0:00:02 > 0:00:04BLUES GUITAR MUSIC
0:00:04 > 0:00:11THIS PROGRAMME CONTAINS VERY STRONG LANGUAGE
0:00:13 > 0:00:17When I first met Carlos, he was a skinny kid from Mexico.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19He was wild and he was raw.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26When he left home, there were a lot of times when we would not know where he was.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30And, um, mostly, we would hear rumours.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33# You got to change your evil ways
0:00:33 > 0:00:35# Baby... #
0:00:35 > 0:00:40Santana as a group was no hippy love thing. This was like a street gang.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42But the weapon was music.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45BLUES ROCK MUSIC
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Our music was like an elephant on a trek.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55It was animalistic and sexual.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57# Don't turn your back on me, baby
0:00:58 > 0:01:02# Don't turn your back on me, baby... #
0:01:03 > 0:01:09We wanted to be the biggest internationally known band and that ended up happening.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14# Don't turn your back on me, baby
0:01:14 > 0:01:17# You just might pick up my magic sticks... #
0:01:17 > 0:01:22I always say they went to cocaine heaven. They were just a little too high.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26And everybody was coming off of non-existent walls.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28# Oye, como va... #
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Carlos developed as a guitarist, as a musician, as a star...
0:01:33 > 0:01:38But as a human being, he's gone through an enormous change.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43So I was living a life of like... "I need something different."
0:01:43 > 0:01:47I was really at war with myself because I wasn't ready
0:01:47 > 0:01:50to do the inner work,
0:01:50 > 0:01:52to be liberated
0:01:52 > 0:01:55from my own demons.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01It takes time to go from charcoal to a diamond.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11# You are the love
0:02:11 > 0:02:14# Of my life
0:02:14 > 0:02:16# And the breath
0:02:17 > 0:02:19# In my prayers
0:02:19 > 0:02:21# Take my hand
0:02:21 > 0:02:24# Lead me there
0:02:24 > 0:02:28# What I need is you near... #
0:02:28 > 0:02:33A lot of guys play a lot of notes, but they don't know how to carry a melody.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37I'm always interested in how can you carry a melody.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Learn to feel your heart. Feel it, feel it.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44And then learn to carry a melody.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46# With you alone
0:02:46 > 0:02:54# I am free-ee-ee-ee...
0:02:58 > 0:03:01# Every day
0:03:01 > 0:03:03# Every night... #
0:03:03 > 0:03:10Love Of My Life was part of the Supernatural album that revived Santana's career in 1999.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13The song was in praise of his late father.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17I was totally with my father, Jose Santana,
0:03:17 > 0:03:23because when he passed, for two weeks I made it a point not to play any music.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25In the car or in my head, nothing.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29I just wanted to digest that my father left.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34I heard a voice, "OK, it's been two weeks. Turn on the radio."
0:03:34 > 0:03:40"I never turn on the radio." "Turn on the radio." I was on the way to pick up my son from school.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44- I turned the radio on. - HUMS MELODY
0:03:44 > 0:03:49Which is an incredible theme. I go to Tower Records. "Hey, man, what is the name of this song?"
0:03:49 > 0:03:55- HUMS TUNE - The guy goes, "Oh, I say, let me concur with my colleague."
0:03:55 > 0:03:59"OK, concur with your colleague." "Would you sing it to him?"
0:03:59 > 0:04:01HUMS TUNE
0:04:01 > 0:04:04"Oh, that's definitely Brahms, right?"
0:04:04 > 0:04:10So I keep playing this song in my head and I already had lyrics.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14And I get together with Dave Matthews. "Dave, I have this song.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18"I hear it kind of with your voice, but the melody goes like this."
0:04:18 > 0:04:21GENTLE MELODY
0:04:32 > 0:04:36Carlos Santana was born in July 1947
0:04:36 > 0:04:40to a family of musicians in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48My mother Josefina was born in Autlan, Jalisco.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51My father was born in El Grullo.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57We, the children, were born in Autlan, Jalisco.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02So my father infected me with the virus of music,
0:05:02 > 0:05:08especially because I saw his eyes when I was five years old very clearly
0:05:08 > 0:05:11and I saw how the people were looking at him.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16Right there and then I knew that all I ever wanted to do and be
0:05:16 > 0:05:20is be adored the way people adored my father in this little town.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29When he was only eight years old, the Santana family followed their father
0:05:29 > 0:05:32to the Mexican border town of Tijuana.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41That's when everything just changed in my life.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46Hearing the sound of electric guitars in the park,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50bouncing against trees and cars and the church and the sky,
0:05:50 > 0:05:55for me, it was like watching a flying saucer for the first time.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58BLUES MUSIC
0:06:00 > 0:06:04It woke me up to a whole other arena of being jolted.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09In those days, they used to have people walk around the streets
0:06:09 > 0:06:14with those iron things that you touch and they put electricity,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16for ten cents, they give you a jolt.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Aiee!
0:06:18 > 0:06:23That's what I felt the first time I heard the electric guitar sound in the park.
0:06:24 > 0:06:30Fortunately for me, it was Javier Batiz who was already into three things -
0:06:30 > 0:06:34BB King, Little Richard and Ray Charles.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37That was his thing. Only.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39The way to go... PLAYS GENTLE BLUES
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Like that. You go...
0:06:42 > 0:06:44PLAYS HIGHER CHORDS
0:06:50 > 0:06:55Carlos came with his mother here to my house.
0:06:55 > 0:07:01And his mama asked me, "Can you teach my little boy to play the guitar like you?"
0:07:01 > 0:07:05Because they have seen me in the park where I was playing.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12And Carlos really loved the way I played. The guitar sounded strange.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17I said, "Carlos, do you play another instrument?" He said, "I play the violin."
0:07:17 > 0:07:21He got his violin and he went... HUMS LIVELY TUNE
0:07:21 > 0:07:23It was so cute.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28He was a little kid, 11 years old probably. And I was 14.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33I had enough knowledge about music because of the violin
0:07:33 > 0:07:36and teaching me Czardas de Monti and Minuet In G.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40My father basically taught me on the violin European music.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43HUMS TUNE
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Fascination.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48CONTINUES HUMMING TUNE
0:07:51 > 0:07:55And if you can hold that note going back and forward with the bow
0:07:55 > 0:07:59- and make it sound like... instead of going... - SINGS SHORT NOTES
0:07:59 > 0:08:02- ..go... - SINGS LONG NOTE
0:08:02 > 0:08:04..you're pretty mean.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07You know what I mean? That's feedback.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12It's like plugging in and making the speakers and the whole thing sustain.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15So I already knew how to sustain.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18His mama brought him over the next day.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23She said, "Javier, Carlos didn't sleep last night. He said he was studying."
0:08:23 > 0:08:25And what I had taught Carlos...
0:08:25 > 0:08:27He brought about...
0:08:27 > 0:08:34I taught him one movement and the day after that, he brought about ten movements, different movements.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36And I went, "Wow!"
