The Rock genre has transformed and twisted its strings into new beginnings and sounds for decades. Playing a huge part in the rock evolution is guitarist Carlos Santana. Santana is a Mexican-American guitarist who managed to greatly merge blues, African rhythms, and Latin fusion into rock. He brought a new diverse sound into the world of Rock N’ Roll and became a legend. Santana’s music was even featured in a video game called Guitar Hero where players could play his music. The guitarist rose to fame throughout the 1960’s and ‘70s, which is when the hippie movements took place in San Francisco, where Santana resided. He played majestic songs such as Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va, Europa, and more. As a young child, Santana kickstarted his musical future by playing the violin at age five. At age eight he transferred over to a guitar, which would soon be his specialty. The now 75-year-old guitarist continues to play shows in Las Vegas, Nevada. Like everyone else, Santana had idols. Some included Ray Charles, B.B King, and Little Richard. These idols heavily influenced Santana and inspired him to make his own distinct blues songs which changed the world forever. Santana played at Woodstock in 1969 as a largely unknown band. They closed their act with the hit song Soul Sacrifice that is now identified as one of the highlights of the festival. The band “Santana” was just any other psychedelic band from San Francisco until Woodstock opened the eyes of many fans. Their song Soul Sacrifice, with zero lyrics, took the famously non-sober Woodstock crowd in a fascinating and unreal psychedelic trance. In the video captured of their ‘69 performance, the crowd is visibly moved and in awe of their playing. Not only was the crowd feeling their music, the band was feeling it too. Their faces say it all. All the instruments created a satisfying rock n roll fusion that will be greatly remembered in all of music and Woodstock history.
Santana being a well known guitar legend is also very important in a white male dominating genre. Being Mexican-American, Santana inspires other minorities to take the chance on being a musician within the rock genre. Santana immigrated to San Francisco from Mexico in 1961 without documentation. He proudly shows off beautiful cultural music in his playing and rightfully impresses the world of rock with his genius fusions.