IN CONCERT: An Evening With Carlos Santana
Where: Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, 1925 Blanshard St.
When: Wednesday, March 30, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $55-$125 from selectyourtickets.com or 250-220-2600
The pandemic was rough on Carlos Santana, who underwent an emergency heart procedure in November and contracted COVID-19 last month. But it also proved beneficial to the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who discovered during his time away from the stage that he’s been blessed with a unique set of skills.
“I had a suspicion, but now it has been reaffirmed. I am conduit to bring change,” Santana, 74, said in a Times Colonist interview to promote his show Wednesday at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
“I learned that I’m more than a musician, I’m more than an entertainer, or any of those things. I’m a mystical music healer.”
The product of Jalisco, Mexico, explored this concept on Blessings and Miracles, the 26th album by the group that bears his surname. Blessings and Miracles, which arrived Oct. 15 after more than a year of on-and-off recording, taught him to “dismiss the pitiful victim mentality” and, with humility, “walk tall.”
The album features an array of stars, including Chris Stapleton, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, Steve Winwood, Diane Warren, Corey Glover of Living Colour, and Kirk Hammett of Metallica (it also features his wife, drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, and children Salvador and Stella Santana.) On paper, it closely follows the direction of his 1999 album, Supernatural, a worldwide smash buoyed by the success of Smooth, his hit with Thomas.
Supernatural reached No. 1 in 11 countries, sold 15 million copies, and won a record-breaking nine Grammy Awards — one more than Michael Jackson’s Thriller earned in 1984. Santana said he was after something deeper this time around, despite the comparisons. That he remained committed to recording an album heavy with guests and collaborators, in the middle of the pandemic, speaks to his belief in the project.
”Sound, resonance, and vibration — those are my tools,” Santana said, comparing his creative clarity to artists like John Coltrane or Bob Marley. “Elevate, transform and illumine — that’s the aim.”
Blessings and Miracles, Supernatural, Shaman, Spirits Dancing in the Flesh, Inner Secrets — albums under the Santana banner are nothing if not spiritual. From a physical standpoint, he’s working back to full health (“I’m giving birth to a new Carlos, with diet and exercise,” he said) but his mental faculties are undiminished and curious as ever. He referenced in conversation the New Age mantra:“I am not the body, I am free. I still am as God created me”, which comes from A Course in Miracles, the 1976 spiritual guide by Helen Schucman.
Santana has taken such writings to heart in recent years.
“There’s another way to look at things now,” he said. “There’s primitive Christianity, and then there’s Christ consciousness, which is not about guilt, shame, judgement, condemnation or fear. Those beliefs are not healthy for humanity. That’s not God — that’s Godzilla.”
The Black Magic Woman and Evil Ways hitmaker has learned how to better “appreciate, value and cherish” life in recent years, and has tapped into the healing side of his personality with Mirayo, a new line of cannabis products. Though some critics have denounced the commodification of hippie culture in recent years, Santana — who clearly does not need the money — wants to keep the good vibes alive, and collaborated with a cannabis company that also works with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and the estate of Bob Marley.
“What I learned from the hippies, Jerry Garcia [of the Grateful Dead] and [manager/impressario] Bill Graham, is that we really are all one. The Beatles had it right. All you need is love. When you’re in your heart, you really see it with clarity. When you’re in your mind, that’s the territory of the ego.”
He’s been performing since 1967, and though Afro-Latin rock remains his unmistakable signature, experiments like Blessings and Miracles, with surprise cameos from rapper G-Eazy and R&B singer Ally Brooke of Fifth Harmony, keep him energized. Playing live also contributes.
His tour of Canada, which also stops March 31 in Abbotsford and April 2 in Penticton, will feature a well-established setlist front-loaded with songs from the 1970s. Following his Woodstock-era material, Santana embarks on a run that is heavy with material from Supernatural. “I don’t want to be a ghost on a jukebox, playing the same stuff,” he said. “I hang around the now.”
