On this day, sitar player Ravi Shankar and ex-Beatle George Harrison staged two concerts at New York’s Madison Square Garden to raise awareness about Bangladesh, which was still officially East Pakistan but had proclaimed independence from Pakistan, and had also been hit by floods and famine.

This was the first benefit concert held on such a scale. It featured the leading names of the music world: Harrison, another ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston and the band Badfinger were among the performers.

Shankar and sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan performed at the opening. The concerts were attended by about 40,000 people and raised about $250,000 for relief in Bangladesh, which Unicef oversaw.

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