Soulful YouTube singer ready to hit Country Roads
View(s):- Yomal Senerath-Yapa talks to Manethree Walpola who will appear along with the ever-popular Mavericks at the 37th outing of this much loved show
She will take the stage with her guitar at the Country Roads concert this year, happening next Sunday, October 19 at The Forum, Cinnamon Life. The fresh-faced girl of 18 will lend her voice to carry us over “Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River”…
Manethree Walpola, YouTube singer and musician, is to fill in regular performer Astrid Brook’s cowboy boots at this year’s Country Roads. Folk singer Astrid from the UK who has been a fixture at the show along with German band, the ever-popular Mavericks, will miss the show as she is getting married.
Organised by Feizal Samath and Jury Majid of the Country Music Foundation, the Country Roads concert has since 2007, been raising funds for children and drawn a host of performers, both local and foreign who contribute their talents to the cause with great heart and enthusiasm.
We met young Manethree to talk about being a star at such a tender stage, and the highs and lows of the world of YouTube. Manethree has also performed at the Cricket Ball at Dhaka and been part of many local TV
programmes.
Manethree’s love for music began when she, a pudgy youngster, banged her fists on her father’s Fukuyama baby grand piano. Her father Ruwan Walpola would guide her gently, being a sound engineer in his own right. 
After the piano, Manethree graduated to the guitar aged ten, with a bit of a struggle at first, she says, but from then on there was no stopping her. Attending Lyceum International School, Nugegoda, it was in the very heart of the pandemic that she started uploading a few covers on Facebook, then YouTube, encouraged also by her parents.
Her first YouTube cover was Dangakara oya desa and over five years she has done 133 covers.
Over the years, having grown from an impish eleven-year-old into a graceful young woman she has more than 5500 loyal subscribers on YouTube. Her voice- with its dreamy, soulful quality- has drawn enthusiastic compliments. She says she also gets a ‘lot of helpful tips’. Manethree always takes the tips in consideration when planning her next cover. For her fan base who wants her to ‘go far’, she is eternally grateful.
Asked what kind of music she prefers, Manethree says she ‘loves’ Taylor Swift, but also cites a catholic mix of pop, country, folk, ‘and a little bit of rock here and there’. Her current ambition is releasing her own original which will hopefully be later this year.
Apart from music, Manethree is an avid equestrian who at an interview aged 12 enthused that her ambition was to “have my own stable with horses of different breeds”. She also confesses to love thriller novels and drawing.
Says Manethree, “I’m honoured Mr. Feizal reached out to me about Country Roads, and I am happy to be supporting such a good cause as well,… (as) the concert will help a lot of children.”
Manethree Walpola will perform alongside a lineup of artistes including the Mavericks from Germany at the 37th Country Roads concert, to be held at ‘The Forum’ at Cinnamon Life on Sunday, October 19 from 6.30 p.m. Tickets priced at Rs. 3,000 and 4,000 are now available at Cargills Food City outlets at Kirulapone, Kohuwela, Majestic City and Staples Street.
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