The Concert for Bangladesh

August 1 1971 — The Concert(s) for Bangladesh (at 2.30pm and 8pm), the first benefit concert for a humanitarian cause, is held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden to raise awareness of and fund relief for refugees from East Pakistan. The event is organised by Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and former Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison to help the country ravaged by the Bhola cyclone, floods, famine, and genocide under the Pakistani army’s Operation Searchlight during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, both with ancestral roots in Bangladesh, open the shows with Indian classical music. Other stars include Harrison, fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and the band Badfinger. The gate receipts raise close to $250,000 for Bangladesh relief, administered by Unicef. Millions of dollars from the sales of the live album and film are tied up in IRS tax escrow accounts for years, but by 1985 an estimated $12m has been sent to Bangladesh. The sales continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for Unicef, still supporting Unicef programmes in Bangladesh and other countries. In 1947, during the partition of British India, East Bengal (renamed East Pakistan in 1955) voted to join Pakistan. Bangladesh’s plight for self-determination gets worldwide attention and support. By August 1972 the new state is recognised by 86 countries. Pakistan only does so in 1974.