Carlos Santana American musician

Carlos Santana,  (born July 20, 1947, Autlán de Navarro, Mexico), Mexican-born American musician whose popular music combined rock, jazz, blues, and Afro-Cuban rhythms with a Latin sound.   Santana began playing the violin at age five; by age eight, however, he had switched to the guitar. As a teenager, he played in bands in Tijuana, Mexico, where he was exposed not only to the local Norteño music but to blues, especially...

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Carlos Santana

In the late 1960s, when acid rock reigned and the British Invasion was still raging, Carlos Santana and his band introduced the music scene to a new Latin-based rock sound featuring an Afro-Cuban beat. This would effectively usher in the concept of “world music” years before the description would catch up with the style. After soaring in popularity and becoming one of the biggest acts of the day, the group went through various personnel changes, but they continued to make music together even as Santana, finding new spiritual and musical...

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Light Of The Supreme: Carlos Santana’s Devadip Trilogy

To the casual music fan in 1971 Carlos Santana appeared as if he was on top of the world. His band's appearance at Woodstock two short years earlier, plus their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" had catapulted him to stardom. Yet, behind the scenes, his band was splintering. Different musical and personal objectives, plus the increased usage of hard drugs by some band members were getting in the way. By the end of the year, bassist David Brown, percussionist Michael Carabello, and organist Greg Rollie had departed. Santana had...

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The Epic Life of Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana on the cover of Rolling Stone. Mark Seliger His meditation spot is in front of the fireplace. On Carlos Santana's property in San Rafael, California, about twenty minutes north of San Francisco, there are two buildings. The house closer to the water is where the family lives: Santana, his wife, Deborah, and their three children. The other house, a little higher up the hill, he calls the church. "Here's where I hang out...

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