| Salvador Santana | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | United States, San Francisco Bay Area |
| Genres | Rock, Electronic Music, Hip-Hop |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Quannum |
| Associated acts | Money Mark, Del The Funky Homosapien, GZA |
| Website | www.salvadorsantana.com |
Salvador Santana was born in 1983 in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a Latin instrumentalist whose main instrument is the keyboard. He sings and loves spoken word, but piano and keyboard have always been his mainstays. He is the son of ten-time Grammy winning guitarist Carlos Santana and poet/author Deborah Santana. His maternal grandfather, Saunders King, is an icon of American blues and his paternal grandfather, Jose Santana, is a legendary violinist and mariachi bandleader.
Santana began playing piano at the age of five. He was instructed by Marcia Miget. He later went on to study music at San Francisco School of the Arts High School. He took up playing percussion and found a niche with the tympani drum. He also played piano in the school's award-winning jazz band.
In 1999, Salvador collaborated with his father on the Grammy winning track “El Farol” off the smash album Supernatural.
For higher education, Santana attended California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.
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In 2004 Salvador established the Salvador Santana Band. Members of the group were Emerson Cardenas (bass), Quincy McQuary (vocals, keyboards), Woody Aplanalp (guitar), Tony Austin (drums) and José Espinoza (sax, percussion, vocals). With them Salvador prefers a fresh musical style which incorporates elements of hip hop and jazz. His musical roots stem from the Latin rock of Carlos Santana, his grandfathers, Saunders King and Jose Santana, as well as the music of jazz artists John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, and Oscar Peterson and a healthy implementation of contemporary hip-hop acts like Atmosphere, Ozomatli.
In 2009 Salvador entered the studio to record his second major studio album / first solo album Keyboard City. He enlisted underground legends Del The Funky Homosapien, Money Mark (Beastie Boys), and GZA to help him with the album's production.
Keyboard City was built on what Salvador called "a mix of my favorite music, the best of what’s impacted my life, all coming together in a new way." Salvador first masterminded the direction for the album after a 2008 Remixes project where Del The Funky Homosapien was commissioned to remix the SSB song "Hella Tight". The synergy between Salvador and Del, along with the eclectic and fresh sound of the Remixes project was the inspiration for the new musical direction in the studio for his sophomore release.
In late fall 2009 a series of remix MP3s of the album's title track "Keyboard City" were released on the internet. These remixes were performed by internet DJs, The Hood Internet as well as indie electronic musician Dan Deacon, both remixes featured vocals by GZA. These remix MP3s were wildly popular, appearing on tastemaker music sites such as Brooklyn Vegan, Pitchfork Media, and My Old Kentucky Blog.
Keyboard City was released on February 2, 2010 via Quannum Projects. Keyboard Magazine [1] declared that "Funkadelic and the Meters had a love child who was then raised by Esquivel in a space age bachelor pad full of analog synths." The magazine also stated, "On December 31, 2019, Keyboard City may well be remembered as one of the standout neo-funk records of the decade." Allmusic.com [2] gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars and Spin Magazine [3] gave the album 3 out of 5 stars.
In March 2010 Salvador will launch a Spring tour in support of Keyboard City, hitting the road with The New Mastersounds.