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}} "Bangla Desh" is a song by English musician George Harrison. It was released as a non-album single in July 1971, to raise awareness for the millions of refugees from the country formerly known as East Pakistan, following the 1970 Bhola cyclone and the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Harrison's inspiration for the song came from his friend Ravi Shankar, a Bengali musician, who approached Harrison for help in trying to alleviate the suffering. "Bangla Desh" has been described as "one of the most cogent social statements in music history"〔 and helped gain international support for Bangladeshi independence by establishing the name of the fledgling nation around the world. In 2005, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan identified the song's success in personalising the Bangladesh crisis, through its emotive description of Shankar's request for help. "Bangla Desh" appeared at the height of Harrison's popularity as a solo artist, following the break-up of the Beatles and the acclaim afforded his 1970 triple album ''All Things Must Pass''. It was pop music's first charity single, and its release took place three days before the Harrison-sponsored Concert for Bangladesh shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. The single became a top ten hit in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, and peaked at number 23 on America's ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The recording was co-produced by Phil Spector and features contributions from Leon Russell, Jim Horn, Ringo Starr and Jim Keltner. The Los Angeles session for the song marked the start of two enduring musical associations in Harrison's solo career, with Keltner and Horn. Backed by these musicians and others including Eric Clapton and Billy Preston, Harrison performed "Bangla Desh" at the UNICEF concerts, on 1 August 1971, as a rousing encore. In a review of the ''Concert for Bangladesh'' live album for ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, Jon Landau identified this reading as "the concert's single greatest performance by all concerned".〔 The studio recording appeared on the 1976 compilation ''The Best of George Harrison'', which remained its only official CD release until September 2014, when it was included as a bonus track on the ''Apple Years 1968–75'' reissue of Harrison's ''Living in the Material World'' album. Artists who have covered the song include Stu Phillips & the Hollyridge Strings and Italian saxophonist Fausto Papetti. ==Background== By the spring of 1971, George Harrison had established himself as the most successful ex-Beatle during the former band members' first year as solo artists;〔Schaffner, p. 147.〕〔Harris, p. 73.〕〔Inglis, p. 23.〕〔The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', pp. 40, 42.〕 in the words of biographer Elliot Huntley, he "couldn't have got any more popular in the eyes of the public".〔Huntley, p. 71.〕 Just as importantly, writes Peter Lavezzoli, author of ''The Dawn of Indian Music in the West'', Harrison had "amassed such good will in the music community" during that time.〔 Rather than looking to immediately follow up his ''All Things Must Pass'' triple album,〔Lavezzoli, pp. 186, 187.〕 he had spent the months since recording ended in October 1970 repaying favours to the friends and musicians who had helped make the album such a success.〔Leng, p. 123.〕〔Rodriguez, p. 48.〕 These included co-producer Phil Spector, whose wife, Ronnie Spector, Harrison supplied with songs for a proposed solo album on Apple Records;〔Leng, p. 105.〕 Ringo Starr, whose "It Don't Come Easy" single he produced and prepared for release, following the original session for the song in March 1970;〔Leng, p. 69.〕 Bobby Whitlock, singer and keyboard player with the short-lived Derek and the Dominos, whose eponymous debut solo album featured Harrison and Eric Clapton on guitar;〔 and former Spooky Tooth pianist Gary Wright, whose ''Footprint'' album (1971) Harrison also guested on, along with ''All Things Must Pass'' orchestrator John Barham.〔Leng, p. 108.〕〔The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', pp. 192–93.〕 Another project was a documentary on the life and music of Ravi Shankar, Howard Worth's ''Raga'' (1971), for which Harrison had stepped in at the last minute to provide funding〔Clayson, p. 308.〕 and distribution through Apple Films.〔Shankar, pp. 210, 324.〕〔Jeff Kaliss, ("Ravi Shankar ''Raga: A Film Journey into the Soul of India''" ), ''Songlines'', 26 November 2010, p. 85.〕 With Harrison also serving as record producer for the accompanying soundtrack album, work began with Shankar in Los Angeles during April 1971 and resumed in late June,〔Lavezzoli, p. 187.〕〔Spizer, pp. 235, 240.〕 following Harrison-produced sessions in London for the band Badfinger.〔Leng, p. 110.〕 A Bengali by birth, Shankar had already brought the growing humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh to Harrison's attention, while staying at the ex-Beatle's house, Friar Park, earlier in the year.〔Leng, p. 111.〕 The state formerly known as East Pakistan (and before that, East Bengal) had suffered an estimated 300,000 casualties when the Bhola cyclone hit its shores on 12 November 1970, and the indifference shown by the ruling government in West Pakistan, particularly by President Yahya Khan, was just one reason the Bengali national movement sought independence on 25 March 1971.〔 This declaration resulted in an immediate military crackdown by Khan's troops, and three days later the Bangladesh Liberation War began.〔Schaffner, p. 146.〕〔The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', p. 123.〕 By 13 June, details of the systematic massacre of citizens were beginning to emerge internationally via the publication in London's ''Sunday Times'' of an article by Anthony Mascarenhas.〔Mark Dummett, ("Bangladesh war: The article that changed history" ), BBC News Online, 16 December 2011 (retrieved 4 September 2012).〕 Along with the torrential rains and intensive flooding that were threatening the passage of millions of refugees into north-eastern India,〔 this news galvanised Shankar into approaching Harrison for help in trying to alleviate the suffering.〔The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', p. 42.〕 "I was in a very sad mood, having read all this news," Shankar later told ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, "and I said, 'George, this is the situation, I know it doesn't concern you, I know you can't possibly identify.' But while I talked to George he was very deeply moved ... and he said, 'Yes, I think I'll be able to do something.'"〔 As a result, Harrison committed to staging the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, New York, on Sunday, 1 August.〔〔Shankar, pp. 219–20, 324.〕 Six weeks of frantic activity ensued as Harrison flew between New York, Los Angeles and London,〔 making preparations and recruiting other musicians to join him and Shankar for the shows.〔Badman, pp. 38, 39, 43.〕〔Harris, p. 74.〕 While conceding that Harrison was no "natural sloganeer" in the manner of his former bandmate John Lennon, author Robert Rodriguez has written: "if any ex-Fab had the cachet with his fan base to solicit good works, it was the spiritual Beatle."〔Rodriguez, p. 381.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bangla Desh (song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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