0:08:36 > 0:08:41He was so hungry of learning how to play the guitar like a blues guitar.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45MARIACHI MUSIC
0:08:45 > 0:08:51Despite being wedded to the blues, Carlos had to continue playing in his father's mariachi band
0:08:51 > 0:08:53to help feed the family.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56And I was playing right next to him.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01And we were playing in the worst parts of Tijuana.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Everything kind of smelt like Bourbon Street.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08It smelt like piss and puke.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15Being a kid, I wanted to go play hide-and-seek or do something that kids do.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20But instead, I was in this place. There's no floor. It's just dirt.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25The tables are covered with blackness because they don't have ashtrays. I'm playing this music
0:09:25 > 0:09:29that to me, to this day, I don't really relate to it.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32I don't like any music, any kind of music
0:09:32 > 0:09:37that deals with lyrics about being drunk and being betrayed.
0:09:37 > 0:09:43In other words, I don't like music that validates feeling sorry for yourself, crying in your beer.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47I like the blues, but I don't like the victim hymns.
0:09:50 > 0:09:56I like victory hymns. So I told my father, "I don't want to be here and play this kind of music."
0:09:56 > 0:10:01He said, "You want to play that pachuco rock'n'roll crap music?"
0:10:01 > 0:10:05I said, "How can that music be worse than where I am?"
0:10:05 > 0:10:08It was the first time I stood up to my dad.
0:10:08 > 0:10:15He said, "OK, pack up your violin. Like your mother, you have to have the last word. Get out of here."
0:10:15 > 0:10:18MUSIC: "Green Onions" - Booker T & The MGs
0:10:21 > 0:10:27Carlos abandoned the mariachi bars for the brighter lights of Tijuana's Revolution Street.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32I enjoyed the Revolution Street
0:10:32 > 0:10:35because then I was hearing Georgia On My Mind,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Green Onions.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43I was hearing all kinds of variety of African-American music.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47My balance was to play,
0:10:47 > 0:10:53from eight o'clock to six o'clock in the morning at these strip joints, for an hour,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57then for an hour, the ladies strip and they do what they do.
0:11:00 > 0:11:06And then on Sunday morning, I'd go to church and play Ave Maria on the violin.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13So I got my education really, really quick about spiritual and sensual being as one.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20But Santana was still only 13 years old.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25He was vulnerable to the predatory dangers of Tijuana's night life.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31I was molested when I was a child by this person
0:11:31 > 0:11:37who seduced a child by giving him cowboy boots and guns and a bunch of toys
0:11:37 > 0:11:40when I was living in the ghetto in Tijuana.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42And my mom couldn't figure it out.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46And it lasted maybe a year and a half.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51I was angry at my parents for not protecting me, even though they did their best.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59Why did I have to be introduced to anything in that form?
0:12:01 > 0:12:03You need to go to the mirror,
0:12:03 > 0:12:08if you've been molested or raped, women or men or a child,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12and say to yourself in the mirror, "I am not what happened to me.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17"I am still pristine with purity and innocence and I forgive the man."
0:12:17 > 0:12:21"Instead of carrying him with me for the rest of my life like a cadaver
0:12:21 > 0:12:27"and stinking up the place and being angry and unforgiving, I'm going to forgive him."
0:12:28 > 0:12:31But Carlos would carry that anger for many years
0:12:31 > 0:12:36before he would fully come to terms with his loss of innocence.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44Carlos's mother was determined to improve her children's life.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47In 1962, the Santana family were on the move again,
0:12:47 > 0:12:52this time following their father across the border to San Francisco.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58My mother wanted a better life for all of us.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02She thought she could best do that by bringing us to the United States.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07She was old school in her upbringing -
0:13:07 > 0:13:10discipline, education and work.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15And so her plan must have been to get us to San Francisco.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18# They call it stormy Monday... #
0:13:18 > 0:13:23As a Mexican immigrant, 15-year-old Carlos had to adjust
0:13:23 > 0:13:26to a new language in a new environment
0:13:26 > 0:13:29and to the emotional turmoil of adolescence.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33He took the advice of his old teacher to change his sound.
0:13:33 > 0:13:39When I came specifically to this house of music where Javier used to tell me about...
0:13:39 > 0:13:41They sell guitars in there.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46So I'm watching these guitars - Epiphones, Gibsons and Fenders...
0:13:46 > 0:13:49To me, that was like what kids do with Playboy magazine.
0:13:49 > 0:13:55I was like, "I wonder what she smells like? I wonder what she feels like?
0:13:55 > 0:13:57"I wonder what she sounds like?"
0:13:57 > 0:14:02I was watching these guitars when I heard these sailors scream at me,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06"Hey, you fucking Pancho Villa, chilli-beany motherfucker!"
0:14:06 > 0:14:11I turned around and I'm like, "I'm just a kid, I'm sure they're not talking to me."
0:14:11 > 0:14:15I turned around and they were screaming at me.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21And that's why I was angry because I started feeling the sting of racism,
0:14:21 > 0:14:25the sting of ignorance directed straight at me.
0:14:25 > 0:14:31So there was a variety of things that were making me feel really, really angry...
0:14:32 > 0:14:34..with life and with people.
0:14:34 > 0:14:40And it was all directed at not being able to...fix it.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC
0:14:50 > 0:14:56By the mid-'60s, Santana's adopted home town had become the focus of an alternative culture
0:14:56 > 0:14:58with a psychedelic sound to match.
0:14:59 > 0:15:05I came to San Francisco. An explosion was about to happen, a consciousness revolution,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09so even West Side Story looked like a square.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13You hear blues, you hear Wes Montgomery, you hear Bola Sete.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18Everywhere you went in San Francisco, it was an education in music.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20And I wanted it all.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25We went to Aquatic Park and they had nothing but conga players.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Everybody's screaming "jingo".
0:15:27 > 0:15:32You know, "jingo"? What the hell is "jingo"? That's really infectious.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36I used to go to picnics and there'd be like three bands.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40There'd be like Latin and there'd be mariachi music.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45And there'd be like a blues band.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50I'm getting out of the car and hearing all of it at the same time.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54I say, "That sounds kind of good," all of it together at the same time.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56It didn't sound like conflict or weird.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00And I said, "That's the sound that I want to get."
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Carlos was piecing together a new identity, both musical and personal.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13It was now time to leave the largely Mexican Mission District.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17But reinventing himself required some tough decisions.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21A quantum leap is to leave my mom and dad
0:16:21 > 0:16:26and go out in the street and just tough it out on the streets
0:16:26 > 0:16:28and let go of the security blanket
0:16:28 > 0:16:34and the safety net of having someone washing your clothes and feeding you.
0:16:34 > 0:16:41I was not at home to hear all of the disagreements between him and Mom
0:16:41 > 0:16:44about him having his own way,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47the disappointments, the worry, the crying,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51the fact that all of us were always curious about where he may be.
