Africa Speaks
Studio album by
Santana
ReleasedJune 7, 2019
Recorded2019
StudioShangri-La
(Malibu, California)
GenreLatin rock
Length64:25
Label
ProducerRick Rubin
Santana chronology
In Search of Mona Lisa
(2019)		 Africa Speaks
(2019)		 Blessings and Miracles
(2021)
Singles from Africa Speaks
  1. "Breaking Down the Door"
    Released: April 19, 2019

Africa Speaks is the twenty-fifth studio album by American rock band Santana, released on June 7, 2019 by Concord Records and Suretone Records.

The album was produced during a 10-day recording session by Rick Rubin at Rubin's Shangri-La recording studio in Malibu, during which they recorded 49 songs.[1] Rubin and Carlos Santana used an eight-piece band (which included Santana's wife, Cindy Blackman Santana, on drums).[2]

The first single from the album, "Breaking Down the Door", was released on April 19, 2019. In January 2019, Santana released the EP In Search of Mona Lisa, which served as a preamble to the LP. The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200.

Origins

Africa Speaks is inspired by music from the continent of Africa, and has been called a "unique fusion of rock, Latin and jazz".[3] Many of the album's tracks were recorded in one take. The album features vocals from Spanish singer Buika.

In January 2019, Carlos Santana spoke with Rolling Stone about his new music, explaining how he said to Rubin, "'I know you've worked with everybody like Johnny Cash and the Chili Peppers and Metallica,' And he goes, 'Well, what are you interested in doing?' I said, 'Nothing but African music.' So can you believe it? We record 49 songs in 10 days. He was very gracious, because it was like a hurricane to record six, seven songs in a day. Rick said, 'With Clive Davis, you had a bunch of guest stars and singers. Who do you want in here?' I said, 'I only want two women: Laura Mvula and Buika.' And he said, 'OK.' So we called them and they said yes."[4]

Release

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic87/100 [5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Glide[7]
Mojo[8]
Rolling Stone[9]

Africa Speaks was released on June 7, 2019 by Concord Records and Suretone Records.[10] In the United States, it debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and at number one on Top Latin Albums with 57,000 equivalent album units.[10] It also became the Latin album with most sales in a single week since Romeo Santos' Formula, Vol. 2 in March 2014, as well as the best-performing week for a Spanish-language record since Billboard began to rank albums based on equivalent units in late 2014.[10] It has also ranked at number one on the Latin Albums Sales chart for 13 consecutive weeks between June 22 and September 14, 2019.[11] Africa Speaks was the best-selling Latin album of the first half of 2019 in the United States, with 63,000 copies sold as of June 20.[12]

Touring

Santana was set to headline in August 2019 at both Woodstock 50[13] and Bethel Woods' half-centennial celebration in Bethel, NY.[14] Prior and before these two events, the band toured from April to November 2019 in support of the new album. The celebration show in Bethel did occur. However, Woodstock 50 was canceled due to permit issues.[15]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Carlos Santana, with additional writers noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Africa Speaks"David Axelrod, Buika4:47
2."Batonga"Buika5:43
3."Oye Este Mi Canto"Buika, John Ademola Haastrup5:58
4."Yo Me Lo Merezco"Buika, Jay U Xperience, Stoneface, Drago Uboma6:12
5."Blue Skies"Buika, Laura Mvula, Mike Odumosu9:08
6."Paraísos Quemados"Buika, Mohammed Jabry5:59
7."Breaking Down the Door"Manu Chao, Buika, Drew Gonsalves, Ivan Duran and Rafael de Leon4:30
8."Los Invisibles"Buika, Rachid Taha, Steve Hillage5:54
9."Luna Hechicera"Buika, Ismaël Lô4:47
10."Bembele"Buika, Philipp Kullmann, Bojan Vuletic, Michael Timo Ehnes5:51
11."Candombe Cumbele"Buika, Easy Kabaka Brown5:36
Total length:64:25
Target exclusive bonus tracks[16] & Japan bonus tracks[17]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Mientras Tanto"Buika5:57
13."Dios Bendiga Tu Interior"Buika, Hafusa Abasi, Slim Ali5:19
Total length:75:41

