A scarce original photograph of Bob Dylan with Dave Van Ronk and Dennis Hopper at the ‘Friends of Chile Benefit Concert – An Evening with Salvador Allende’, at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum, in New York City on May 9, 1974.

The photograph, by acclaimed New York based music photographer Bob Gruen, has his stamp on the back.  We acquired this from the archive of 16 Magazine‘s editor Gloria Stavers, and it was likely published in 16, as indicated by pencil notations on the back.

9 ½” x 7 ¼”, in Near Mint condition.

On September 11, 1973, the democratically elected government of Chilean President Salvador Allende was overthrown in a CIA-backed military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. In the violent days that followed, thousands of Chilean citizens were tortured, murdered, or “disappeared” — among them the beloved singer and theater director Víctor Jara, who was kidnapped, brutally tortured, and executed in Santiago’s Estadio Chile.

The murder of Jara hit particularly hard for American folk singer-songwriter Phil Ochs, who had befriended him during his travels in South America. Ochs — already one of the most politically committed artists of his generation — resolved to organize a major benefit concert to raise both funds and awareness for the Chilean people. The result was “An Evening with Salvador Allende,” held on May 9, 1974, at the Felt Forum in New York’s Madison Square Garden complex.

Ochs assembled a remarkable and eclectic bill. Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Dave Van Ronk, and Melanie represented the folk community. Beach Boys Mike Love and Dennis Wilson made unexpected appearances. Argentine tenor saxophone giant Gato Barbieri brought a powerful Latin American voice to the evening. Actor Dennis Hopper took the stage, and Julian Beck and Judith Malina’s Living Theatre performed a harrowing reenactment of political torture.

But the evening’s most electrifying moment came when Bob Dylan — who had reportedly been persuaded to appear after Ochs played upon his conscience backstage — walked out for a brief, unannounced solo acoustic set. Dylan performed “Deportee,” “North Country Blues,” “Spanish Is the Loving Tongue,” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” His performance of “North Country Blues” is believed to be the only time he ever sang the song live — Ochs had specifically requested it for its pointed reference to cheap labor in South American mining towns. Dylan performed with a handwritten lyric sheet taped to his microphone stand, later documented in photographs by Bob Gruen.