Santana's Africa Speaks album a big hit

The album was produced by legendary American producer Rick Rubin at his Shangri-La Studios in Malibu and released by Concord Records.

Africa Speaks is heavily influenced by African melodies, sounds and rhythms, and is voiced by Spanish singer Buika. She sings mostly in Spanish, with a few songs in English and Yoruba. British singer Laura Mvula also makes an appearence on the album.  

Africa Speaks' instrumentation has been hailed since the album's release and features Cindy Blackman Santana (drums) and Benny Rietveld (bass), among others. Ismaël Lô bears a composer's credit on the album, which could stand in line for next year's Grammys.

Speaking to Stereogum Santana explained how the album came to be. “I first got the idea from the Virgin Megastore in Paris. I was on the road, on tour with Wayne Shorter, and I would just raid all the African CDs. So I got the idea way back then to only honour this music like that, but it took a while,” he said.

“Buika, I discovered her at like three o’clock in the morning [and] as soon as I heard her voice, I woke up my wife: 'Cindy, you gotta listen to this.' So we took her CD, put it in the car, we drove to Napa to spend the weekend, and the more I heard Buika, the more I knew I had to create with her.”

Santana has been playing African rhythms for a long time and has previously worked with Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji and Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti. 

Listen to Africa Speaks via Deezer.