people through music.

He said, “Music has an incredible power to bring people together and transform societies. Throughout history, it has been used to heal, to express opinions and build bridges of understanding.”

“More recently, musicians and composers have created pieces and concerts to advocate for an end to feminine and hunger, to promote world peace and to teach the youth that there is no difference between colour or race,” he added.

There are only two courts in the country dedicated to children’s cases – the Children’s Court in Battaramulla and the other in Jaffna.

There are also over 4,000 children in the country awaiting justice, many of whom who have to wait for a minimum of six years before their cases come to court and out of them, there are countless number of children who suffer and are abused, neglected and exploited every day, requiring help.

“UNICEF intends to use the proceeds of this upcoming concert to support the programs that promote justice for children. Specifically, we want to help convert the new High Courts into ‘Children’s Courts’, making them child friendly,” he further added.

This is simply just one step being taken to enable the environment for the promotion of child rights in Sri Lanka. “We need to advocate the importance of justice for children,” Reza said.        

Tickets for the concert will be priced at Rs. 750, Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 1,500, and will be available at Cargills Food City outlets at Rajagiriya (Parliament Road), Nawala, Staple Street, Majestic City, Kirulapone and Mt. Lavinia.