0:16:51 > 0:16:58So there's a lot of things that I have to weigh - to abandon Mom and Dad... So I'm in a daze.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01I'm doing what I need to do, but I'm in a daze.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06He would not achieve his goals under the same roof with Mom.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10And so yes, he was a difficult one.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13There's a photograph where he was on the floor
0:17:13 > 0:17:17and he was digging into that guitar, not plugged in.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22Just the electric guitar. He was just digging into it.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27I understood what will he was going to
0:17:27 > 0:17:29to get what he wanted.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34It doesn't feel so bad, you know, living in the streets with a hat
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and playing for spaghetti or a salad.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41# If you don't love me, little angel
0:17:42 > 0:17:46# Please tell me the reason why... #
0:17:47 > 0:17:53Whenever possible, 19-year-old Carlos would visit the Fillmore Concert Hall
0:17:53 > 0:17:59where, unlike most of America, emerging rock bands were playing alongside black blues artists.
0:17:59 > 0:18:05So when I see BB King walk up on stage, people are giving him a standing ovation.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09BB King just backed away from the microphone.
0:18:09 > 0:18:15He grabbed his guitar and he couldn't believe he was getting a standing ovation.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18All I could see was his tears coming out
0:18:18 > 0:18:21and the diamonds that he had on his finger.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27And that pushed me into like, "This is who I want to be,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30"this is what I want to do and nothing else.
0:18:30 > 0:18:37"I want to be like my father and like BB King because my father, like BB King, was adored by people."
0:18:37 > 0:18:40RHYTHMIC DRUMBEAT
0:18:43 > 0:18:49Carlos was by now mixing with young musicians he had met in the parks and clubs.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51He was forming the nucleus of a band.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56To support himself, he got a job at a diner called Tic-Tocs.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59It would lead to a decisive encounter.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Around the same time that I was working at Tic-Tocs,
0:19:04 > 0:19:09bleaching floors, peeling potatoes, washing dishes,
0:19:09 > 0:19:11here comes The Grateful Dead.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17They stop right where I work to get hamburgers
0:19:17 > 0:19:20and French fries and milk shakes.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25I just heard this voice that said, "It's time for you to do something else,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28"become a full-time musician no matter what."
0:19:28 > 0:19:34So BB King and The Grateful Dead, consciously and unconsciously, they pushed me over the edge.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38It's like an eagle that needs to be pushed out of the nest. Bam!
0:19:38 > 0:19:40BLUES ROCK GUITAR MUSIC
0:20:00 > 0:20:06Carlos had joined up with a group of maverick musicians, each with a distinct musical style.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10They were known first as the Santana Blues Band and then Santana.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27Right from the get-go when I first met Carlos and we played
0:20:27 > 0:20:32and, of course, a lot of weed being smoked and a lot of noise,
0:20:32 > 0:20:37and somebody out there on the farmland called the cops on us.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41And I'm going, "We'd better get out of here."
0:20:41 > 0:20:45I turned around and Carlos was already about 20 yards down...
0:20:45 > 0:20:49You know, street kid, San Francisco. Hey, better than that, Mexico!
0:20:49 > 0:20:52He was out of there and I ran after him.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56We hid in a tomato patch until the cops left,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00then I said, "OK, let's go get your stuff." That's how I met him.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11Carlos and Gregg said, "We're thinking about getting a drummer in the group. Would you be interested?"
0:21:11 > 0:21:18We played for hours and at the end of that period, they pulled me in a room and asked me to join the band.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23They followed me home to my parents' house. I woke up my parents.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25I said, "See you later."
0:21:25 > 0:21:31I packed a few things, got in the car with them, drove up to the city to Bernal Heights
0:21:31 > 0:21:35and took my place on the couch. That's how I got in the band.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19NEW SPEAKER:
0:22:41 > 0:22:46It was a bunch of young guys, but it wasn't a real hippy thing so much.
0:22:46 > 0:22:53And one thing I learned pretty quickly about being in Santana was this was no hippy love thing.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57This was like a street gang, but the weapon was music.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03It was not, I think, like the other hippy bands.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07If you messed up, they were all over you. It wasn't one of those like...
0:23:07 > 0:23:13"That's cool, man, I'm sure you did the best you could" sort of vibe. It was pretty serious.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16When you hear Santana,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19it's a tsunami of colours.
0:23:19 > 0:23:25All it is is just finding a way to balance the blues
0:23:25 > 0:23:29with African rhythms. That's really what it is.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31# Jingo... #
0:23:33 > 0:23:37We would rehearse every day and after rehearsals,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41we'd go over to the Fillmore and check out whatever's going on.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44# There's laughing in her eyes, dancing in her feet
0:23:44 > 0:23:48# She's a neon light diamond, she can live on the street... #
0:23:48 > 0:23:53The Fillmore was like our first palace. It looked so large.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Actually, it's very small.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00If you went outside, people were just hanging out of the windows.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07The building had a life all of its own, imbued with our spirits.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16The audience was pretty exotic and erotic as well.
0:24:17 > 0:24:24It was not uncommon to see two people in a deep embrace or making love right on the sides of the stage.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26There was a lot of people in feathers.
0:24:26 > 0:24:32They were trying to express themselves, whether it was dressing up or taking their clothes off.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37Santana started there. They started on an audition night.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41And they were immediately very electric and very exciting,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44but they built their audience that way.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48So the atmosphere really was the band... The bands, the musicians,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52the people, the crowds were all one.
0:24:52 > 0:24:58It was one community of people sharing the music and sharing the celebration and the experience.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16This was the first time you mixed Latin music with rock'n'roll.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20It was a real ear-opener for everyone.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25It was very powerful because you had these trance rhythms,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29marrying the other backbeat rhythm.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34It was a wonderful way of... It was kind of a musical trade wind that had met.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Everybody played to each other. We played like a jazz band.
0:25:40 > 0:25:46You know... We're a blues band where you play off of each other and that was the experience.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50It was one big rhythm machine.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54And it connected with the people and we were intense.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Carlos was still a little bit shy too.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03He used to really hide. He wasn't out in front.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07And so we never really thought about showmanship.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Santana as a group looked different than other groups.
0:26:24 > 0:26:30You have an African-American, you have a Mexican, you have a Puerto Rican, you have a Nicaraguan,
0:26:30 > 0:26:35then you have two white boys from the suburbs. We looked cool, you know?
0:26:39 > 0:26:44And so yes, we were really the American band, you know,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48I think, as opposed to Grand Funk Railroad or something like that.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55Meanwhile, San Francisco, like all America, was in ferment.
0:26:55 > 0:27:02But the onset of the Vietnam War and civil rights protests hardly impacted the Santana band at all.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06For now, they were living snugly in their own Latin rock bubble.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12We played for the Peace and Freedom Party on top of a bus that went all through LA.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14And...
0:27:14 > 0:27:19And it was about... It was about playing for me.
0:27:19 > 0:27:25I didn't care about the political affiliation. As a matter of fact, I never thought about it much.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28It was about the music. It wasn't about politics.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31CHANTING: Protest! Protest!
0:27:31 > 0:27:36They did some benefits and they did some concerts for various political groups,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40but that was basically, I think, because Bill Graham booked them.
