“we stood before it and began to freeze inside from the exertion. we questioned the painting, berated it, made love to it, prayed to it: we called it mother, called it whore and slut, called it our beloved, called it abraxas.”**
“hey, how is it going?” might be the most famous lyric 70’s rock band, santana, has ever produced. of course, it wasn’t exactly as “normal-spongebob” as “hey, how is it going?” it was actually just “oye como va” which is so much smoother and sexier than the previously stated phrase. this was santana’s legacy: the sexiest sounding rock band of the 70’s.
while santana was jamming with bongo drums and the start of synthesizers in the hippy age, the birth of what is now known as classic rock and heavy metal was only just beginning. it was a strange time where everyone was running around trying to figure out what the hell the genres actually were as so many bands were recording so many different sounds and pieces but they all had something in common. rock music grew out of the oldies kind of rhythm and blues that was popular just before and it was subsequently turned into a rampant on war and drugs which was also the forefront of the world at the time. the late 1950’s into the 1960’s were incredibly focused on making the world a more peaceful place again and hippies ran amok. the grateful dead, fleetwood mac, the eagles, and santana were the leaders in this movement regarding music. in the last post i talked about how black sabbath changed the way rock viewed the world from the awesomeness of “flower power” into the realistic side of drugs and war- a dark and macabre scene that few would want to involve themselves in. they gave way to a new statement of rock that could be dubbed as the start of heavy metal. this of course just continued to break away in the 80’s into bands like guns n roses, metallica, van halen, etc. classic rock has a very obscure ending to it. some people consider that this kind of music continues into the 90’s with grunge bands like nirvana while others like to cut the genre and classic rock stations off when boy bands started to rise at the end of the 80’s.
santana was lucky enough to be in the gap of rock where other cultures and music were welcomed in the rock and music scene. rock was the forefront of music in the time of santana’s reign and, while they weren’t the only racially diverse group or artist in the genre, they were one of the few that did have their songs in another language or a varying tone of music. carlos santana (a mexican-american guitarist) formed the band in 1966 originally as a blues band. that all changed when they performed at woodstock in 1969. they turned from a blues band into a trippy rock band- to match their fans and the surrounding society of the time. this allowed their music to become incredibly popular due to their hippy vibe. it also helped that their style of music was popular not only in the US but mexico as well. this really got the hippies rolling as to them it promoted peace among nations.
santana’s music could easily be as famous as it is due to the trippy vibes and crazy repertoire of instruments used. they combine classic latin music with oldies american blues and then with the traditional 70s smoothness of music to create a sound that could be their own genre if they really wanted it. much like other bands at the time (e.g. pink floyd), santana, combined multiple instruments that, honestly, probably shouldn’t sound good together but hell they make it work and santana made it work incredibly well.
their best album that showcases this mess of music is their 1970 album “abraxas.” the title, abraxas, came from a line in hermann hesse’s book, demian, which is quoted at the top. the album cover, however, is actually a painting by mati klarwein in 1961 titled annunciation. the word abraxas is a gnostic word showcasing magic and wonder in the world revolving around the seven classic planets. while the album might be named after classics, this album alone holds two of the band’s most classic songs. “oye como va” and “black magic woman” gave the band their reputation and their set sound that would make them famous. “black magic woman” was a cover of a previous fleetwood mac song, however, topped the charts at number four on the billboard hot 100 and then as number one on the billboard top 200. in “black magic woman” they mix together a saxophone with a guitar and other synthesizers that would sound crazy in any other sense but their mix in of salsa made the music have a merengue dance vibe clash with stoner rock and thus produced this wonderful chart-topper. “black magic woman” and “oye como va” aren’t the only two songs that have a strong sense of culture in them, “el nicoya” is a song that is full drums and light singing that can be easily pictured as being played on the side of the road in their home country of mexico. “incident at neshabur” is another interesting song on this album and also has strong hispanic roots, however, they really amp up the mixture of instruments and sounds as it goes from something you’d hear at a fancy restaurant playing on the piano to a crazy bridge that shoves the melodies of all the other songs on the album together.
if you couldn’t tell already by the fact that Santana played at Woodstock, they had a huge following of the stoner crowd behind them. as mentioned, their combinations of instruments and salsa vibes create a great dancing sound that would make your head roll. santana was essentially hailed as some of the leaders of the hippy movement because of their music being so easily paired with toking out. this type of music may not have lasted with other bands that got their footing in this age due to the rise of hard rock and metal, but santana continued producing the same style of music through each album and continues to do so today. their music speaks to people in such a way that keeps today’s generation still clinging to their album abraxas whenever emotions run high or they just simply are high. In the words of carlos santana “the most valuable possession you can own is an open heart, the most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace.”
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