Santana Fan Club 'East-West blends' - Page 2

One goal, two musician, three fretboards: Mahavishnu John McLaughlin and Devadip Carlos Santana.

John and Carlos somewhere in a dressing room during 1973 !

One goal, two musician, three fretboards: Mahavishnu John McLaughlin and Devadip Carlos Santana.

John and Carlos somewhere in a dressing room during 1973 !

Devadip Carlos Santana and Mahavishnu John McLaughlin 1973:

"the eternal ocean is so profound"

Berkeley Jazz Festival 1980 with John McLaughlin & Devadip Carlos Santana.

Those Concert Dates/Ad was taken from the Rolling Stone Music Magazine September 13, 1973

The photo was taken by the Photographer Ed Perlstein and shows:

Carlos and John at the Berkeley Jazz Festival 1980.

The pic.shows: Devadip Carlos Santana, Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, and Doug Rauch during 1973. It could be that the picture was taken during a recording session. I am not 100% sure about that.

Carlos & John: They Share a Guru and a Band BY LORRAINE O'GRADY NEW YORK - Mahavishnu John McLaughlin is shaking his head with happiness as he rushes to make a phone call during a quick break from rehearsing at Baggies Studio. "Man, do you hear what's going on out there? Talk about knocking the walls of Jericho!" He grins,then chews hisgum excitedly. And standing at the soft-drink machine, hopping from one foot to the next and periodically pecking at a can of Fanta orange, Devadip Carlos Santana can hardly contain the joy he feels. "It was just like a birthday party!" he beams describing the ceremony yesterday in wich his soul received its spiritual name. Sri Chinmoy, the guru that he, like Mahavishnu has accepted, has called him Devadip (pronounced:day-va-deep), The Lamp of the Light of the Supreme. "You know the way some birthdays are so sad ?" he smiles. "Well, most of mine were like that. Real bummers. But yesterday was like the first time I was really haveing a birthday. My wife and I both cried, we were so happy. It was like being born again, if you know what i mean." When it's time to go back and rehearse, Mahavishnu comes up behind him and puts both arms around his waist, then pulls Carlos close to him a natural display of affection that's almost shocking in its spontaneity. Back in the studio, lit only by a few incense candles on the top of the amps, the atmosphere is purposeful but carefree. The frist McLaughlin - Santana tour is beginning in Saratoga in just two days (ending three weeks later in Hawaii), and the band is definitely ready. Listening to them play, it's a bit difficult to get oriented. The interview has been initated by the press department of the Sri Chinmoy Center in Queens, to celebrate Santana's naming and to mark the start of the
tour, wich has also been undertaken at the guru's request. With so many overtones of organized religion, it's hard not to feel leery. The music is making you soar with it, what's religion got to do with anything ? But as you circle the amps to take a closer look at Santana and McLaughlin, sitting on wooden chairs facing the rest of the band, you can tell that something is happeing. Whatever Santana's life may have been in the past, it must have been leading to this moment. McLaughlin sits beside him, smiling and nodding approvingly, When the playing stops, they go on sitting, talking softly, with their heads inclined and their foreheads almost touching.
