"Soul Sacrifice" is an instrumental composed and recorded by the American rock group Santana. Identified as one of the highlights of the 1969

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

festival and

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

, "Soul Sacrifice" features extended guitar passages by Carlos Santana and a percussion section with a solo by drummer

Michael Shrieve Michael Shrieve (born July 6, 1949) is an American drummer, percussionist, and composer. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band Santana, playing on the band's first seven albums from 1969 to 1974. At age 20, Shrieve was the second you ...

. "Soul Sacrifice" is included as the final track on their 1969 debut album, '' Santana'', and on several live and compilation albums. The studio and Woodstock versions as well as an alternate take are included on the 2004 35th anniversary of ''Santana''.

Background

"Soul Sacrifice" was one of Santana's earliest compositions. Carlos Santana recalled the group wrote it when bassist David Brown joined. It has been described as "a perfect example of the amalgam of old-world guaguanco rhythms and strictly American licks" and includes "interplay between Santana and regg Rolie... hammered home by

ike Ike or IKE may refer to: People * Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname ...

Carabello's and ose 'Chepito'

Areas Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an op ...

' congas and the sinuous drums and bass of

Shrieve and Brown". Before its release on their album, Santana, then a largely unknown band, performed "Soul Sacrifice" as their closing number at Woodstock. "They were the only act to play without a record; it was unparalleled. Santana went from Woodstock to being in global demand almost overnight". In several interviews, Santana recalled experiencing the effects of

psychedelics Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

during the performance, but got it together for the finale. "By the time we got to 'Soul Sacrifice', I had come back from a pretty intense journey. Ultimately, I felt we had plugged in to a whole lot of hearts at Woodstock". The Woodstock soundtrack album reached number one in the ''Billboard'' Top LPs album chart; helped by the publicity generated by their Woodstock performance of "Soul Sacrifice", Santana's debut album reached number four.

References

{{Authority control 1969 songs Santana (band) songs 1960s instrumentals Songs written by Gregg Rolie Songs written by Carlos Santana