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Santana – ‘Africa Speaks’ (2020)

April 9, 2020

Santana – ‘Africa Speaks’ (2020)

Carlos Santana is one of the few musical artists who performed at Woodstock who remains vibrant as an artist releasing new albums that are relevant today beyond nostalgia.


Santana’s career has been marked by constant and sometimes rapid change in personnel within the framework of the Santana name being a group and not just a solo project. The original albums the group recorded beginning with its eponymously titled debut in 1969 boasted a strong lineup of Santana, keyboardist and vocalist Gregg Rolie, bassist David Brown, drummer Michael Shrieve and percussionists Michael Carabello and José Areas. This lineup remained intact through the first three albums, with Neil Schon joining for the group’s third album and Carabello leaving after the third. With Rolie leaving after Santana III, the group for the most part disappeared from the charts and received far less airplay, as it explored Latin and jazz sounds almost exclusively.

There have been other projects along the way, with Carlos recording albums with John McLaughlin and Buddy Miles. The group returned to the charts and received heavy airplay with its 1977 Moonflower album, which contained a cover of the Zombies’ “She’s Not There” with lead vocals by Greg Walker, which was a huge hit.

From there, the group spent years recording with little airplay. Much like Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana is a lead guitarist of immense talent, taste and technique, but he is not primarily a singer or a songwriter. In the post-70’s music world that puts less emphasis on guitar-god prowess, these artists’ recordings tend to be for hardcore fans only.

On its fortieth anniversary in 1999, Santana returned to the charts with Supernatural, their debut album for Arista Records. Boasting an all-star lineup of top-notch pop vocalists and a commercial breakthrough in Latin pop music, the album both sold well and was a critical and cultural watershed release.

A side of Santana’s music that has often been overlooked commercially is his experimentation with and use of African rhythms in his music. For his fiftieth anniversary release, he employs the Spanish artist Concha Buika. Although a Latin jazz artist, she has assisted Santana in making a bold statement about another aspect of the roots of his music.

The album has also received commercial interest due its being produced by superstar producer Rick Rubin. Rubin, although originally a producer associated with rap and metal, has made a career out of helping heritage artists such as Cat Stevens, ZZ Top, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond and Donovan to maintain the purity of their sound, while reaching a new generation of musical fans.

Africa Speaks comes three years after several of the members of the early period Santana band – Rolie, Schon, Shrieve and Carabello – reunited for Santana IV in 2016. The reunion seems to have reinvigorated Carlos Santana, who, at 72, is now making some exciting new music and, with Buika, proves he has his musical ear to the ground and has found a young collaborator that is allowing him to explore new sounds. The sessions for this album resulted in 49 songs recorded, many completed with just one take, making the possibility of more of this African sound being released in the future very promising.

 

While this new album has a modern feel, Rubin’s deft and uncluttered production keeps the emphasis on the basic rhythms, Santana’s pungent guitar chords and Buika’s impassioned vocals.

There are also of course plenty of Latin musical undercurrents, but the African roots sound is the heart of the music. Listening to the album on the two-LP, vinyl edition brings the rhythms out even further.

It will be interesting to see if Santana continues to explore this kind of music and if he will work with Buika again. Always the wandering spirit, Carlos Santana will no doubt not rest on his laurels.

– Steve Matteo


Santana – ‘Africa Speaks’ (Concord)

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