Upon speaking with Carlos Santana, one is immediately impressed with his eloquence and poetic expression. He thinks on a global scale, always considering the struggles of us humans and searching for ways to bring peace, comfort and oneness to all, hence the message he sends out with the title of his current tour, Oneness.
Santana has been a presence on LI stages for decades and has literally weathered storms along with his devoted fans at some Jones Beach Amphitheater concerts. Hopefully, when he returns to this outdoor Long Island venue on July 21st, the sun will shine and there will be a cool breeze wafting through the air.
He has accumulated numerous awards in his distinguished career including 10 Grammy Awards, 3 Latin Grammy Awards, recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors 2013 and in 2023 Rolling Stone Magazine named him the 11th greatest guitarist of all time. Even with all of these awards, Santana remains a humble man. When asked which of all these accolades was the most important, he quickly responded, “When my children tell me they love me and they’re proud of me.”
It is never about himself; it is always about those around him and the world at large.
LI Press is grateful for the opportunity to interview the incomparable Carlos Santana.
Have you spent much time on Long Island?
I’m very mindful that a lot of great things have happened in my life on Long Island. The concerts that we’ve done, the people who we play to in Jones Beach. I think we’ve played there since Jesus’ Last Supper or something. Every time we play there it’s like the first time. The audiences are always incredible and in rain or shine we always have a win win situation with us and the audience. Even when it rains on our concert, we consider it a blessing like a baptism. We don’t mind the rain because it produces more flowers and it cleans up the pollution, so I always see the positive side. I think the Muslims say that every drop of rain is accompanied by an angel, so we don’t mind a company of angels with every drop.
On looking back at Woodstock, what immediately pops to mind about playing that iconic event?
Bill Graham, Michael Lang, the resilience and power of the audience. It’s amazing that this is 2024 and we’re still talking about Woodstock as the festival. There were other festivals that were bigger, but none of them had the vibration of Woodstock. There was something about Woodstock, like Nicolas Tesla would say there was a frequency, a vibration in the resonance of the principles. It’s the first time I saw so many hippies coming together not believing in government or religion because people at Woodstock did not see eye to eye with the people who were promoting Vietnam or promoting guilt shame judgment, condemnation, wretched sinner stuff. Hippies were a very evolved generation. Because of the hippies, we had the power to believe that we could have love-ins. There were Friday, Saturday and Sunday celebrations with grandchildren, children, grandparents, toddlers, patchouli oils and a whole lot of marijuana to consecrate and bless the day.
You were right in the middle of that, weren’t you?
Yes, actually by grace and Bill Graham, the architect who helped orchestrate it. He told Michael Lang, I’ll help you but you gotta have Santana in there and Lang said what’s Santana? Graham said you’ll see. So, because of Bill Graham we were able to play a concert there. We didn’t even have an album out yet
Do you think they got your documentary, Carlos, right?
Yes, they got it right. It’s the right principle. They captured my mother’s frequency and I’m very grateful. They gave me everything that I asked for. Other people have come before wanting to do my documentary and I didn’t want to do it because people have a bad habit of creating documentaries and making the artists look like a poor wretched pendejo. I’m not that. My life is triumph, victory and glory. I wouldn’t let them turn my image into a poor thing. There’s something about Hollywood, the left cell victim mentality, they think that’s the only thing that sells so every movie that I’ve seen of artists whether it’s Billy Holiday or Charlie Parker or other musicians, they make it look really bad. I want my story to be about someone who dreams big and is able to accomplish the impossible which is to come to the United States and dream that I can be on stage with B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, The Stones and The Beatles and fit with them when you work together. You’re able to represent all the principles of the world and that’s what Santana is. Santana is like a tsunami wave of light and hope.
Do you feel that being a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors was a crowning achievement?
Yes, I’m very grateful and to be validated by the one and only Mr. Harry Bellefonte was such a blessing and an honor, because I consider Harry Bellefonte to be in the highest end of American principles and values.
You’ve had a 12 year residency at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay. What is it about Vegas that keeps you going back?
Las Vegas is the laboratory for me and we get to try different chemistries, different alchemies every single night. Las Vegas is the epicenter of many people who I call weapons of mass compassion. If you look at the people who live in Las Vegas around the strip, there’s a lot of people who wake up to roll up their sleeves and be of service to other human beings. Las Vegas is more than just a strip with Cirque de Soleil and entertainment. To me, Las Vegas is the epicenter of dreams and aspirations. There are a lot of artists who bring their best presentation there. So, I feel really grateful and honored that I have a residency in Las Vegas because believe me when I tell you that people have stopped me in the streets and they say hi Santana we flew in from Australia or from New Zealand or from Paris or different parts of the world, can we get a picture? I say of course. People come from all over the world to Las Vegas, so I feel honored and grateful that Las Vegas opened up its heart to me and gave me a residency.
What’s an uncharted territory that you would like to walk down?
I want to do a global celebration. Everything that’s happening with China, Korea, Russia and Middle East, talking about nuclear war, they’re messing with the wrong people because for every nuclear weapon that they have, we have 50 of them. It’s a no win situation for anybody because once you drop one it’s gonna be all over for this planet. I want to do concerts globally to bring unity, harmony, and oneness. I want to bring the qualities that mothers have which is to nurture and heal humanity. I truly dream of having a three day global celebration like we did in Woodstock with selective bands playing selective music like hymns for humanity to feel comfortable in hugging. We need a big collective hug. That’s what’s missing in this world right now. We have a fever, infection, fear and separation. That’s what I see in this planet and as a medicine man like Bob Marley, I want to heal that with the mystical medicine of music.