The love and respect they have for each other is awesome. It's hard not to envy it. Later, in the front room at Baggies, with the sun descending gradually beyond the open windows, they talk. They're going on tour to spread their guru's light, they say. And for the sheer joy of playing on the same stage. How would they describe their relationship these days ? "We're closer than brothers," says Mahavishnu cradling Santana's head in his hand's. "I have three physical brothers and I love them. But we're closer than that. If you live for the same thing, for the same ideal then there's nothing that can divide you." And what effect has this closeness in their personal relationship had on their music ? "He inspires me," Mahavishnu says. "You know, music is only an expression of your inner consciousness. Everybody is expressing their inner consciousness all the time, even when their mouths are shut. In music, it just becomes immediately apparent. And Carlos has so many divine qualities, in his life as well as his music. I know because I've seen them. He's so lyrical and so pure. When I play with him, he radiates this simplicity and I love it." If they feel so fulfilled playing with each other, does this mean they're going to give up their own band's ? "No," says Mahavishnu. Each group is like a child. It would mean dissolving two childern to get one Instead, we have three. They're going to evolve in their own ways, and inspire differently. There are infinite modes of expression and each expresses
the same Divine."
"Mahavishnu's band is like a pure well," Carlos says, "where ours is like a lake. But sooner or later the efforts that we make individually make this water come closer to the ocean. And the eternal ocean is so profound. Working with the band I work with teaches me to sharpen my patience, to find the right place to bring the best out of them." Suddenly you can begin to see how many fragile relationships are being preserved here. For though he doesn't say it, one suspects that McLaughlin still needs the Mahavishnu Orchestra for the lonely battle he has with his own instrument. And at the same time, his concern for Carlos' development is sincere. In many ways, it's a sound decsion. This way they both have two band's one to teach and one to learn from. The profits from the joint band won't be treated differently than those of all part of a Divine Enterprise.
And strictly speaking the tour ins't a benefit for the Sri Chinmoy Center. Chinmoy has less than 1000 disciples for whose spiritual life he has accepted responsibility, and there is no tithing. Everybody gives what they can and want to give. But if pressed, McLaughlin says simply, "My guru knows how to spend my money better than I do."(Wich is not to say that Chinmoy handles McLaughlin's income on a regular basis. "As far as the Orchestra's business is concerned," he added, "Nat Weiss (his manager) is my adviser." His earlier comment, he said, in a phone call a week after the studio visit, had been relayed to Chinmoy, "and he was concerned that people would misunderstand the finanical aspects of spiritual masters, " The term "my money" he said, referred to his salary as a member of the Orchestra and only money "beyond
my own needs." ("We don't give money to Sri Chinmoy," Carlos told ROLLING STONE. "Only sometimes when I go to the center, like in New York, just like in churches there are self-offerings. I have a restaurant-boutique-health food store opening [in San Francisco, called Dipti-Nivas--"Boat Of Light"] with my wife Debbie. That's how contribute. The restaurant in reality
belongs to humanity. It's guru's will.") "Just feel how my heart is jumming." Carlos says in the cab back to his hotel. "I can's tell you how I live for these days when I can see my guru and be with Mahavishnu. Just to play with him. This morning I only hada sandwich and last night we were rehearsing, so I didn't get any sleep. And I don't know, I don't feel anything. It's like the energy keeps coming back to me." Dressed in crisp whites that have just come back from the cleaners this morning, when he hopes out of the cab he looks like a littel candle bouncing down the street befor he disappears into the hotel. It shouldn't be too long befor people remember to call him Devadip.

