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September 13, 2025 • 17 mins

There is nobody like Carlos Santana and I still can't fathom that I had the opportunity to speak with him. He is still out playing his heart out and you can check him out at The House of Blues in Las Vegas in collaboration with Live Nation. 

Have any suggestions for fan favorites? Send me an email at buzz@buzzknightmedia.com

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk. People started asking me, what kind of
appli fire do you use? What kind of guitar is that?
The applifier to the guitar is me. I'm the cell
you know, I'm an act accumulation of a lot of
things that I think in field.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm buzz night and I'm thrilled you're here for the
Taking a Walk Podcast. I am over the moon excited
to welcome one of the most iconic guitarists in music history,
Carlos Santana. Carlos is still creating groundbreaking new music, releasing
Let the Guitar Play, a collaboration with Darryl Run dmc McDaniels.

(00:34):
Santana is also coming to a venue near you with
their Oneness tour twenty twenty four with The Counting Crows.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Carlos, It's an honor to have you on the Taken
a Walk Podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Think it was a joe to bewitch you.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
So it's amazing You're never ending in your work. Congratulations
on Let the Guitar Play, the collaboration with Run dmc.
See how did that collaboration come about?

Speaker 1 (01:03):
You know, it's like the same answer for since the beginning.
I found out as I was born, even before I
was born. Some of it is orchestrating behind the scene, uh,
for each individual to have a glorious existence. My path
was said with my mom and dad and even before

(01:25):
the later on when I got to San Francisco, because
of Bill Graham and Clive Davis and BB King and
TiO Poente, because all of them saw something in me
and they kind of like adapted me, and they invested
emotionally and financially and believing in me, and uh, and

(01:47):
they Encouragemila. So where I am today, it's still an
extension of what I learned from Bill Graham and Clive Davis.
Just show up in compliment whatever. I get so proud
of you.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Excited about the Oneness tour with the Counting Crows that's
going to be hitting twenty nine cities across North America.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I am very excited because you know, once I made
a decision in nineteen seventy two not to be a
victim mentality rock star. You know what I said, I'm
already really seeing the rock stars. You know, they kind
of smell rancid, and they look they look like they
were not having a good time. And I said, you know,
anybody wants to be like a rock star. But when

(02:30):
you hate around rock stars, they really will. They're really
miserable people, you know. And I says, I want to
do something different instead of doing this shooting up or
slowting or drinking, I'm gonna go like this. I'm going
to visit my light, my own dibandity, away from religion,

(02:52):
and I want to do something different. And as soon
as I did it, you know, it was like West
Point discipline. It was like we're green because it was
a discipline. My tone jit chain. People start asking me
what kind of apple fire do you use? What kind
of guitar? Is that? The applifier the guitar is me.
I'm the cell. You know, I'm an accumulation of a

(03:15):
lot of things that I think in field. So here's
the thing. I made a conscious decision to become a
significant musician person than a rock star. You know, if
you want to sell stuff, you can say you don't
have to be a rock star to be radiant. So
you have the attire that makes you look at a

(03:37):
rock star or shoes or whatever, you know. But as
I said, hang around with rock stars I founded out
to be really really depressing and frustrating because they're always complaining,
you know, they're always everything's not enough, you know. And
I said, man, this stuff is boring. You know, it's

(03:58):
gonna be another way. So heyter Jel mclauchle, we found
a guru, a spiritual teacher from India, and he had
a different perception, which is what it is on life.
And so that helped me change words, like it's not
a job, it's a gift. It's not work, it's wonder man.

(04:20):
That's why I changed words. And it stimulates me. I
have more energy than what I eat. I have more
inspiration than money in the bank. I found that there's
another form of energy that I can bring out of myself.
I never received a lot of compliments, you know, from
Miles Davis to Stemy Ray to Jacko to Eric Clapton

(04:45):
African musicians, and like one of the best timpliments I
ever got was from a gentleman, a gentleman named Marikantade,
and he said to me, he says, uh, your belly
is full, but you're hungry to feed the people. And
I was like, oh, that's who. Thank you so much,
you know. So it means that no matter how, no

(05:06):
matter what the world gives me. I feel better when
I'm sharing it. Like when we braiding wood stop, everybody
got fed, you know, up lending to do because Bill
Brahm and Michael Nan, they're on the other side valve,
they left the body. So I want to create a
global woodstock Friday, Saturday or Saturday. You didn't do you

