George Harrison (top) and Ravi Shankar

Los Angeles, Nov. 3 (Reuters): Long before Katrina and tsunami relief, Live 8 and Live Aid, former Beatle George Harrison assembled an all-star concert that cast the mould for celebrity charity, and with a new DVD and remixed songs, ‘The Concert for Bangladesh’ is raising money again.

The 1971 concert in New York’s Madison Square Garden featured Harrison, who died four years ago, and fellow Beatle Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Billy Preston and sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, Harrison’s Indian music mentor.

The pair of shows benefited Unicef and raised $250,000 from ticket sales alone. While that may seem a small sum compared to tens of millions raised for Katrina relief or in the Live 8 concerts to raise awareness of poverty in Africa, it was a huge amount at the time.

All the performers worked for free to aid refugees from Bangladesh, the former East Pakistan, who fled into India to escape political strife.

“I think musicians are selfless,” Olivia Harrison, the Beatle’s widow said at a recent event to promote the new DVD. “And they respond to one another, something I’ve really encountered since George died.”

The message reached across the community, says former Doors drummer John Densmore. “It was the beginning of conscious giving,” he said. “When you get the brass ring, spread it around. Money is like fertiliser ? if you hoard it, it stinks. If you spread it around, stuff grows.”

Since the original show, $15 million has been raised from sales of the concert album (which won a Grammy), CD and videos of the concert.

The new DVD hit retail shelves last month and sales will again benefit Unicef through The George Harrison Fund for Unicef.

The two-disc set also contains a new documentary on the concerts, and a companion CD features unreleased performances by Dylan and others.