ROLLING STONE OCTOBER 11 1973

Latin music returns to America with wave of new pop starlets

The Baltimore Sun Marc Anthony. Mana. Shakira. Elvis Crespo. Luis Miguel. Jaguares. Jaci Velasquez. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. Their names might not ring a bell right now, but if current trends continue, most of them will be familiar soon enough, as the stars of Latin pop cross over into the Anglo mainstream. Already this year, both Enrique Iglesias and former Menudo member Rick Martin have topped the Billboard singles chart, while Mana and the Buena Vista Social Club are gaining ground on the albums chart. According to the industry buzz, Latin pop is music's Next Big Thing.

Courtesy of Columbia Records Carlos Santana continues to score music hits with this year's collaborative effort.

This isn't the first time Latin music has invaded the American charts. In the 1930s, almost every dance band in America had at least a couple rumbas and tangos in its repertoire (even if the arrangements were so heavily Americanized that Latin listeners barely could recognize the rhythms). But the biggest boom came in the early '50s, when the mambo and cha-cha were introduced. But what constitutes Latin pop today? Merely having a Hispanic surname does not make a singer a Latin pop star. Jennifer Lopez might have played Latin pop phenom Selena in the movies, but with her own album, "On the 6,'' Lopez comes across as the New York-born pop/soul singer she is in real life. Nor is there anything particularly Latin about the sound of Christina Aguilera's self-titled debut (much of which was recorded in Sweden). In fact, the notion that Latin pop is a specific musical style is misleading. Here in America, the Latin music market is divided into three segments: Tropical, Regional Mexican and plain old Pop. Musically, these styles resemble one another about as closely as hip-hop resembles country. The Tropical style's roots are in Cuba and the Caribbean, best-known through the brassy, percussive sound of salsa; the Regional Mexican style stresses guitar, violin and accordion, as heard in mariachi and "Tex-Mex'' music. The Pop end of the Latin market offers everything from big, string-soaked ballads to raucous, electric-guitar-powered rockers. What makes it Latin is language. Whereas most of the releases on the mainstream charts are recorded in English, recordings aimed at the Latin market are made in Spanish. Crossover occurs when an artist who previously has appealed only to Spanish-speaking music fans ends up with an equally large audience of English-speakers. It's not necessary to "habla Espanol'' to understand the appeal of Latin music. But it does help to know the difference between merengue and mariachi. What follows is a brief guide to the major movements in Latin pop.

Tropical

Veteran rock star Carlos Santana likes to say, "People call what we do Latin, Spanish, whatever, but we're all playing African music.'' Nowhere is that more true than in the music of Cuba. As with American popular music, the African influence on Cuban music has its roots in slavery. In the 1700s, the Catholic church in Cuba created "cabildos,'' or mutual aid societies, which allowed the Africans to restore the tribal identities slavery sought to abolish. One of the results of the cabildos was the formation of several Afro-Cuban religious strains, complete with ritual music styles. Those Afro-Cuban beliefs survive today as Santeria, while echoes of the ritual music - particularly the drumming, which has sacred importance to Santeria - can be heard in almost every form of Tropical Latin music, particularly salsa. People interested in hearing Afro-Cuban ritual music in its pure form should look for either "Cuba: Les danses des dieux'' (Ocora 559051), a Radio France recording of various rites, or "Sacred Rhythms of Cuban Santeria'' (Smithsonian Folkways 40419).

Regional Mexican

Given the number of Mexican immigrants who have come to America, it's makes sense that pop based on Mexican traditional music is enormously popular in Texas and the Southwest. What may seem surprising is that some of this music is more American than it is Mexican.

Pop

A popular misconception about Latin pop is that it is exotic, fiery, mysterious and strange. Because Latin musicians are generally familiar with Anglo-American music trends, contemporary Latin pop runs the gamut from sweet, middle-of-the-road balladry to the edgiest hip-hop, hard rock and house music. One of the great ironies of Gloria Estefan's career is that the music she made with the Miami Sound Machine when the group's audience was mostly Spanish-speaking was less salsa-based than her big crossover hits, "Conga'' and "Bad Boy.'' For years, the most popular Latin pop singer was Spanish balladeer Julio Iglesias, and his sons, Enrique and Julio, Jr. (both of whom have English language releases due this fall), seem likely to create a something of a Latin pop dynasty. Nor are they atypical of the field, as singers like Ricky Martin, Luis Miguel, Juan Gabriel, Cristian, Ana Gabriel and Carlos Ponce offer a similarly melodic, pop-savvy sound. Others draw from traditional sources but update their music with electronic beats and rock or soul influences. Marc Anthony, for example, plays off salsa rhythms in his music, but is by no means a strict traditionalist, and much the same can be said for stars like Elvis Crespo and India. Then there's rock en Espanol, the Latin rock movement, which has gained a growing market here in the United States. At the forefront of this movement is Mana, whose albums routinely go gold in America, but Shakira, Puya, Molotov, Los Amigos Invisibles, and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs have also made significant inroads into the American scene. Apart from language, these acts have little in common. Mana, for example, boasts a majestic, tuneful sound that could be described as a cross between Live and Bon Jovi (though there's a strong Santana influence to their current album, "MTV Unplugged''). As a vocalist, Shakira could pass for Alanis Morissette's kid sister, but her songs have more in common with Paula Cole's soul-based sound. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs do pop ska more skillfully and interestingly than No Doubt; Molotov's hip-hop/hard rock fusion is in the same league as Limp Bizkit's; Puya plays the sort of thrash Godsmack fans live for; and Los Amigos Invisibles are devoted P-Funk acolytes.

09-28-99