“We can all help each other”: George Harrison on the true mastermind of the Concert for Bangladesh
George Harrison‘s trip to India might just be one of the most impactful adventures in all of music.
Because when Harrison travelled East in search of spiritual enlightenment, he didn’t just find it for himself, he found it for the rest of the musical world. While studying the sitar under renowned virtuoso Ravi Shankar, while simultaneously immersing himself in Indian philosophy, spirituality, and yoga, Harrison developed himself as both a human and an artist.
The consequence was a drastic change in The Beatles upon his return in 1966. With the band already teetering on the edge of experimentalism, Harrison’s injection of eastern sensibilities helped push them over altogether and subsequently opened up the method of their creativity.
What followed was a four-year period, where The Beatles made some of the most influential music of all time, and suddenly, Harrison’s solo adventure to India became the lynch pin for Western music’s popular evolution.
“I was also very fortunate to meet the great Indian musician Ravi Shankar, who had an incredible amount of influence on me,” Harrison explained. “He not only opened my eyes to more spiritual music, but he also helped me to look inwards so I could find out who I really am. I’m still trying to find that out also.”
In 1971, though, Harrison would find a way to fulfil the wider purpose Shankar’s teaching had set out for him. Sure, the subtle spiritualism that Harrison was lacing into the music he was writing for The Beatles was one thing, but there was a yearning to make a more impactful change outside of his own artistry.
So in that year, so soon after The Beatles’ break-up, Harrison would organise an evening that would first see his return to the live stage after a five-year absence with The Beatles, but more crucially, marry his music up with philanthropy – something that ultimately felt like the major objective of his spiritual journey.
The 1971 Concert For Bangladesh was a benefit concert, spearheaded by Harrison, whose name ultimately persuaded a wealth of stars to join the bill and thus fuelled the donations that eventually came to the help of millions of people fleeing the Bangladesh Liberation War, famine, and natural disasters. But Harrison was keen to remove himself from the credit and instead highlight the pivotal role Shankar played in bringing it together.
He explained, “It was actually Ravi Shankar’s idea to do what evolved into the Concert For Bangladesh, and so whatever praise people put on me for what happened because of that show, it was really Ravi’s idea, and all I was doing was trying to assist him in getting something that seemed like it needed to be done at that time.”
Concluding, “Anyway, that concert really helped to encourage similar other kinds of benefits, good charitable causes and obviously it’s good that now people just accept charity and that kind of thing so that we can all help each other less fortunate.”
Of all the great things Harrison achieved in his career, he would have likely claimed that the Concert for Bangladesh was his proudest moment. It saw his music finally marry up with his activism, as well as giving him something concrete to truly share with his most beloved mentor, Shankar.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.