Although Santana, with his band, has created some contemporary rock classics of his own, even the acclaimed guitarist got nervous reworking the songs on his all-covers album.
"Because to go on a date with one beautiful woman is scary. To go on a date with 15 of them is kinda scary, you know," Santana told Yahoo! Indonesia last week when he headlined the Jakarta International Java Jazz Fest this year.
"To me, all the songs from The Beatles or Eric Clapton or Jim Hendrix or AC/DC, they`re. to me I feel at songs like women. They take a spirit of their own. And these women, they`re not only women, they`re like Mona Lisas. So at first it was a small bit intimidating, you know. And so I said, hey, take a deep breath, relax, and believe that you can do this woman happy."
And why does he compare songs to women, considering his hearing is mostly male? For one, Santana said it`s because he was encircled with extraordinary women all his life.
"I grew up with an incredible, very strong mother, four sisters, I was married for 34 years, I make two daughters, so I was always been encircled by women," he said.
Santana added he knows the male audience "are gonna show up" if he can make women happy.
" Females make a certain essence that makes me see what I do and who I am in a way that is very appealing_ For me it`s just very easy, I know to give women happy. At least with music," he said.
Santana elaborated on his approach: "For example, I pay attention to how women comparable to dance or to walk. So the beat, the tempo, and the channel has to be right because when you play music a certain way, women. it seems that they throw the safety and they begin going like this [dance] and this means I`m vulnerable, I`m beautiful. So I go to the studio, I go on the bass, the drums, and the congas to take the music appealing to women. And when that`s happening, piece of cake."
Natural high
The chief act of the this year`s Jakarta Jazz Fest, Santana helped the annual music event achieve record numbers in price of attendance. According to the Jakarta Globe, Santana`s Friday, March 4 performance attracted 10,000 people, a sold-out crowd. The whole festival itself sold more than 150,000 tickets, surpassing the attending of live year`s Jazz Fest, the Jakarta Globe report.
For Santana, considered to be among the world`s best guitarists, performing for a hot audience gives him a "born high."
"One thing that real musicians know is the less you conceive of yourself, the more you go like you. And medicine is do-re-mi-fa-so-la-si-do [singing], but some musicians go me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me [singing]. So when you see it, you don`t live who it is," he said.
Santana further explained: "Okay, it sounds like Jeff Beck but it`s not Jeff Beck. It sounds like Eric but it`s not Eric. You get your tone, you get your identity, your fingerprints, and your voice, the more you become lucid and you let the holy ghost play through you. And so you go like you. It`s almost crazy but it`s not. When you run your ego out of the sight, the best piece of you comes out. And everyone recognizes you for you, but that`s because you go out of the way."
British artist Corinne Bailey Rae and jazz guitarist George Benson also performed at the Jakarta International Java Jazz Fest`s Friday show.
Photo by Bernard Chaniago, Yahoo! Indonesia
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