‘THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Friday, October 23, 1992 If it comes from heart, it’s music to Santana By DAVID S. ROTENSTEIN ‘Speoal The Covecrar 4 - ilagro.” Trans- oa [aed fom Spanish, the title of Carlos San- Grate album means “miracle.” For the guitarist whose career spans 26 Stellar years lfeis nothing short of miraculous, “wanted to reaffirm some of the effervescent feeling that [ have toward life and toward alot of things,” says Santana of his new LP. He was speaking from his San Francisco Bay.area home; his band plays Raleigh's Walnut Creek ‘Amphitheatre Saturday and Char- {otte's Blockbuster Pavilion Sun- aay, Santana, now 45, burst into mainstream music in 1969 at Woodstock ater three years of gigs around San Francisco, guided By concert baron ill Graham. Last year, Graham died ina helicoprer ‘rash — barely two monthsalter the death of another of Santana's closest friends, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, “They both did the same thing forme." notes Santana. “They sharpened my tenacity, they sharp ened my convictions.” One key to Santana's unique spin ov reinterpreting the music of bots. One from the heart: Carlos Santana suggests his latest LP is a musical memorial to lost friends ditterent cultures, from Latin to reggae snd blves to bop, lies in biz loge relationship with Davis. ‘Hie made me realize that all mmusiis important ft comes from the hear And he. was open to tcething, He wasi’tjostinto jaz, Ve tight me tne art of tote iy undersanding the beat of the Breet ‘A thitd-generation musician, Samana’ musta "foots were anted at age 5 by his father, @ Mexican folk violinist By age'8, Santana had discovered the blues of BB. King and John Lee Hooker. She blues lured Santana away from the violin toward the puter, nd in 1960, he formed the Santana Blues Band alter moving to Calforia from Tiana, But in 1969. he discovered. the bebop of Miles Davis and John Coltrane and never tuned back from forging ahead with some of the most innovative music t0 weather the {agp and fashions endemic to rock" rol With « deep disdain for labels and the confines of borders, Sar tana compares his msi to water Why? "Because it has no color: Blues is basic On less of a metaphysical note, Santana’ explains: that he's stil looking for the right combination of sounds. That, However, doesn’t ‘aunt some of his staunchest fans, including Santana's former idol and current colleague, John Lee Hooker. Santana collaborated with Hooker on the blues legend's 1991 LP, “Mr. Lucky.” The result was one of Hooker's favorite cuts from the album, "Strip Me Naked." Despite his forays into the realm of worid music, Santana concedes that the building blocks of his music remain jazz and blues, with an emphasis on the latter. “Bop is infinitely more intellee- tual. Blues is just a gut bucket — heart and vitals explains, "To me, the foundation is still emotion, which is the blues. Intellectually, 1 don't have too ‘much of that.” A’ born-again Christian since 1981, Santana reaches out to eopie’s souls through song. He eschews organized religion, com- paring evangelism to professional wrestling “Itty to make people identity with being eagles instead of tur- keys. .., We're not just a beast, we're part of the beast, part of the spirit." ° Santana practices .a_personal interpretation. of Christian belief. He stresses within i, like his music, 4 postmodern collage of ethnic diversity that includes a strong timbre of Native American spiritu: aly. Its one explanation for some of Santana's most infamous moments — like his arrest last year at Houston, International Airport for possessién of marijuana. Despite the superficial appear- ance of contradiction in. his beliefs, Santana's music under- scores the way'he conducts his lite. Take, for example, “Some- Where in Heaven,” the song on “Milagro” dedicated to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. The thrust of the song, Santana says, isa simple request to Vaughan: “Save us a lace over there.” ‘The entire album, Santana sug- Bests, isa musical memorial to lost friends.Long career and no regrets Santana Continued from page 1F Injustice moves him ‘Over the past two. decades, San: tana’s leaped on several human rights bandwagons. In 1988 he performed at the Blues for El Salvador benefit which raised $10,000 for Salvadoran children and garnered the guitarist a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumen tal Performance, Earlier this month, Santana joined Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder, Steve Miller and: others for a San Francisco fund raiser for two Native American rights groups. Santana tries to separate his political activism from the music he writes. To him, its the differ- ence between hate and love. “P'm trying to speak about com. passion in my music, not about kill whitey. I've never been into that. do get angry at white people a lot because it hurts me how they set themselves up first on the table. Tm not a racist; I just detest injustice.” ‘Some of Santana's more sober- ing moments come from new gen- erations of fans who remind him that Woodstock took place a gen- eration ago, i'm beginning to fee ike B., King,” he explains. “Five years ago, 10 years ago, people used to say, "My father turned me on to your music.’ Now they're saying, “My grandfather turned me on to ~ Santana reflects on his career and regrets nothing — from Woodstock, an event he describes as @ trampoline onto which he jumped up and hasn't descended et, 10 the "0s, where he maintains e's still fueled by fierce inspira- al fies. I'm comfortable. My wife could tetivou, I snore every night. [don't look up at the ceiling late at night saying, ‘! shouldn't have been, | should have done, or | should have said.’ | don’t do that.”