(05:28):
harm any oneness with selective artists, selective songs. It's just China,
Russia and Korea. They're joking about nuclear war in the
Middle East against the United States, you know. And remember
in the fifties where people say, you know, just you know,
we're having a drill, Go get under your desk, you know,
just in case they dropped the bomb, like that's a

(05:50):
help you, you know. And I used to go, this
is fucking stupid man, you know, they dropped the bomb
going out of the desk. That ain't gonna help me,
you know. So that stuff just kept striving to come
back again because people try to selling you fear, which
is what the media does. Fear fear fear. I enjoy
watching scary movies out Fridays when I was young, Dracula,

(06:13):
practice diet, you know, all that. But after a while,
they got boring. You know, I got bored really really
quick with The Exorcist. I got bored with that frequency.
I get excited more with the positive possibilities of knowing
that I can make a difference. I can show up
in the room with a lot of people and had

(06:34):
to Mike Jagger about daling. People would look at me
because they know that I'm bringing something to the table.
Is uplifting and encouraging, you know. Santiago is a language
of light and enjoy and love. And you know, there's
not that many bands that can go to Ireland or

(06:55):
Africa or Japan and still be like this with the family.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
You know.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
So after all these years, I learned that I am significant,
meaning pole, precious and priceless. This is not my ego speaking,
This is my soul affirming that if God created the constellation,
the universe, the galaxy, the Milky Way says he created

(07:22):
all that, and he created you and me, we must
be pretty good, you know, because God don't create garbage.
You know, we create garbage by thinking trash, you know,
and so wet. A musician is more than just playing
the guitar. You know, People saying why did you learn
from Jerry Garcia. Where did you learn from Michael Brulfield?
Why did you learn from this and what did you

(07:42):
learn from that? You know, I learned just compliment, Just compliment, compliment,
not be asking the complimenting? Is that that makes me
seventy I'm seventy something. I think I might be seventy
seven already, but I'm still relevant, you know. I could.

(08:02):
I could walk around the streets of Amsterdam at night
and here a car covered around, you know, with the
widows all bit and they're playing live music. I'm like that,
you know. So it makes it feel grateful that I'm
living a life where I can make my mother and
my father proud. That to me is everything. Amen to that. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
August tenth, nineteen sixty nine, I was privileged to be
able to see Santana open for the Jefferson Airplane and
a free concert in Central Park, which blew my mind.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
What do you remember about that experience? I remember constantly
winning a battle of over fear, you know. Being from California,
you country, New York, you know, it's a different energy,
you know, and sometimes people give me very great, very
edgy in New York, you know. And then I realized

(09:05):
if I just walk like I owned a fucking place,
you know, from the village all the way to Central Park,
then they can't intimidate. And then now I wanted it,
you know, because people can read body let me. If
I'm walking around like I'm nervous nelly, you know, then
they want to come after me. But if I walk
around like you don't show me shit man, you know,

(09:26):
like I've been on here. You know, it's something that
people need to be topped. Like someone may teach you
how to body syrp. You know, someone can teach you
how to navigate or expeak the language coming to you
in New York. There should be like a procedure that
teaches you before you get out of the play a conduct,

(09:47):
how to carry yourself. So I have it in my
mind and in my heart a lot of things that
I want to do and bring our curriculum to schools,
you know, teach people compassion, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, just like
you teach history or one two three or ABC. Teach

(10:09):
people about copassion, kindness, marsty, forgiveness. You know, those are
the main ingredients elements go owing nutrients for world peace,
you know, And it's something that if your parents don't
teach it. A lot of church churches they self fear,

(10:30):
you know, they they I don't deal so much with
the Bible because a lot of it has got Zilla,
and I don't buy it with Godzilla. I buy with God.
God is unconditional love. I follow out that is Jesus
conditional love, forgiveness. Anything to do with you screw up.
And you know you got to go through check mood, Charlie.

(10:52):
And you're not make suring that because you miss you know,
you screw up with the tank commandment, tank commandos. You
know you're going to go to help for it. I'm
let you know I'm gonna spiritual adult. You don't need
to scare me to have it. And by the way
we jove it to heaven, it will scare me to
have it, you know, because I didn't want to work.