0:27:42 > 0:27:48Graham was the impresario of the Fillmore Concert Hall, spiritual home of Santana.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52He would play a pivotal role in the band's development.
0:27:52 > 0:27:58- Nothing but the best.- This man is responsible for my being crippled for life.- Show him your shoulder.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02'Bill was a very hard man.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05'He was a refugee from Poland.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09'Very harsh upbringing.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13'And he lived by his wits and he lived on the streets.'
0:28:13 > 0:28:17And in my view, a typical refugee mentality.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22He only believed that he had what he could carry.
0:28:22 > 0:28:28If he couldn't carry it in a sack on his back or in his pockets, it didn't exist.
0:28:28 > 0:28:35Carlos and Bill shared that refugee...immigrant mentality.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Carlos had come from nothing
0:28:39 > 0:28:42and to a strange country
0:28:42 > 0:28:44in much the same way that Bill did.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47And they basically had to make their own way.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52Of course, Carlos was not running from the Nazis, but from something else.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58And I think they really could share that immigrant mentality
0:28:58 > 0:29:01and what it meant to build your own life on your own.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04The only group all week long
0:29:04 > 0:29:07that I've had any trouble with is Santana.
0:29:07 > 0:29:14The Grateful Dead called, said, "Bill, we're playing. What time? We'll see you at eight o'clock."
0:29:14 > 0:29:21He said we were different than The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver, all of these bands,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24because when we played, people would stop talking.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28"Hey, man, what's happening?" "Yeah, man, cool, baby..." "Oh, hey!"
0:29:28 > 0:29:34Then they started like dancing in a different way, especially the ladies.
0:29:37 > 0:29:43What made Bill's eyes light up was that the audience went nuts
0:29:43 > 0:29:47and that they and Carlos were the same.
0:29:47 > 0:29:54Carlos was the audience. They were Carlos. It was a fantastic symbiosis.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Yeah, so, Wednesday...
0:29:57 > 0:30:00Yeah, this Sunday, I keep thinking about that...
0:30:00 > 0:30:06Graham loved Santana's Latin rhythms, but he realised he'd have to raise the band's profile
0:30:06 > 0:30:08and focus their ambition.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13He encouraged them to add radio-friendly tunes to their jam sessions.
0:30:13 > 0:30:18So he invited us to his office and said, "I want to play you this song
0:30:18 > 0:30:22"because I noticed that you guys don't play any songs.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25"You just play along as jams."
0:30:25 > 0:30:30I go, "What's wrong with that?" "You need to learn songs." "What do you mean?"
0:30:30 > 0:30:33"An intro, a chorus,
0:30:33 > 0:30:37"a verse, a chorus, verse, bridge and an outro."
0:30:37 > 0:30:40And we're like, "What?"
0:30:40 > 0:30:45And he was right. We didn't know songs from anything, man. We were just jamming.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47So he plays Evil Ways.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50# You got to change your evil ways
0:30:50 > 0:30:52# Baby... #
0:30:52 > 0:30:55So we learned Evil Ways.
0:30:55 > 0:31:01And the next thing I know, it was one of the first Santana to hit the radio.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05# When I come home
0:31:05 > 0:31:08# Baby
0:31:08 > 0:31:11# My house is dark and my thoughts are cold
0:31:11 > 0:31:13# You hang around
0:31:13 > 0:31:15# Baby
0:31:15 > 0:31:19# With Jean and Joan and who knows who
0:31:19 > 0:31:23# I'm getting tired of waiting and fooling around
0:31:23 > 0:31:27# I'll find somebody who won't make me feel like a clown
0:31:27 > 0:31:29# This can't go on... #
0:31:42 > 0:31:46Adding a few such catchy melodies to its driving Latin percussion
0:31:46 > 0:31:50was enough to persuade Graham he had a hot property on his hands.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55He called some record label bosses from the east coast to come sign up the band.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57We're not playing for you...
0:31:57 > 0:32:00Two people came -
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Ahmet Ertegun from Atlantic
0:32:03 > 0:32:06and Clive Davis from Columbia.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08When Ahmet heard the band,
0:32:08 > 0:32:13he said, "Can't play, will never sell," and walked out.
0:32:14 > 0:32:19Which we reminded him of mercilessly for years.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Clive was like Bill.
0:32:22 > 0:32:28What he was interested in was the relationship between the band and the audience.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30You didn't need to be a rocket scientist
0:32:30 > 0:32:34to know that Carlos was a virtuoso guitarist,
0:32:34 > 0:32:39charismatic, they were feisty, they were real, they looked good.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44You were dealing with the real deal, with real musicians,
0:32:44 > 0:32:51so that no-one was trying to shape, polish, smooth or clean up roughness.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55So I operate from the gut and I said yes right on the spot.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05The band were invited to make their first studio recording for Columbia Records,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09but they wanted to choose their own producer their own way.
0:33:09 > 0:33:16We picked up a hippy guy somewhere in the streets... "You'll do. Get over here, man."
0:33:16 > 0:33:19It wasn't that we were prima donnas,
0:33:19 > 0:33:23but we wanted a lot more freedom than to be controlled
0:33:23 > 0:33:25and, you know, to...
0:33:25 > 0:33:29You know, we didn't want to be controlled.
0:33:30 > 0:33:35Carlos would come up with many melodies that would just never cross my mind
0:33:35 > 0:33:39and I could maybe just try and arrange it more.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42We just kind of played off of each other.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45JAZZ-BLUES PIANO MUSIC
0:33:50 > 0:33:56The jazz-blues improvisation of Treat signposted the musical route Santana would later travel.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12SOOTHING JAZZ-BLUES CONTINUES
0:34:29 > 0:34:34I remember at the end of that album we made, the poor girl Gretchen from our office,
0:34:34 > 0:34:39we played it back for her, "How do you like this...?" She was crying. I was going...
0:34:39 > 0:34:44"Is it that bad?" "No," she goes, "this is unbelievable."
0:34:45 > 0:34:48But before the Santana album could even be released,
0:34:48 > 0:34:53Carlos found himself helicoptered into the biggest rock concert of all time.
0:34:53 > 0:35:00It was August 1969 and the band's appearance at Woodstock had been negotiated by their biggest fan.
0:35:01 > 0:35:07Without Bill Graham, Carlos Santana and the band would never have appeared at Woodstock.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11The people who organised Woodstock were demonstrably incompetent.
0:35:11 > 0:35:17They had no idea what they were doing. They called Bill in the middle of the night, "Please, help."
0:35:17 > 0:35:23Bill said, "OK, I'm going to come out and save your ass. But you've got to put my band on."
0:35:23 > 0:35:25Tell me it's not real.
0:35:25 > 0:35:32Bill Graham was very instrumental in opening this humongous door for Santana.
0:35:32 > 0:35:39He's the one that said, "I'm warning you. This stuff is going to fuck your head all up."
0:35:39 > 0:35:42I go, "What are you talking about?"
0:35:42 > 0:35:47"People are going to recognise you everywhere you go and your head's going to get really big.
