The Concert for Bangladesh (1972)

Directed by

Saul Swimmer

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 38m

Rated

G

Rating

7.9 of 10 from 24 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

The film captures two 1971 benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar for refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War. It features performances from Harrison, Shankar, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, and other musicians at Madison Square Garden.

livehistoricupbeatnostalgicspontaneoussoulfulcelebratorycharitable

What happens

The Concert for Bangladesh is a film directed by Saul Swimmer and released in 1972. The film documents the two benefit concerts that were organised by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar to raise funds for refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War, and were held on Sunday, 1 August 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. As well as notable performances from Harrison and Shankar, the film includes "main performer" contributions from Harrison's fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Billy Preston and Leon Russell, and a surprise walk-on from Bob Dylan. Other contributing musicians include Ali Akbar Khan, Eric Clapton, the band Badfinger, Klaus Voormann, Jesse Ed Davis, Jim Horn and Jim Keltner. The film was the final part of Harrison's "pioneering" aid project for the people of former East Pakistan, following his "Bangla Desh" charity single, the UNICEF benefit concerts, and a triple live album of the event credited to "George Harrison and Friends". The Concert for Bangladesh was produced by The Beatles' Apple Films; after delays caused by problems with inadequate footage from the event, it opened in US cinemas in the spring of 1972. The film was released on DVD in 2005 accompanied by a newly created documentary feature, The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends, which included recollections from many of the project's participants and contextual input from then UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, US Fund for UNICEF president Charles Lyons and Live Aid founder Bob Geldof. As with the live album, sales of the DVD release of the film continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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