The Story of Santana: how Latin rhythms created a new rock sound

Carlos Santana was born in 1947 with the name Carlos Humberto Santana Berrigan in the town of Outlan de Navarro in the Mexican state of Jalisco in West Central Mexico, more than a thousand miles south of Tijuana in the US border.

Carlos was the third child of seven Santana children.

In terms of origin stories, Carlos Santana's childhood and adolescence is, I don't know, is that the benchmark of chaos? Like it's just an unbelievable story.

Yeah, there is a sense of chaos there with a musician dad and not totally stable living arrangements for a rather large family, seven kids.

Carlos being right in the middle of that.

He was born in Jalisco in a small town, Guadalajara is the big city there.

It's closer to the Pacific.

It's known for being the home of mariachi because that's the music that came out of the rancheros.

The ranches down there, horse farms, et cetera.

And there are those who fall in love with that culture and those who like never want to see a horse or smell leather again.

And Carlos, I believe, was in the latter category, you know.

You'd either take to it or not.

And his father was a musician who was also part of the municipal support system that used live music for all these events and rituals, etc.

Carlos was the son of Jose Santana, a musician and notorious ladies' man who disappeared for months at a time with his own band.

In 1955, after nearly a year without him, Carlos' mother packed up all seven of the Santana children and arrived in Tijuana unannounced, only to find Jose living with another woman.

To eight-year-old Carlos, this chaotic border town filled with visiting Americans felt like another world.

The family reunited and began life together again in Tijuana.

From 1955 to 1962, Carlos Santana grew up in Tijuana, where music became a refuge from horrific abuse.

He later said that between ages 10 and 12, an American tourist abused him almost every day, gaining his trust with toys and gifts.

By 10, Carlos was also playing violin in his father's band.

So it was violin, the mariachi violin, that he first learned.

And by the time the family ups and moves to Tijuana, with as many Mexicans, it's the first step going el norte, heading north to lands of greater opportunity.

It's in Tijuana where Carlos becomes Carlos, where he puts down the violin.

He's got a touch.

He's the one kid in the family who's really musically inclined, and that is closest to his father as a result.