''Africa Speaks'' is the twenty-fifth studio album by American rock band

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

, released on June 7, 2019 by

Concord Records Concord Records is an American record label owned by Concord and based in Los Angeles, California. Concord Records was launched in 1995 as an imprint designed to reach beyond the company's foundational Concord Jazz label. The label's artists have ...

and

Suretone Records Suretone Records is an American record label established in 2006 as a joint venture by Jordan Schur, former CEO of Geffen Records, and Interscope Records, to release alternative rock music. Several high-profile bands such as Weezer, The Cure, Roone ...

. The album was produced during a 10-day recording session by

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...

at Rubin's

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...

recording studio in Malibu, during which they recorded 49 songs. Rubin and Carlos Santana used an eight-piece band (which included Santana's wife,

Cindy Blackman Santana Cindy Blackman Santana (born November 18, 1959), sometimes known as Cindy Blackman, is an American jazz and rock drummer. Blackman has recorded several jazz albums as a bandleader and has performed with Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Simmons, Ron Cart ...

, on drums). 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 ''In Search of Mona Lisa'' is an EP by Santana released on January 25, 2019, on Concord Records. A music video for the EP's first single, "Do You Remember Me", was released on January 24, 2019. Santana has announced plans to release a new full ...

'', 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". 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 ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' 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 Laura Mvula ( Douglas; born 23 April 1986) is a British singer. A native of Birmingham, England, Mvula has gained experience as a young member or leader of a cappella, jazz/neo-soul and gospel groups and choirs. She was classically trained. In ...

and Buika.' And he said, 'OK.' So we called them and they said yes."

Release

''Africa Speaks'' was released on June 7, 2019 by

and

. In the United States, it debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200 and at number one on

Top Latin Albums Top Latin Albums is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine and is labeled as the most important music chart for Spanish language, full-length albums in the American music market. Like all ''Billboard'' album charts, the chart is based ...

with 57,000

equivalent album units The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...

. It also became the Latin album with most sales in a single week since

Romeo Santos Anthony "Romeo" Santos (born July 21, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actor who is best known as the frontman and lead vocalist of the bachata group Aventura. In 2002, the song " Obsesión" reached number one in It ...

' ''

Formula, Vol. 2 ''Fórmula, Vol. 2'' is the second studio album by American singer Romeo Santos, released on February 25, 2014, by Sony Music Latin. The album was pushed by the success of its first two anticipation singles, "Propuesta Indecente," and " Odio", fea ...

'' 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. It has also ranked at number one on the Latin Albums Sales chart for 13 consecutive weeks between June 22 and September 14, 2019. ''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.

Touring

Santana was set to headline in August 2019 at both

Woodstock 50 Woodstock 50 was a planned American music festival originally scheduled to be held on August 16–18, 2019, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The event was intended as a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Woodstoc ...

and Bethel Woods' half-centennial celebration in Bethel, NY. 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.

Track listing

Personnel

* Buika – lead vocals *

– additional vocals (track 5) *

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

– guitars, percussion, backing vocals * David K. Mathews – Hammond B3 organ, keyboards *

Salvador Santana Salvador Santana (born May 22, 1983 in Marin County, California, part of the San Francisco Bay Area) is a singer, spoken word artist, songwriter, and composer. His main instruments are the electronic keyboard and piano. He is the son of ten-time ...

– keyboards (track 7) * Tommy Anthony – guitars, musical GPS * Benny Rietveld – bass guitar *

– drums * Karl Perazzo – timbales, congas, percussion * Ray Greene – trombone, backing vocals * Andy Vargas – backing vocals * Dizzy" Daniel Moorehead – saxophone Santana – ''Africa Speaks'' (2019) album booklet – European release, Concord Records – 00888072090842

Technical

* Produced by

* Executive production, conception, arrangement & musical direction by Carlos Santana * Mixed by

Dana Nielsen Dana Nielsen is an American mix engineer, audio engineer, record producer and saxophonist based in Los Angeles. Nielsen has worked with a wide range of artists including Metallica, Rihanna, The Avett Brothers, Bob Dylan, Adele, Neil Diamond, Slay ...

* Recorded by

Greg Fidelman Greg Fidelman (born September 4, 1965) is an American record mixer, engineer and record producer. He is a frequent collaborator of producer Rick Rubin, and has worked with many bands in various genres, including Metallica, Slayer, High on Fire, B ...

, 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

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Santana (band) albums Albums produced by Rick Rubin Concord Records albums Albums recorded at Shangri-La (recording studio)