On this day in 1971, George Harrison released his song “Bangla Desh”

In late 1970, the state of East Pakistan suffered around 300,000 casualties when the Bhola cyclone struck its shores. The governments indifference was a factor that led to the Bengali national movement seeking independence, and ultimately the Bangladesh Liberation War.

After the growing humanitarian crisis was brought to Harrison’s attention by friend and spiritual guide Ravi Shankar, Harrison decided to hold the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in New York on the 1^st of August, leading to several weeks of frantic organisation.

While preparing, Harrison and Shankar became concerned by the mainstream medias reluctance to report the whole story and realised more widespread attention needed to be drawn to the events unfolding. Harrison later revealed he sat down at the piano and wrote the song in around 10 minutes.

The songs content deliberately steers away from the politics of the situation, focusing instead on the human perspective. The recording of the track was rushed through in Los Angeles during the scramble to prepare for the Concert for Bangladesh. Despite this, the song was a hit and served its purpose in drawing attention to the crisis. The concert, held three days after the songs release is remembered as the first benefit of this magnitude, inspiring countless others to use their music to create change.