0:35:47 > 0:35:53"You're going to start acting like Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone and Jim Morrison.
0:35:53 > 0:35:58"You're going to need a shoehorn just to get into a room because your head is so big.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01"You're going to start thinking you're God."
0:36:01 > 0:36:06I said, "We don't want to hear that crap. We're just street guys."
0:36:08 > 0:36:12The Santana band found themselves hanging around backstage.
0:36:13 > 0:36:18They took some LSD, thinking they had plenty of time to come down.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21But they were in for an unwelcome shock.
0:36:21 > 0:36:27They threw us on at a time when we didn't expect to be going on. We had to sort of get our bearings.
0:36:27 > 0:36:33We were supposed to go on hours later. They said, "If you don't get on now, you won't play."
0:36:44 > 0:36:48I remember that I was under the influence of LSD.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52You know, and then it all came back to me, like...
0:36:52 > 0:36:57"Damn! Why did I take LSD before I went on?"
0:37:00 > 0:37:03I wanted to find something like a drunk,
0:37:03 > 0:37:10find a telephone pole that I can hang on to because the whole city is going like this.
0:37:10 > 0:37:16And so my telephone pole was saying, "God, please help me.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21"Help me to stay in time and in tune.
0:37:22 > 0:37:28"That's all I ask. I'll never do this again. I promise I'll never touch the stuff again."
0:37:44 > 0:37:49The guitar neck is going like this. Literally, like an electric snake.
0:37:49 > 0:37:56And I'm making faces just to try to keep it from, you know, slithering so much.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00And trying to find pretty notes.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04And telling myself, "Slow down. Don't play so fast. Slow down."
0:38:04 > 0:38:06Cos the band's going...
0:38:06 > 0:38:10You find melodies like this, you know.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12Even back then,
0:38:12 > 0:38:17I'm able to hear that voice that says, "Do contrast."
0:38:17 > 0:38:22If everybody goes like this, you go like that. You know?
0:38:24 > 0:38:28When they got on the stage, it was their moment.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36Michael Shrieve was playing like a god and the percussion section was snapping.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Carlos was...
0:38:40 > 0:38:42He was driven.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46I could see what he was doing to the crowd.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52They just had this incredible energy that was golden.
0:38:52 > 0:38:57It was all like one...machine. It was like a heavenly clockwork.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02And you could feel
0:39:02 > 0:39:05that this group...
0:39:05 > 0:39:11and the rhythm was really communicating with the tribal energy of the audience,
0:39:11 > 0:39:15even though they were completely unfamiliar with any of the music
0:39:15 > 0:39:19and we were the only group that didn't have a record out.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45As the legend of Woodstock grew,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49it certainly helped propel Santana
0:39:49 > 0:39:56as an up-and-coming rock artist that would be reckoned with.
0:39:56 > 0:40:01And Clive saw three hundred thousand people going CRAZY
0:40:01 > 0:40:05and he saw what Santana could do live.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09It rocked his world and he realised what he had on his hands.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14He turned the marketing and promotion forces of Columbia Records full on.
0:40:16 > 0:40:22Following the triumph of Woodstock, Santana became a household name across the world.
0:40:24 > 0:40:30The band toured the States, Africa and Europe, indulging in the first fruits of a rock'n'roll lifestyle.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41Ah, Carlitos? Carlitos Santana?
0:40:42 > 0:40:48There was a different balance to the band now with new members arriving.
0:40:51 > 0:40:56But Carlos had taken on board from mentors Bill Graham and Clive Davis
0:40:56 > 0:41:02the need for a more audience-friendly repertoire to open new doors for the band.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06- #- Oye como va
0:41:06 > 0:41:08- #- Mi ritmo
0:41:08 > 0:41:10- #- Bueno pa' gozar
0:41:10 > 0:41:11- #- Mulata
0:41:11 > 0:41:15- #- Oye como va Mi ritmo
0:41:15 > 0:41:18- #- Bueno pa' gozar...- #
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Oye Como Va, this song to me is just as important
0:41:21 > 0:41:25as anything that Gregg's writing or anybody's writing.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31So the band go, "That's not rock'n'roll, man."
0:41:31 > 0:41:35And so I said, "I don't care. These songs are going on the record.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39"And if you don't want it, get another guitar player."
0:41:39 > 0:41:42Well, we disagreed a lot!
0:41:43 > 0:41:45It was... I mean, we did.
0:41:45 > 0:41:52But it was because it was passionate. We really meant it. I don't mean like that's a bad thing.
0:41:52 > 0:41:58He really believed it, I really believed it. And as Shrieve says, "It's always these two guys!"
0:41:58 > 0:42:00And it was.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05So the inter-personal relationships were very electric, very intense.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09And sometimes incendiary.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12I'll tell you one thing that really showed me
0:42:12 > 0:42:17where Carlos was that really took me by surprise.
0:42:17 > 0:42:23We were done rehearsing. We'd work hard, we'd never go to the movies or anything like that.
0:42:23 > 0:42:29So I said, "Hey, you wanna go to the movies?" And he stops and looks at me.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33"Man, why would I want to go to the movies? I wanna BE the movie."
0:42:37 > 0:42:43And I couldn't believe it. I said, "Whoa, man. I just asked if you want to go to the movies."
0:42:43 > 0:42:47Like, "You wanna go to dinner?" But he was serious.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51He was serious and he must have been 21 years old.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59By pushing the boundaries of his music and relationships,
0:42:59 > 0:43:05Carlos was able to take some giant steps beyond the first Santana album.
0:43:05 > 0:43:11You have a lifetime to prepare to make that first record, then you get caught up in touring
0:43:11 > 0:43:17and getting that second record to live up to the first is a near impossibility. Few have done it.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Santana really did with Abraxas. They took a leap.
0:43:21 > 0:43:28It was all about heart and soul and how does it feel? Not whether it's correct, just how does it feel?
0:43:28 > 0:43:32Cos to me music is imagery. I don't know notes.
0:43:32 > 0:43:38If you want me to read, I'll read to appease you, but I'd rather just close my eyes and look at it.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43The greatest tool he has is that he doesn't think about it.
0:43:43 > 0:43:48It comes straight through from the inspiration to the expression.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52When Carlos would say, "It has to be more purple..."
0:43:54 > 0:43:57He would say, "The drums...
0:43:57 > 0:44:02"They sound like the wind and I want them to sound like the sea."
0:44:12 > 0:44:18Samba Pa Ti was another track Carlos insisted the band include on Abraxas.
0:44:34 > 0:44:39If you can carry a melody, really carry a melody,
0:44:39 > 0:44:45and make it believable to anyone, where women stop and say, "Honey, this song speaks to me.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49"I'll talk to you later." They go, "Ahh," you know?
0:44:49 > 0:44:52That means you can carry a melody.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56That's what Samba Pa Ti is. It's something of my own.
0:45:18 > 0:45:24Of course, that was his first venture into really writing a classic melody
0:45:24 > 0:45:28and making it an instrumental piece of music.
