Maps of Music

Africa Speaks (2019)

Where the lyrics of Africa Speaks take you, and where it was really made.

Rick Rubin's 10-day session in Malibu produced 49 songs, and this album came out of those sessions.

Key places

Rubin's Shangri-La studio in Malibu (2019)

Recording site Shangri-La — Rick Rubin ran a 10-day recording session at his Shangri-La studio in Malibu, and 49 songs were recorded there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Tarpan Studios, a listed recording location (2019)

Recording site Tarpan Studios — The Discogs release information lists Tarpan Studios as a place where this album was recorded. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Africa Speaks: 25th studio album by American rock band Santana
• Released June 7, 2019 by Concord Records and Suretone Records
• Produced by Rick Rubin
• Preceded by the EP In Search of Mona Lisa, released January 2019
• First single "Breaking Down the Door", released April 19, 2019
• Described as a unique fusion of rock, Latin and jazz

Background

• Inspired by music from the African continent
• In January 2019 Carlos Santana told Rolling Stone that he wanted to make nothing but African music
• When Rubin asked who Santana wanted as guests, Santana named two women: Laura Mvula and Buika
• Buika sings lead vocals; Laura Mvula adds additional vocals
• Eight-piece band, with Santana's wife Cindy Blackman Santana on drums

Recording

• Produced during a 10-day recording session at Rubin's Shangri-La recording studio in Malibu
• 49 songs recorded during that session
• Many of the tracks were recorded in one take
• Mixed by Dana Nielsen; recorded by Greg Fidelman, Dana Nielsen and Rob Bisel; mastered by Stephen Marcussen
• Carlos Santana credited for executive production, conception, arrangement and musical direction
• Discogs release information also lists Tarpan Studios as a recording location

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in San Francisco, California, in 1966 by Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana.
• Named the Santana Blues Band at a January 1967 Fillmore audition; shortened to Santana by the end of 1967.
• Signed with Columbia Records in late 1968.
• The "classic" line-up stabilised in May 1969: Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, Michael Carabello, David Brown, Michael Shrieve and Jose "Chepito" Areas.

Members

• Carlos Santana is the only consistent member across the band's history.
• Classic line-up: Santana, Gregg Rolie (organ, lead vocals), Michael Carabello and Jose "Chepito" Areas (percussion), Michael Shrieve (drums), David Brown (bass).
• Brown died in 2000; Areas was not invited to the 2014 reunion.
• Classic line-up members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Career

• Breakthrough at the 1969 Woodstock Festival; the debut album Santana peaked at No. 4 on the US Billboard 200.
• Abraxas (1970) and Santana III (1971) both reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200.
• Early 1970s experiments with jazz fusion on Caravanserai (1972), Welcome (1973) and Borboletta (1974).
• Amigos (1976) returned the band to commercial success; Moonflower (1977) was its most successful album since Santana III.
• Commercial decline in the 1980s, followed by a seven-year recording hiatus.
• Supernatural (1999) won eight Grammy Awards and sold an estimated 30 million copies worldwide.
• Santana IV (2016) reunited the classic line-up, the first recording together in 45 years.
• Estimated 100 million records sold worldwide.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200
• Debuted at number one on Top Latin Albums with 57,000 equivalent album units
• Became the Latin album with the most sales in a single week since Romeo Santos' Formula, Vol. 2 in March 2014
• Its debut week was the best-performing week for a Spanish-language record since Billboard began ranking albums by equivalent units in late 2014

Records

• Ranked number one on the Latin Albums Sales chart for 13 consecutive weeks, from June 22 to September 14, 2019
• Best-selling Latin album of the first half of 2019 in the United States, with 63,000 copies sold as of June 20
• Chart and sales figures are given in US units and as of the dates stated
• No critical reviews are cited in the source material for this album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Woodstock 50 was canceled over permit issues, but the celebration show at Bethel Woods did take place.
• Rubin and Carlos Santana used an eight-piece band, and Santana's wife Cindy Blackman Santana played drums.
• Santana asked for only two women as guest vocalists: Laura Mvula and Buika.
• Many tracks were recorded in a single take, a practice noted in the album's background.
• The album was the best-selling Latin album of the first half of 2019 in the United States.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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