AA.VV.
The Concert For Bangla Desh

I don't want to get into the issue of the proceeds from this great concert-event held in 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York and organized by George Harrison to help the people of Bangladesh afflicted by a terrible famine. It is well known that in these cases, where the intentions are absolutely commendable, one has to deal with dishonest people who exploit it. It seems that not everything went smoothly even at the Live Aid of '85.

However, I want to focus on the musical aspect of this great happening. The first part of the concert aimed to introduce Indian music to an audience that was surely fascinated by it at the time but somewhat short on ideas about it. It was Ravi Shankar and his group who brilliantly performed this part with a great exhibition where all the musicians displayed numbers of very high skill, although perhaps it could have seemed a bit boring to a public accustomed to more Western tastes. Then it was the turn of the grand master of ceremonies, George, to take the stage along with the host of big names present, from Eric Clapton to Leon Russell (then the keyboardist of his group), Billy Preston, Ringo Starr and Jim Keltner (the two drummers of the evening), plus Jessie Ed Davies and a bunch of backup singers.

The opening of the rock concert was entrusted to George Harrison, with some tracks taken from what was then his latest studio work, the beautiful "All Things Must Pass." George would then return to the forefront from time to time, interspersing the numbers of the other artists. Everyone was in good form, except for Clapton, whose presence was in doubt until the last moment, being in the throes of a heroin addiction crisis. Ringo Starr sang what remains to this day his only solo hit-single, a good rock-blues toned song, "It Don't Come Easy", also very good were Billy Preston's numbers, with a great slow R&B piece called "That's The Way God Planned It", and Leon Russell (9 minutes of medley between the Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Youngblood"). George, who truth be told seemed a bit nervous and not too comfortable, then sang a beautiful version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and a heartfelt acoustic "Here Comes The Sun".

Then it was time to introduce a "great friend of us all, Mr. Bob Dylan".

He hadn't appeared in public for a long time (since the Isle of Wight Festival of the year before), he was in a good mood that evening and showcased a series of early classics, completely solo and acoustic ("Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", "It Takes A Lot To Laugh’," "Blowin' In The Wind", "Mr. Tambourine Man", and "Just Like A Woman"). George himself would later speak of Dylan's doubts expressed during rehearsals ("I can't do it, man, I don't feel up to it"), all smoothed over and resolved. Harrison then closed the concert with "Something" and with the final piece, which fittingly became the symbol of the entire operation, the sorrowful "Bangla Desh".

A great concert, partly penalized by imperfect acoustics which also affected the sound quality of the record. In short, an absolutely sincere endeavor. If someone tried to exploit it for shady dealings, it was certainly not Harrison's fault.