(11:13):
And so as a musician, I find that other decicious
whatever being around with me because they can see it
when I walk in. But I bring something than cocaine
or hair on or this or that or lick it.
You know, I'm bringing an different energy that has nothing
to do with making the drive dealer more. You know,

(11:36):
if they depend on me they want to start to death,
you know, anything to do with the casinos. You know,
I don't gamble. I believe in grace. I don't believe
a lot of fortune or any of that, you know.
So just the way that I was built, it shows
up in my play. And I'm happy. I'm very very
happy that I have become consistent with specificity of showing

(12:00):
up and bringing light and loud, reminding people. And I'm
going to let you the level you're worthy, your precious, priceless,
your significant and meaningful. Carry yourself like you know, And
that to me is I mean, anybody can play. You
can trade you what to play music, just I could

(12:20):
trade you for two shovel cards. But the kind of
music that I play is the kind of music that
ignites your chromosomes and your morequl the structure to believe
one more time. Believe it, old and olden. I am
the stribitual being. I could create blessings and miracles. It's

(12:42):
that just tree, Jesus or Christian or auDA or Buddha
or the Pope. I could create blessed and miracles too,
because I've been in viewing before. I was born with
that guilt and the more you remind people of this.
You know, it spreads by consciousness spread And this is

(13:02):
basically to put it to go Kulle this conversation, what
a positive thought creates billions of positive vibration. That was
John Coltrane who said.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
That can you explain to somebody what it feels like
when you're on stage performing in front of a large
group of people.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
And you're hitting that note so brilliantly? What is what
is that feeling like? From your perspective, It's a spiritual orgaso.
You know, we have a spiritual orgaso. It's more than emotion,
because emotion, you know, like the roller coaster, you could
go up and you gun down. You know, one minute
you feel good. They think you feel miserable because you

(13:44):
feel guilty. But when you play bussi and you have
a what we call a spiritual orgasm. For me, I'm
looking up to people as I always see people where
they get off their seat and it's like a spiritual revival.
They start crying and laughing and dancing, and they're actually
crying and laughed in dancing at the same time. It's

(14:07):
like the Holy girls took over it in their bodies
just like it a revival at church, you know. And
when I see that, I look at the band and
I go, hey, we're doing it. You know there's a
proof right there. They say, proof is that the ploybook.
Look look at her, look at her and look at it.
I'm looking at the way they're dancing. They're like, and
that's what music does, whether it's from Beethoven or the

(14:27):
Rolling Stones or whoever. Music postal uplift you to a place.
I call it supreme. Wondered my love.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
That can you share three quintessential albums that to this
day have still impacted you.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
I love Supreme, bigil Cultreit, Uh Miles, they musketch It Suspain,
the first three albums from Jimmy Hedrits, probably all of
the albums by Bob Dylan, Allowed Everything by Motol, Marvin Gaye. Uh,
but I especially love one Jove. All you need is love,

(15:05):
Blow it in the wind. I gravitated those songs that
I call them today's elists, because when you play those
songs back to back to back, when I want Little
World Louis Aulestra over the Rainbow, you know you've played
these songs there aside. They decide to don't worry about
a thing, you know, boy Marty, you know, treating little birds. Uh,

(15:29):
there's music to play on the radio, shopping malls and
parking lots to make people not be suicidal or hobicide.
We can rescue people from feeling like they were a suicide. Yeah,
music will do that. Music will will pull you out
of the mistery ditch. And so that's what I focused

(15:51):
every day. You know, I do read a book that's
called a Course in Miracles every day. There's a lesson,
you know, and it's it's the book that shows you
what all respect and a lot of this stuff in
the Bible, it's upside down. And a lot of people
get upset with that because a lot of people become

(16:12):
If you don't believe what they believe, they just send
you to the healthy mediates. You know. It's like it's
like it's like being over to the top. Patriotic, you know.
Patriotic to me is like a monkey if it peas
out of tree, it said, this is my tree. I
peeede at it. That that's what it's called patriotic to me,
you know, just because you peeed at it. No, you know,

(16:36):
I patriotic to me is pretty as star, you know,
because I may get beat, so I look at the
whole world like it's a wound, and where all the
baby complicated, you know, And so therefore I'm able to
play and use it that when we show up at London,
we show up, where we show up, people are like,

(16:57):
damn sat Tanna's got something differently and he got everybody
elated going out and we celebrate people, Well, what do
you celebrate? We celebrate our light and we celebrate our
spirit and our dibility. That's what we celebrate it. Carlos,
thank you so much for all you continue to give us.

(17:19):
Thanks for being on Taking a Walk. Good luck on
the tour. Thank you man, I'm so grateful that we
got to talk. Stay precious, and thank you. Thanks for
listening to this episode of the Taking a Walk podcast.
Share this and other episodes with your friends and follow
us so you never miss an episode. Taking a Walk
is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever

(17:43):
you get your podcasts.
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Host

Lynn Hoffman

Lynn Hoffman

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