Commemorating the historic 1971 ‘Concert for Bangladesh’, the ICT Ministry recently organized another concert at the same, Madison Square Garden in the US, evoking the precedence of ‘melody for humanity’ set by the world’s all-time best musicians, said Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy.
Sharing the vibe of the concert on his verified Facebook page on Wednesday, Joy, who was singing and cheering as part of the crowd, wrote: “This weekend I relived that moment as we paid tribute to that melody-for-humanity event through another concert on the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh”.
Reminiscing the unforgettable lyric by George Harrison on war-torn Bangladesh, ‘My friend came to me/ With sadness in his eyes/ He told me that he wanted help/ Before his country dies’, he wrote, “Beatles’ star George Harrison didn’t just write and compose the song but also went on to think about doing something that might help the people of Bangladesh, a victim of one of history’s worst genocides. He reached out to maestros like Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton, who also agreed to drum up support for the cause. Rest is history. Concert for Bangladesh set the precedence of helping a victim-of-war nation through a concert.”
“Whenever I watch it on YouTube, it takes me back to a golden moment – George Harrison singing the song Bangladesh, Bob Dylan rendering ‘How many roads a man must walk down’, and Pundit Ravi Shankar playing his fingers on his sitar like a storm. They are sharing the same stage!” he added.
“The dream for Bangladesh, as the world’s all-time greatest rock stars and musical masters had seen, came true as the war-torn country back in 1971 is now an epitome of sustained progress and development. From the engineering masterpiece Padma Bridge to the technological feat Bangabandhu Satellite, Bangladesh has made inspiring history. Still, no success story goes unchallenged by a few people with wrong intentions,” he further wrote.
Calling upon the countrymen to remain vigilant against the peddlers of religion and supporters of war criminals, he also wrote, “We must be careful so that the ghosts of war criminals cannot bring the dark chapters back. We must show zero tolerance to the peddlers of religion. We must stand united on our promise for Golden Bengal on this Golden Jubilee”.
“Let’s sing Harrison’s Bangladesh together once more and let the world hear it. This time the promise on this Golden Jubilee is to build Golden Bangla, the dream of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” he continued.
Scorpions rocked the stage on Sunday while Bangladeshi band Chirkutt appeared there as a guest performer.
