Bob Dylan and the Concert for Bangladesh
American poet, lyricist and singer Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature. I was sitting in the Prothom Alo office on Thursday (13 October) when Sumona Sharmin gave me this news and I was immediately transported back to 1 August 1971 when Dylan had been one of the big names performing in the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square, New York. The concert had a hugely significant and historic role in mobilising public support for our liberation war and creating a fund for the refugees. Actually it was this Concert for Bangladesh that started the prevalent worldwide trend to hold large concerts against hunger and in support of humanity.
The world renowned sitar maestro Ravi Shankar had requested the Beatles legend George Harrison to hold a concert in aid of the Bangladesh freedom struggle. Harrison assented, though he had to arrange the concert in the shortest possible time. Madison Square would be available on 1 August and so preparations began immediately. Musicians were contacted. Harrison felt this was the time to hold the concert because thousands of children were dying every day and the US government was sending arms to Pakistan.
When George Harrison took initiative for the Bangladesh concert, The Beatles was already disbanded and his relations with his former band mates were strained. Even so, he overlooked these personal constraints and went ahead to contact co-artistes and friends.
The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr did not hesitate to join. Singers Leon Russell and Billy Preston agreed immediately. Eric Clapton promised he would consider the proposal, but the influential musician Bob Dylan took his time. In fact, his participation was uncertain till the very last moment. But he finally did join the concert, much to the elation of George Harrison.
In his book I, Me, Mine, George Harrison reveals that not all the artistes even rehearsed properly before the concert. The lighting wasn’t perfect and arrangements to film the event were inadequate. Despite all that, the concert was held twice in one day because the tickets for the first concert were completely sold out.
Thanking the crowd at the beginning of the concert, George Harrison said, “Indian music is more serious than ours.” He then went on to introduce Pundit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and their co-artistes.
Ravi Shankar asked the audience to settle down because their music needed “concentrated listening” and it carried a message. He said they were artistes, not politicians. He explained that very tragic events had taken place in Bangladesh. They would evoke music based on Bangladeshi folk compositions.
Bob Dylan and George Harrison were the crowd pullers for the concert. The crowd was ecstatic when Dylan began his popular numbers, I heard Rain’s gonna fall, It takes a lot to laugh/It takes a lot to cry, Blowin’ in the wind, Mr. Tambourine Man, and Just Like a Woman. He played the acoustic guitar and harmonica with every number. Beatles Ringo Starr played the Tambourine and Leon Russell was on the bass. George Harrison and Leon Russell joined Bob Dylan in singing the last number.
The five songs Dylan sang at the Concert for Bangladesh were available on LP and special CDs. Mr. Tambourine is missing from the the DVD which came out in 2005.
In the booklet published for the re-launch of the Concert for Bangladesh DVD in 2005, USA Fund for Unicef president Charles J Lyons wrote that the concert had generated about 250 thousand US dollars.
The Concert for Bangladesh is remembered around the world till today. The funds collected from sales of the 2005 DVD of the concert is being used by the George Harrison Fund for Unicef, a joint initiative of George Harrison’s family and US Fund for Unicef, for emergency health care for children around the world.
Founder of the George Harrison Fund for Unicef, George Harrison’s wife Olivia Harrison, came on a three-day visit to Dhaka in 2011. She said that the concert had given George Harrison a deep spiritual bond with Bangladesh.
Olivia Harrison had come to see Unicef-funded work in Bangladesh. Some programmes for children in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are being run by funds from the George Harrison fund. She spoke to the Unicef Dhaka office concerning some other programmes too.
It is inspiring that work is still being carried out in Bangladesh based on funds initially generated by the Madison Square Concert for Bangladesh. That is why today we specially remember the Nobel prize winner Bob Dylan. We also recall Pundit Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. They live on, in the hearts of the people of Bangladesh.