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Mirror Magazine

Country Road widens its horizons
Country Road, Sri Lanka’s landmark country and western concert, is set to take centrestage once again. This year however, the concert (annually held in October since 1988 to coincide with International Children’s Day) will be held in the second week of January, 2004 with new additions to the line-up of musicians.

In addition to the Mavericks and their leader Dirk from Germany, the Country Music Foundation (CMF) says it has also invited Bob Livingston, a singer, songwriter and performer from the United States, who has performed with the likes of Willie Nelson.
‘Country Road VII’, the 12th in the series of country music concerts dedicated to raising funds for needy children in Sri Lanka, is billed to be bigger and brighter, an open-air festival at the Taj Airport Garden Hotel at Katunayake.

The festival in the form of a Wild West show is to be planned as a dayside event held by the side of the lagoon. It will have all the frills that accompany concerts of this nature including barbecues, country stalls, etc.

Livingston, who is performing in Sri Lanka for the first time, is a musician/performer who bridges cultural barriers around the world with his innovative musical style. An engaging raconteur, he is renowned for drawing audiences of all nationalities into his performance through his songs, stories, and ingenuous humour.

Based in Austin, Texas, Livingston along with Jerry Jeff Walker was one of the founders of the Lost Gonzo Band, a group of Texas musicians that recorded for MCA Records. They were instrumental in helping launch the “progressive country” and “Cosmic Cowboy” movements that swept Austin into national musical prominence.

Since 1987, he has regularly toured India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. During these concerts, he has invited local musicians to perform with him playing their indigenous instruments. There emerged an amazing diversity of themes and influences, as they mixed rhythms, instrumentation and insights from both East and West.

He recently released a CD called Mahatma Gandhi & Sitting Bull, which is infused with the flavours of his travels. In addition to the Country Road concert, Livingston is also scheduled to perform in Kandy and the Maldives in a separate programme arranged by USIS, Colombo.

The CMF invites any musicians/bands who would like to perform at the concert to come forward. For more details please write to CMF President Feizal Samath, 4/1D, Pietersz Place, Kohuwela.

‘Country Road’ is the country’s longest running concert primarily aimed at raising funds for needy children through the medium of country/western and folk music.

The CMF, organizers and presenters of these concerts, has built pre-schools and provided drinking water and other facilities in collaboration with UNICEF. More than a million rupees have been raised from these shows.

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