Concert For Bangladesh

The Concert for Bangladesh (or Bangla Desh, as the country was originally spelled) was the name for two benefit concerts organised by former Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, held at 2:30 and 8 pm on Sunday, 1 August 1971, playing to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The shows were organised to raise international awareness and fund relief efforts for refugees from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), following the Bangladesh Liberation War-related genocide. The concerts were followed by a bestselling live album, a boxed three-record set, and Apple Films' concert documentary, which opened in cinemas in the spring of 1972.