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October 16, 2000
Carlos Santana to be honored by Tijuana.
(HVC) On Friday, Oct. 13, music legend Carlos
Santana was honored by Tijuana Mayor Lic.
Francisco A. Vega de la Madrid in a ceremony at
the city's Patio Central de Palacio Municipal (Central
Patio in City Hall).Santana received a Declaration as a Distinguished Tijuanense, Distinguished Visitor, Tijuana Cultural Ambassador, and was presented with a key to the city. Santana addressed the public from the event stage placed in the central patio. The festivities were followed by a press conference in the President's Room inside Palacio Municipal. Lic. Francisco A. Vega De Lamadrid has been wanting to honor Carlos Santana since early this year, a year that has been a whirlwind for the musician as activities and honors surrounding his phenomenally successful album "Supernatural" have been non-stop. In the last weeks of a more than three-month concert tour in support of the RIAA Diamond-status and multiple Grammy- and Latin Grammy-winning album, Santana's itinerary brings him to San Diego for a major show next Friday at the Coors Amphitheatre, offering an ideal opportunity to visit Tijuana for this remarkable occasion. Born 53 years ago in the small Mexican village of Autlan, Carlos Santana moved north with his family to Tijuana in 1955. It was there that the aspiring musician seriously took up guitar, studying and emulating the sounds of B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, T. Bone Walker and other greats that he heard on the area's vibrant radio airwaves. As much as he had been inspired by the early training he received from his father in traditional musical form and theory, Santana soon realized his dream was to break free and play rock 'n roll. He started performing with local bands up and down the bustling "Tijuana Strip," and began to hone his considerable skills and invent his inimitable sound, much of it shaped by the formative years he spent in this lively border city before moving to the San Francisco Bay area and heading on the road toward superstardom. Santana told the cheering crowd, "The years that I spent in Tijuana represent an extremely special time and place that I hold very dear. Being remembered in such an extraordinary way is something that touches me deeply and I thank the city of Tijuana with all my heart." At the pinnacle of a legendary recording and performing career that has spanned five decades, sold upwards of 50 million albums, and outlasted countless musical trends, Carlos Santana is more vital and relevant than ever. At the same time that he is one of the biggest musical forces on the planet, he is also a man firmly connected to his roots, and this honor by the city of Tijuana, as he made clear to the crowd, will be cherished dearly alongside his many musical awards and humanitarian citations. |
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