0:45:28 > 0:45:36Yeah, Abraxas. It is still one of my favourite albums that I've ever been on.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Just the whole thing came together.
0:45:38 > 0:45:43Black Magic Woman/The Gypsy Queen to Oye Como Va.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47I mean, it's standard stuff now. It's classic.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50# Don't turn your back on me, baby
0:45:51 > 0:45:54# Don't turn your back on me, babe
0:45:54 > 0:45:58# Yes, don't turn your back on me, babe
0:45:58 > 0:46:02# Stop messin' 'round with your tricks
0:46:02 > 0:46:06# Don't turn your back on me, baby
0:46:06 > 0:46:10# You just might pick up my magic sticks... #
0:46:10 > 0:46:12GUITAR SOLO
0:46:56 > 0:47:00Abraxas became an anthem for the hippy generation.
0:47:00 > 0:47:07But it was recorded at the end of a decade that juxtaposed flower power with social unrest
0:47:07 > 0:47:09and political violence.
0:47:11 > 0:47:17It was really a horrible, horrible time to be an American
0:47:17 > 0:47:21when you had people going off to a senseless war,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25your government was killing innocent people.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28It was in turmoil.
0:47:28 > 0:47:33Because of what was happening in the '60s with Black Panthers, Vietnam, Martin Luther King
0:47:33 > 0:47:37and Malcolm X and the Kennedys,
0:47:37 > 0:47:42that's the beginning of becoming a warrior against Vietnam,
0:47:42 > 0:47:47riding with the peace and freedom movement.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55The '60s had also been a turbulent period in Santana's personal life
0:47:55 > 0:48:01as he moved through a painful adolescence to the pinnacle of rock superstardom.
0:48:01 > 0:48:08I was fighting me. When you fight yourself, you start blaming that wall and this lamp
0:48:08 > 0:48:11and this amplifier.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15You know, the world is what it is. I was really at war with myself.
0:48:16 > 0:48:21I wasn't ready to forgive the person who molested me.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23I wasn't ready to...
0:48:23 > 0:48:27do the inner work
0:48:27 > 0:48:32to be liberated from my own...demons, if you will.
0:48:34 > 0:48:36So I was at war with me.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41You know, I want to be kind, yet I'm really brutal.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45Or I'm really inconsistent or I'm this or that.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51Basically, I aspired to be a good person,
0:48:51 > 0:48:55but, you know, I can become really, really short-tempered
0:48:55 > 0:49:00and quick to anger, so I was at war. I basically was at war.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04Not with the radio or anything. I was at war with myself.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11As always, Carlos's music spoke for him.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15This was the first time the social and political discord around them
0:49:15 > 0:49:19appeared to spill over into the Santana band's repertoire.
0:49:19 > 0:49:24The name Incident At Neshabur alludes to a massacre of innocents.
0:50:02 > 0:50:08This was Santana's most ambitious work yet, inspired by new directions in jazz.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Well, listening to Miles,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14and Miles would go... # Do do do do do do #
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Just running the scale, but it wouldn't sound like that.
0:50:18 > 0:50:23It sounded like a snake sidewinding up a sand dune.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42The second part - de de da...
0:50:42 > 0:50:44That's all...
0:50:44 > 0:50:49This realm of songs like This Boy's In Love With You,
0:50:49 > 0:50:55Fool On The Hill... There's a gazillion songs just on those two chords alone.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59# Dee dee de doo doo... # All of that.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02Just in those two chords.
0:51:45 > 0:51:52Those two songs, in one, even though it's instrumental, it really tells a story.
0:51:52 > 0:51:58And so Incident at Neshabur, which is one of my very favourite recordings he ever made,
0:51:58 > 0:52:01was a tremendous departure
0:52:02 > 0:52:06and to people like us it would take courage.
0:52:06 > 0:52:12"Oh, my goodness. What'll happen? Maybe I'll turn my fans off." I don't think Carlos ever thought that way.
0:52:12 > 0:52:19He was thinking, "I've got to do this music, this is burning inside me and I'm going to get it out."
0:52:19 > 0:52:22Abraxas felt, really, like a unit.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27In-between Abraxas and Santana III,
0:52:27 > 0:52:29we had tremendous success.
0:52:29 > 0:52:37We were travelling the world, we were having number one records. Big records in a lot of countries.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40There was money, there was drugs.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46We had... management that was inexperienced,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49we were...we were getting lost.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55I always say they went to cocaine heaven.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59They were just a little too high, coming off non-existent walls.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02It's almost like too much too soon.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04That's the best way I could say it.
0:53:04 > 0:53:10We just... You had the world at your feet, you could do anything you want.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14And during those days you really could do anything you want!
0:53:18 > 0:53:21Several band members became addicted to the high life.
0:53:21 > 0:53:27For others, the music took a back seat on the rollercoaster ride to rock celebrity.
0:53:27 > 0:53:32Carlos could see the band was in danger of imploding.
0:53:32 > 0:53:38He... He kind of made an ultimatum to the band and that was never done. The band was a band.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41And that was kind of...
0:53:41 > 0:53:44when he began to take it over.
0:53:46 > 0:53:51Everybody was feeling a tremendous sense of sadness because...
0:53:52 > 0:53:57..it's like when you... you had too much sugar
0:53:57 > 0:53:59and then you crash.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01You know,
0:54:01 > 0:54:05here I'm hearing our records on the radio,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08number one for weeks and weeks.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14I got my mom the house that I promised her and the dishwasher and dryer.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16I'm fulfilling all my promises,
0:54:16 > 0:54:22yet I feel emptier than I ever felt before. "What the hell is wrong with me?"
0:54:22 > 0:54:27All of a sudden, you know, I wanted, like, a real hug
0:54:27 > 0:54:33that I haven't gotten from my mom in a long time. I wanted a real...relationship.
0:54:33 > 0:54:39You know, instead of like a revolving door of people who smell funny and they talk too much.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46But there was no time for reflection. Santana's first two records had gone platinum
0:54:46 > 0:54:50and Columbia called the band back to record their third album.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54Well, we show up at CBS Studios
0:54:54 > 0:55:01and I'm all set up there with the gear and the band and they show up in their fancy cars and motorcycles
0:55:01 > 0:55:03and they just terrorise that place.
0:55:03 > 0:55:09The first night they cut three pretty significant basic tracks for that third album.
0:55:09 > 0:55:15The next morning I go in the studio and the studio manager is there and he's completely livid.
0:55:15 > 0:55:21The place is all terrorised, Chepito has stolen the light bulbs, toilet paper, soap, everything,
0:55:21 > 0:55:26they rode their motorcycles, Harleys, through the building.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31They sat in this brand-new studio with their feet up on the walls
0:55:31 > 0:55:37and all this craziness and the studio manager wants to kill me. "There he is! Go get him!"
0:55:39 > 0:55:44It's more like going to the studio to pull out wisdom teeth.
0:55:44 > 0:55:49It's a lot more difficult to get people in the studio first of all,
0:55:49 > 0:55:53and when they do, they have an attitude. We had. I was there, too.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56'Or you show up late
0:55:56 > 0:56:01'or you are too over the top with drugs to play.'
