Ravi Shankar: Last News

George Harrison’s 1971 ‘Concert For Bangladesh’ live album, featuring Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr and more, is set to arrive across streaming platforms for the first time.Held across two sold-out concerts at New York’s Madison Square Garden back in August 1971, the concerts are considered to be the first major music benefit of its kind and saw the music icon assemble a star-studded event for a common humanitarian goal.Titled ‘The Concert For Bangladesh’, Harrison organised the shows in a bid to raise both awareness and funds for the 10 million East Pakistani refugees who had fled over the border into India, and were facing challenges including the threat of hunger and disease.Setting the precedent that music could be used to serve a higher cause, the MSG shows saw the former Beatle team up with Ravi Shankar, and invite Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell and Billy Preston to perform at the non-profit event.By the point they took to the stage, little public attention had been drawn to the crisis in East Pakistan/Bangladesh and few outside of the region were aware of how to help those affected.“The musicians were great. I mean they completely put down their own egos to play together and to do something because the whole vibe of that concert was that it was something bigger than the lot of us,” Harrison said at the time.

Beninese artist and songwriter Angélique Kidjo, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell have been announced as the recipients of this year’s Polar Music Prize.They will be presented with their prizes and 600,000 Swedish Kroner at a ceremony in Stockholm on 23 May, which will be livestreamed on YouTube if you fancy watching it.Bigging up this year’s winners, the prize’s MD Marie Ledin says: “Angélique Kidjo is an inspirational artist, she constantly explores and challenges and is one of the greatest singer-songwriters in international music. We are THRILLED to be recognising her talent and shining a light on her important work with the Batonga Foundation”.“Arvo Pärt is one of the most incredible composers the world has ever seen, and his beautiful music has touched audiences around the globe”, she adds.