Joi Bangla
| Joi Bangla | |
|---|---|
 |
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| EP by Ravi Shankar | |
| Released | 9 August 1971 (US) 27 August 1971 (UK) |
| Recorded | mid July 1971 Record Plant West, Los Angeles |
| Genre | Indian music, Hindustani classical |
| Length | 13:45 |
| Language | Bengali |
| Label | Apple |
| Producer | George Harrison |
Joi Bangla is an EP by Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, issued in August 1971 on Apple Records. The recording was produced by George Harrison and its release marked the first in a series of occasional collaborations between the two musicians that lasted until the Chants of India album in 1997. Shankar recorded the EP in Los Angeles, to help raise international awareness of the plight faced by refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War, in advance of his and Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows at Madison Square Garden, New York. Side one of the disc consists of two vocal compositions sung in Bengali, of which the title track was a message of unity to the newly independent nation, formerly known as East Pakistan. The third selection is a duet by Shankar and sarodya Ali Akbar Khan, supported by Alla Rakha on tabla, a performance that presaged their opening set at the Concert for Bangladesh.
Joi Bangla was the first of four Shankar-related releases on the Beatles' Apple label, closely followed by the Raga soundtrack album. The EP has been out of print since soon after its release. Of the three tracks, only "Oh Bhaugowan" has been reissued – on the Harrison-compiled Ravi Shankar: In Celebration box set (1996).
A Bengali by birth, Ravi Shankar was deeply concerned by the plight of the cyclone- and war-ravaged people of East Pakistan during the first six months of 1971. To help raise funds to try to alleviate the misery, he turned to his friend George Harrison, then riding a wave of popularity with the success of his first post-Beatles solo album, All Things Must Pass.
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