Back in the saddle again with Country Roads 2015

South Asia’s longest running concert for children returns for its 27th year

Sri Lanka’s and South Asia’s longest running musical show, the Country Roads concert for children, will be returning for a record 27th year, on Sunday, October 11, 2015, from 6.30 p.m. onwards, at the Main Ballroom of the Mount Lavinia Hotel.

Partnered in 2015 by Mount Lavinia Hotel, Bank of Ceylon, SriLankan Airlines, Sunday Times, E FM, Dialog, Cargills, Firefly and CPR, the Country Roads concert for children has also taken the innovative step of adding www.tickets.lk as its exclusive ticketing partner, with tickets already being sold online, and via SMS, as well as at selected stores.

Additionally, Sri Lankan online crowd funding platform www.help.lk will also be helping out the Country Roads 2015 concert for children by accepting donations on behalf of the three very deserving children’s charities that will be receiving all proceeds from this year’s concert, namely the Meth Mihira School of Special Education, Koralawella, Moratuwa, run by the Sisters’ Of Charity, the Children’s Heart Project of Sri Lanka, currently supporting the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital; and donations of musical equipment to Kudaligama Central College, Kalutara.

Another unique funding initiative this year is the exclusive 10,000-rupee-a-plate special dinner for 50 guests organised by the Country Music Foundation on the eve of the show (October 10) where Dirk of the Mavericks and Astrid Brook will talk about their experiences over the past 10 years of raising funds for the Foundation through music, in an elegant evening of conversation, dinner and music at the Mount Lavinia Hotel.

Importantly, the 2015 Country Roads concert for children will also continue to provide only the highest quality, family friendly entertainment. As such, this year’s show once again features high-calibre, fan-favourite international and local acts, such as the Mavericks from Germany and Astrid Brook from the UK, as well as Sri Lanka’s very popular Flame, Cosmic Rays and Mariazelle.

A very worthy endeavour, the Country Roads concert series has, to date, raised many millions of rupees for children’s charities. In fact, 2014’s concert donated Rs. 500,000 to Save the Children Sri Lanka, to support its mother-and-child programmes on Sri Lankan plantations. It also raised a further Rs. 100,000 for the Oxonian Heart Foundation, which helps to treat the impoverished and destitute with heart disease, and another Rs. 100,000 for a poor family with a special needs child. On its 25th anniversary (2013) since the concert series began in 1988, the CMF raised a million rupees for a special project with UNICEF.

“The Country Roads concert for children, now in its 27th year, is undoubtedly a worthy cause, with all proceeds going towards local children’s charities. However, also important, it is a fun and entertaining Country and Western and Folk Music show, with its own unique style of fun, family-friendly entertainment. So come on down, support some truly exceptional children’s charities, and get back in the saddle again on Sunday, October 11, at 6.30 p.m. onwards, at the main ballroom of the Mount Lavinia Hotel,” said Feizal Samath, the President of the Country Music Foundation, the organiser of the Country Roads concert for children.