Tonight, Carlos Santana will play alongside Elton John in front of 60,000-strong audience at the Dubai World Cup, but you wouldn’t know it speaking to him just a few hours ahead of the concert. Sitting across from him in the Shangri-La hotel in Dubai on Saturday, he’s utterly calm – and keen to spread a message of peace and love.
“Me, myself and my story really gets in the way. No one’s special. You may have more zeros to the right of the cheque, but everyone is equally significant and meaningful, that’s the message. Everyone can claim a tangible peace in life.”
He closes his eyes as he speaks, and insists it’s not “mumbo-jumbo”, before grinning.
Fans – don’t worry. Santana’s fervent spiritualism isn’t new – or unusual for someone who rose to popularity by playing Woodstock. And he’s got a great night planned.
“You can expect serious fun, and a tangible, tried, true and tested integrity,” said the Mexican-born musician. And he’s particularly looking forward to connecting with Elton John, whom he’s only met once before – on a tennis court.
“He played with Pete Sampras and I played with Andre Agassi, and we got beat like crazy. Elton John plays four hours a day and I play like four times a year. I’m not making any excuses -- he’s really good.”
Thought musically the piano man and Grammy-award-winning guitarist could not be further apart, Santana is looking forward to meeting John on “the bridge of love”, as he puts it.
“My heart is totally open… I would welcome the experience to play something in the middle like the Beatles, or something completely new, totally different. If we stay away from Elton John or Santana pieces there’s a lot of other music that we can really find ourselves with and touch people’s hearts.”
Make that women’s hearts.
“ I’m gonna say this in a soulful way: It [Santana’s music] arouses women a lot. And it validates the gift that God gave them to share with us. I mean that in a high form, not in a below-the-belt kind of thing. I love making women validated and happy.” He grins again. “They start dancing and get that look, it’s like, even if you’re not Italian, you say Mamma Mia! I never play for men -- never have, never will.”
But his sound – like the songs on his best selling Supernatural album, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year – is universal. “When you hit a note, it’s easy to give people chills. A lot of people ask what kind of amplifier, what kind of strings, what kind of guitar, what kind of speakers, and I say, ‘you forgot to ask me the most important question: what was I think about, feeling?’
The singer says tonight, he’ll be singing for the unnoticed people in the world – “all the people who clean all these hotels, wash dishes, clean the toilet, change sheets all the – I came from them. So when I play, I give a voice to them – here, or in Tijuana, or India or Africa. I’m representing someone whose voice would be invisible.”
The humanitarian also had a message on the occasion of Earth Hour, which takes place at 8.30pm today.
“Turn off your outer lights and turn on your inner lights. And make your smile show an inner glow. Everything looks better with candles anyway!”
For more from Santana, pick up Monday’s issue of tabloid!