0:56:01 > 0:56:03But, nevertheless,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06I think that when we did...
0:56:06 > 0:56:09put our...egos and illusions aside,
0:56:09 > 0:56:14there's incredible beauty between Gregg Rolle and myself.
0:56:36 > 0:56:42The band was built with passion and it fell apart with passion. It was just that kind of thing.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44If it hadn't been there,
0:56:44 > 0:56:49if that kind of animal attack on music hadn't been there,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52it would have never happened.
0:57:18 > 0:57:25Carlos's musical experience was expanding very, very wide very quickly.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30He was interested in all kinds of new music.
0:57:30 > 0:57:35Some of the people in the band weren't. A couple of people couldn't play it.
0:57:35 > 0:57:43And so there was a natural schism between, let's say, the new direction and the old Santana band.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46You know, I'm not a jazz player.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50And I was like a fish out of water.
0:57:50 > 0:57:55I didn't have much input to it. I'd try to sit in with this stuff,
0:57:55 > 0:57:58but it was... it was beyond my realm.
0:57:58 > 0:58:04And it made me realise already at that time that it was going like that, you know.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08Some people in the band wanted to go the Journey way
0:58:08 > 0:58:14and I wanted to go this other way with Carlos Jobim and Miles and Weather Report.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24CARLOS PLAYS SOLO
0:58:41 > 0:58:44It's kind of like we knew that that was it.
0:58:44 > 0:58:46And...
0:58:47 > 0:58:51It was the end of a love affair, you know.
0:59:01 > 0:59:07To the confusion of some fans, Carlos delved deeper into jazz rock with his next album Caravanserai.
0:59:10 > 0:59:14Caravanserai signifies coming out of the cage.
0:59:14 > 0:59:21It was like literally listening to Sketches of Spain and a lot of Coltrane,
0:59:21 > 0:59:23but without drugs.
0:59:38 > 0:59:45There's music for Friday and Saturday night, to party, and music to just replenish,
0:59:45 > 0:59:49music to just recollect yourself and reinvent yourself.
0:59:49 > 0:59:52Well, you know, we felt like,
0:59:52 > 0:59:56"This is so cool, this music we're making," and everybody hated it!
0:59:56 > 1:00:00I thought gravity was a myth and that record sucked to stay on Earth.
1:00:00 > 1:00:07Clive Davis came into the studio and heard it and he said, "You're committing career suicide!
1:00:07 > 1:00:10"This will just be terrible."
1:00:10 > 1:00:14I have heard "career suicide" about seven times in my life
1:00:14 > 1:00:18and I went right for it. "This would be career suicide."
1:00:18 > 1:00:23I'm like, "Mm, sounds interesting. I'll try it!" You know?
1:00:24 > 1:00:29At the same time as choosing a new musical path, Carlos was seeking
1:00:29 > 1:00:33a way out of his old loyalties and temptations.
1:00:33 > 1:00:40There's self-deception and there's self-discovery. I'm into self-discovery, man.
1:00:40 > 1:00:46With everything else that went with it - expensive cars and ladies all over the place and cocaine,
1:00:46 > 1:00:51you know, all the trappings - it's the same thing.
1:00:53 > 1:00:59You need discipline, you know, to withstand the onslaught of illusion.
1:01:00 > 1:01:05It was 1972 and gurus were very much in fashion.
1:01:05 > 1:01:10So Carlos and I went guru shopping together. We'd done our reading up
1:01:10 > 1:01:12on how to look for a guru.
1:01:14 > 1:01:18All of a sudden everything changes. Haircut, all the white clothing...
1:01:19 > 1:01:24..and he starts meditating and the candles in his guitar case.
1:01:25 > 1:01:32And he's sitting listening to John McLaughlin, the Mahavishnu, and getting all caught up in that.
1:01:32 > 1:01:38I remember saying, "Man..." He said, "Herbie, listen to the chops this guy has."
1:01:38 > 1:01:42And I'm, "Carlos, chops belong in a butcher shop."
1:01:54 > 1:01:58Carlos became a disciple of my guru, Sri Chinmoy.
1:01:58 > 1:02:02And I had this spiritual name, Mahavishnu,
1:02:02 > 1:02:08which is where the band name came from. So he was well aware
1:02:08 > 1:02:15that I was myself directly involved with addressing the fundamental questions of existence.
1:02:15 > 1:02:20And I think this was one of the things that drew us together.
1:02:20 > 1:02:24We became a lot more consistent with meditating at a certain time.
1:02:24 > 1:02:29Truly West Point military, like a marine.
1:02:29 > 1:02:33The diet was intense, the meditation was intense,
1:02:33 > 1:02:35the hours were intense.
1:02:35 > 1:02:39I think by the time we recorded he had become a disciple,
1:02:39 > 1:02:44which is why we're both on the cover wearing white
1:02:44 > 1:02:48and this was the guru's wish, you know, wear white.
1:02:48 > 1:02:52So whatever the guru wants, you do it. Simple as that.
1:02:52 > 1:02:57# The law divine is love divine
1:02:57 > 1:03:02# The law divine is love divine... #
1:03:05 > 1:03:10Supported by these new relationships, Carlos could again reinvent himself,
1:03:10 > 1:03:14this time with a complete reversal of lifestyle.
1:03:14 > 1:03:18With the guru's permission, he even settled down to marriage.
1:03:19 > 1:03:24The reason Deborah and I became attracted to one another
1:03:24 > 1:03:28was that we both wanted to get away from cocaine or heroin
1:03:28 > 1:03:32or anything that had to do with self-deception
1:03:32 > 1:03:35and self-destruction.
1:03:38 > 1:03:41In order to change who you are,
1:03:41 > 1:03:45Sri Chinmoy would give you a spiritual name.
1:03:45 > 1:03:49And Carlos changed his name to Devadip
1:03:49 > 1:03:54because that was the new name that Sri Chinmoy had given him.
1:03:54 > 1:03:57So he was now Devadip Carlos Santana.
1:03:58 > 1:04:00There was no real conflict
1:04:00 > 1:04:05between the personas of Devadip and Carlos.
1:04:06 > 1:04:09They were two aspects of who he was.
1:04:09 > 1:04:13So we could make an album of Carlos Santana
1:04:13 > 1:04:18and then we could make an album of Devadip. The guitar sound was identical.
1:04:18 > 1:04:24Carlos's playing was very similar, but the spiritual content was very different.
1:04:25 > 1:04:31Santana believed he had at last found the right balance of spiritual and sensual.
1:04:31 > 1:04:37When they played live, Devadip and Santana were happening onstage together.
1:04:37 > 1:04:39GENTLE GUITAR SOLO
1:05:49 > 1:05:54I think the whole experience with Sri Chinmoy gave him a lot of confidence.
1:05:54 > 1:05:58He felt, you know, like he had a path to be on.
1:05:58 > 1:06:02At this point, I mean that in a positive way,
1:06:02 > 1:06:07but we had some falling out on the road and things like that.
