When Ravi Shankar, the Bengali and sitar star, called - in alarm - his friend George Harrison to help him mobilize for the Bangladeshi drama, the guitarist still processing the Beatles' breakup did not hesitate.
He moved his influences for what is remembered as the first charity super-concert in the rock & pop sphere.
The Concert for Bangladesh (actually there were two, on the same day at Madison Square Garden at the beginning of August 1971) is ranked among "the best in history" by Rolling Stone.
Neither Lennon nor McCartney, with different excuses, participated there, but Ringo did.
And Harrison could count on other highly coveted names like Clapton and Dylan (it was his first appearance since the memorable Isle of Wight festival and he wouldn't play shows for three more years).
The aim of the concert was to raise funds for the millions of Bengali refugees, mainly concentrated in India, in the midst of the massacre they were suffering in their country.
They raised 250 thousand dollars, an appreciable figure for the time and that Unicef had to manage, although it was never clear what happened afterwards.
Harrison also composed Bangladesh, a lyrical theme where he exposed the conflict and called for help for refugees.
"My friend came to see me with sadness in his eyes, he told me that he needed help before his country died," Harrison said.
some history
Bangladesh still did not have recognition as an independent country, something that was only going to materialize during that 71. But let's go even further back: the partition of India in 47 left its neighbor Pakistan divided into two strips, separated in turn by a territory of 1,600 kilometers.
Exactly, for India.
The western sector of Pakistan (which today constitutes the country of the same name) was the most powerful.
The eastern one, the current Bangladesh, only had in common with the other the religion, Islam.
When the Bengali nationalists won the 1970 elections, the Westerners - who dominated everything - did not accept it and continued their repressive regime.
India welcomed refugees and supported Bangladesh, in the midst of a conflict that could turn Asia into a tinderbox, when the Vietnam War had also spread to its neighbors.
Everything was attenuated with the proclamation of Bangladesh as an independent country.
far east
The references to us from Bangladesh -at least to the vibrant, surprising and moving demonstrations of support for the Argentine National Team- are very distant.
The Bengali territory is one of the most affected by climate change, suffering devastating cyclones like the one in 2009 in Mushiganj, famines and the reception of Rohyinga refugees from Myanmar.
But it is a country of almost 170 million inhabitants and one of the most densely populated.
Only its capital, Dacca, concentrates 15 million souls.
Within general poverty, like its neighbors, it achieved a certain political stability and is the second largest textile exporter in the world, with 40 billion dollars in the last year, only surpassed by another giant: China.
Although 90% of its population is Islamic, it is a secular state and women have a more active role there.
And one of them, Sheik Hasina, has served as prime minister for more than a decade.
football contacts
The Bengalis supported, from afar and with all fervor, Messi and ours in Qatar 2022 and, as a reward, they dream of a visit.
Actually, several of the heroes of La Tercera were already there in 2011 when Argentina beat Nigeria in a friendly 3-1 with goals from Higuaín, Angelito Di María and another against.
Messi played that night in Dacca.
As the statistician and sports historian Oscar Barnade recalled in Clarín, our soccer memory also includes a match between Argentina and Bangladesh exactly four decades ago, in Malaysia.
But, in reality, it was the Merdeka Cup, in which Argentina presented a First B team led by "Chamaco" Rodríguez.
The Argentines won 5-2 with three goals from Walter Fernández, a striker who knew how to shine in Defe and Racing.
And Argentina kept the title, after beating the Brazilians (also from an alternative formation) 3-1 and Algeria in the final 2-1.
Reasons for fanaticism
Another characteristic of global soccer in the last decade is the legion of Argentine soccer players scattered throughout the world, including the most exotic leagues.
Like the one in Bangladesh.
There are a dozen Argentine players who passed through there.
The most recent was another globetrotter, Hernán Barcos, who became the highest paid in the league with a salary of $20,000 a month when he was signed by the Bashundara Kings in early 2020. He was already 35 years old and scored four goals in his career. debut.
It was his only game: the pandemic, as in almost the entire world, ended that year's championship and Barcos was only going to reappear a long time later, this time in Peru.
After Montiel masterfully sealed the fate of the last World Cup in Qatar - we are still excited - and the celebrations broke out all over the world, so much fervor in Bangladesh for the albiceleste continued to attract attention.
The explanation given: Bengali fans - where soccer is only the second sport, behind cricket - have adored Argentina since the days of Maradona, especially for the victory over England.
And they go even further.
They allude to an anti-British feeling for the reprisals that Churchill unloaded on that region 80 years ago, in the middle of the Second World War.
Too far.