Personnel

  • Buika – lead vocals
  • Laura Mvula – additional vocals (track 5)
  • Carlos Santana – guitars, percussion, backing vocals
  • David K. Mathews – Hammond B3 organ, keyboards
  • Salvador Santana – keyboards (track 7)
  • Tommy Anthony – guitars, musical GPS
  • Benny Rietveld – bass guitar
  • Cindy Blackman Santana – drums
  • Karl Perazzo – timbales, congas, percussion
  • Ray Greene – trombone, backing vocals
  • Andy Vargas – backing vocals
  • Dizzy" Daniel Moorehead – saxophone

[18]

Technical

  • Produced by Rick Rubin
  • Executive production, conception, arrangement & musical direction by Carlos Santana
  • Mixed by Dana Nielsen
  • Recorded by Greg Fidelman, Dana Nielsen & Rob Bisel
  • Assisted by Sara Lynn Killion, Dylan Neustadter & Tyler Beans
  • Additional engineering by Jim Reitzel
  • Mastered by Stephen Marcussen
  • Production coordination by Dave Hanych & Eric Lynn
  • Production assistants: Colin Willard, Jeremy Hatcher, Garry Purchit, Gabe Smith, Chloe Poswillo & Ethan Schneiderman
  • Artwork by Rudy Gutierrez
  • Graphic art by Heather Griffin-Vine

Charts

References

  1. ↑ Grow, Kory (2019-01-15). "Carlos Santana on the Power of 'The Mona Lisa', Today's New Hippies". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  2. ↑ "Santana Announces New Rick Rubin-Produced Album 'Africa Speaks' & Shares Single". JamBase. 2019-03-18. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  3. ↑ Guitar.com (2019-03-20). "Santana shares new single from Rick Rubin-produced album, Africa Speaks". Guitar.com | All Things Guitar. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  4. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (2019-03-18). "Hear Santana's Fiery New Rick Rubin-Produced Song 'Los Invisibles'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  5. ↑ "Africa Speaks (2019) album by Santana: Critics & User Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  6. ↑ Jurek, Thom. "Santana – Africa Speaks (2019) album review, credits & releases". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  7. ↑ Collette, Doug (2019-06-06). "Santana – Africa Speaks (2019) album review: Santana Conjures Early Band Sounds & Melodies via Africa Speaks". Glide Magazine.
  8. ↑ Santana – Africa Speaks (2019) album review on Mojo (July 2019 issue, page 87)
  9. ↑ Grow, Kory (2019-06-07). "Santana – Africa Speaks (2019) album review: Santana Explore New Musical Freedom, Led by Carlos' Guitar on 'Africa Speaks'". Rolling Stone.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Bustios, Pamela (June 19, 2019). "Santana's 'Africa Speaks' Debuts at No. 1 On Top Latin Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Santana, Latin Album Sales, Africa Speaks". Billboard. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  12. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (July 2, 2019). "Bad Bunny and Ozuna Command Nielsen Music's Mid-Year 2019 Latin Charts". Billboard. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Woodstock 50 • Aug. 16, 17 & 18 2019 | Watkins Glen, NY". Woodstock 50. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  14. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (2019-02-20). "Ringo Starr, Santana Lead Bethel Woods' 50th Anniversary of Woodstock Celebration". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  15. ↑ "Santana Fan Club Tickets". tour.santana.com. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  16. ↑ "Santana - Africa Speaks (Target Exclusive)". target.com. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  17. ↑ "アフリカ・スピークス[SHM-CD][CD]" (in Japanese). Universal Music Japan. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  18. ↑ Santana – Africa Speaks (2019) album booklet – European release, Concord Records – 00888072090842
  19. ↑ "ARIA Chart Watch #529". auspOp. June 15, 2019. Archived from the original on June 18, 2019. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Santana – Africa Speaks" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Santana – Africa Speaks" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  22. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Santana – Africa Speaks" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Santana Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  24. ↑ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 24.Týden 2019 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  25. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Santana – Africa Speaks" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  26. ↑ "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums Fusionnes – SNEP (Week 24, 2019)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on 2019-06-18. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  27. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Santana – Africa Speaks" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  28. ↑ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2019. 24. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  29. ↑ "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 24 (dal 07.06.2019 al 13.06.2019)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  30. ↑ "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2019-06-17" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  31. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  32. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  33. ↑ "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 24: del 7.6.2019 al 13.6.2019" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  34. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Santana – Africa Speaks". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  35. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  36. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (June 17, 2019). "Jonas Brothers' 'Happiness Begins' Album Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart With Biggest Week of 2019". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  37. ↑ "Santana Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  38. ↑ "Top Latin Albums – Year-End 2019". Billboard. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  39. ↑ "Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2019". Billboard. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
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