1:06:07 > 1:06:13Whereas before we were always close and now it seemed like he was changing
1:06:13 > 1:06:19in a way that seemed to be a public persona and then a private persona that was different from that.
1:06:19 > 1:06:22Within a few years,
1:06:22 > 1:06:27Carlos would replace not just his band, but his guru, too.
1:06:28 > 1:06:33Sri Chinmoy wanted all the attention, you know.
1:06:33 > 1:06:37And we fell for it for as long as we fell for it.
1:06:37 > 1:06:42When it was time to leave, it was time to leave. Honey became vinegar.
1:06:42 > 1:06:48To me, it was time to leave when I started hearing him say that if you leave him
1:06:48 > 1:06:52you drown in the sea of darkness. Uh-oh. Back to the pimps again.
1:06:54 > 1:07:00There was always another mountain to climb, always the need to travel a new road,
1:07:00 > 1:07:04just like his father, the itinerant mariachi.
1:07:04 > 1:07:07Only Carlos's journey was a global one.
1:07:11 > 1:07:16Still driven, still searching for the adoration that had greeted his early albums,
1:07:16 > 1:07:20Carlos travelled restlessly through the '80s.
1:07:20 > 1:07:27He just was relentless in his ideas for what he wanted to do for the next project.
1:07:28 > 1:07:35He was like a little child with a new toy, but his toys were all musical ideas
1:07:35 > 1:07:40and musical...concepts, you know.
1:07:43 > 1:07:48Santana involved himself in many adventurous collaborations in the next decade,
1:07:48 > 1:07:55but musical fashions had changed and for many fans these were his wilderness years.
1:07:58 > 1:08:01# Blues a healer
1:08:02 > 1:08:05# All over the world
1:08:06 > 1:08:09# Blues a healer
1:08:10 > 1:08:13# All over the world... #
1:08:13 > 1:08:17To me, music, if that's not marinated with the blues
1:08:17 > 1:08:22it's like cereal without any milk or pancakes without any syrup.
1:08:22 > 1:08:27The blues gives it... a certain validity
1:08:27 > 1:08:30to passion and emotions.
1:08:30 > 1:08:33Emotion and rhythm, you know.
1:08:42 > 1:08:46I think it's been remarkable to watch the change, the development,
1:08:46 > 1:08:50the growth of Carlos as a musician,
1:08:50 > 1:08:57but even more poignantly as a human being over the last forty years.
1:08:57 > 1:08:59Forty years.
1:08:59 > 1:09:02He's expanded his horizons
1:09:03 > 1:09:09and he's gone through a period of really intense self-inquiry.
1:09:13 > 1:09:18He's developed as a guitarist, as a musician, as a star,
1:09:18 > 1:09:23but as a human being he's gone through an enormous change.
1:09:23 > 1:09:27And very, very few of us can face that kind of transformation.
1:09:33 > 1:09:36There's a deeper purpose than selling records.
1:09:36 > 1:09:41To me it is all about utilising music
1:09:41 > 1:09:45to ignite people and assault the senses.
1:09:45 > 1:09:48To give people a remembrance
1:09:48 > 1:09:54that all of us are angels who didn't necessarily trade in our wings for feet.
1:09:58 > 1:10:03Is it possible to actually be genuine and true and honest and fresh?
1:10:03 > 1:10:07Is it possible to access purity and innocence
1:10:07 > 1:10:14and in that... that brilliance of inspiration that transcends fear
1:10:14 > 1:10:20and you putting yourself down or other people. With every record, there's critics,
1:10:20 > 1:10:23like, wanting to tear you apart, you know.
1:10:30 > 1:10:36But eventually Santana made a spectacular comeback with an ambitious new album, Supernatural,
1:10:36 > 1:10:38in 1999.
1:10:38 > 1:10:43# Man, it's a hot one Like seven inches from the midday sun
1:10:43 > 1:10:49# Well, I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone
1:10:49 > 1:10:53# But you stay so cold So cold... #
1:10:53 > 1:11:00Santana was still hungry, still ambitious for the radio plays to take him to a mainstream audience.
1:11:00 > 1:11:02# You're my reason for reason
1:11:03 > 1:11:08# You're the step in my groove, yeah... #
1:11:08 > 1:11:12He'd contacted his old mentor Clive Davis, who put him together
1:11:12 > 1:11:17with many of the biggest young hit makers on American radio.
1:11:17 > 1:11:20'We really had not been in touch
1:11:20 > 1:11:24'for maybe a good 20 to 25 years.'
1:11:26 > 1:11:32It's such a business of "What have you done lately?" and when you sign someone that has not had a hit,
1:11:32 > 1:11:39that has not been platinum or gold in recent years and you say, "I'm going to revive their career,"
1:11:39 > 1:11:44I know in certain quarters it got back to me
1:11:44 > 1:11:47this is "Davis's folly", you know.
1:11:47 > 1:11:51I didn't know Supernatural would turn the music world on its ear.
1:11:51 > 1:11:56I didn't know we would end up selling 28 million copies,
1:11:56 > 1:12:02nor did I know that it would break the all-time record for the number of Grammy Awards.
1:12:02 > 1:12:05It was exciting.
1:12:05 > 1:12:09Supernatural was a second coming for Santana,
1:12:09 > 1:12:15helping to lay to rest the struggle between angels and demons that had defined much of his career.
1:12:15 > 1:12:20# Cos there's a monster living under my bed
1:12:23 > 1:12:26# Whisperin' in my ear
1:12:28 > 1:12:31# There's an angel
1:12:31 > 1:12:33# With a hand on my head
1:12:37 > 1:12:40# She say I've got nothing to fear
1:12:42 > 1:12:48- # There's a darkness... # - Supernatural paved the way for Carlos Santana's continuing journey.
1:12:50 > 1:12:53# Still got a purpose to serve... #
1:12:55 > 1:12:58My guitar's my umbilical cord.
1:12:58 > 1:13:02My guitar is my voice. It's the things that I process,
1:13:02 > 1:13:07the things that are immediately, supremely important to me.
1:13:07 > 1:13:13And what's important to me is to honour the musicians that I learnt,
1:13:13 > 1:13:15honour the teachers that I had,
1:13:16 > 1:13:19honour my family
1:13:19 > 1:13:23and honour the listener by reminding the listener.
1:13:23 > 1:13:28When you take a solo, you are required to know where you're going
1:13:28 > 1:13:34and what are you trying to say. And then get the hell out of there, give it to the next guy.
1:13:34 > 1:13:40So what is required for you to understand is where you're going when you take a solo.
1:13:40 > 1:13:45You're going straight to people's hearts. What are you trying to say?
1:13:45 > 1:13:51You say to them, "You matter, you're significant and meaningful and you can make a difference."
1:13:51 > 1:13:53Now that's a solo.
1:14:14 > 1:14:19# While my guitar gently weeps
1:14:30 > 1:14:34# Still my guitar gently weeps... #
1:14:36 > 1:14:38Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk