Rock music in the 1950s has been flourishing among the Blacks as a form of protest. Through time, it has been gaining popularity not only among the Blacks but across races and across nations. The hardcore fans of folk and country music despised this emerging genre of music. Some radio stations even disagreed to play rock music despite the reality that a lot of people are following this kind of music. Some personalities even declared rock music having messages that are immoral like sex and drugs. However, rock musicians struggled to be accepted with the help of other folk musicians. Towards the 1980s, rock music has sustained its audience and it is flourishing with its various emerging classifications.
Santana III which is the 3rd album of Santana belongs to the rock tradition. With its rhythm to dance to, Santana hit the billboards for their album even after their debut album called Abraxas. It is a long playing of 41 minutes and 21 seconds with nine tracks plus 3 bonus tracks. It is a record in 1971 when the rock tradition is already gaining roots. The LP mixed more of Latin and African rhythms to the music that reinforced its jazzy texture. Gleason, Ralph in an article entitled “Santana III, Not Rated” stated, “and all the glorious combinations of brass and rhythm that made the Sunday afternoon dances such a delight, than to the Rolling Stones.”
Santana III is a music that compels people to move even with the rhythm alone. It can send various messages to different people. The rhythm tells it all that even without he lyrics, people feel the emotions emanating from the sounds. Philip Auslander in his book entitled “Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music” quoted Turner in the concept of subjunctive where in music brings the listener to an atmosphere which is different from the daily happenings in the real world. Auslander stated, “concept of the subjunctive to music by suggesting that musical experience is analogous to the liminal phase of ritual in a sense that it transports the listener to an experiential realm different from that of the everyday life” (151). This explains the experience of listening to Santana III which brings listeners to as if in another world which is better than the reality. Santana III is like an antidote to harsh realities in life specially among the hard core fan of rock music.
Taking from Keightley’s authenticity, rock music communities has created affinity with their love of rock. Santana III is an LP with very minimal lyrics which are actually repetitive chants. With rhythm,beat, and its whole musicality, the rock music lovers converge and dance to it releasing all their emotions which were brought out by the music. They share an identity to which they are proud of. An identity of which has brought all walks of life together, united with the wailing turbulence of the LP. Santana III is like a downer drug that calms the tense nerves of the listeners. The chants are the mantra among the rock communities which considers the Santana III as some kind of medicine. This is the reason why the LP is lined up with the psychedelic rock because it has the capability to alter the minds of the listeners like a psychedelic drug. Some of the songs which has this effect are Indian music, and songs from The Beatles. This kind of rock became a counterculture among the hippie movement which are advocating for ‘back to basics’ from late 1960s to early 1970s.
Gleason in his article is convinced that this band with its rhythms brings people back in the hill country and inland plains of Africa and Cuba. With this description of Santana III, it reinforces Keightley’s premise that authenticity in rock music “is that performances point to a grounding reality of the musician’s individual psyche or that of an existing cultural identity” (151). It may not be the purpose of the musicians themselves but the rhythm they bring about triggers something on cultural identity among the listeners. With this quality, it easily brings together those who can relate to the African and Latin grounding reality of the music. If we go back to the subjunctive aspect of the rock music as Auslander put it, Santana III indeed can bring listeners to another realm which can be design by their existing memory of the African and Cuban roots.
On the other hand, Santana III possesses a quality called cultural innovation. The LP did not only contain African and Latin rhythm but it incorporated blues among others which was successful in capturing the ears and hearts of the listeners who are non-Africans and non-Latin.
The thing with counterculture like psychedelic rock and other kinds of rock music will eventually decline when the trend change. When people starts to change their ways of life life the hippie culture before, the fad will eventually die a natural death. Santana III is one among the last LPs in Woodstock. After the Vietnam War, most people in America and other parts of the world who were into psychedelic rock and progressive rock shifted to more popular genre of music. After Santana III, Santana were not able to create another LP.
The rock tradition started by breaking the traditions in music. Like Santana III, they pushed the musical boundaries to cater to the needs of a group of people which are also crossing social boundaries. This kind of music as stated earlier peaked during the time that protests during the Vietnam war was all over and the hippie counterculture was gaining its roots in America. With its not so long popularity, psychedelic rock and other kinds of rock music shook the musical standards which were set by the musical authorities. In an essay written by McGovern entitled “Rock,” he mentioned that rock music promoted racial and cultural integration. Most specially, it promoted musical democracy with its music that has rocked musical purists.
Works Cited
Auslander, Philip. “Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music.” Web. 1Apr. 2016.
Gleason, Ralph. “Santana III.” Rolling Stone. 25 Nov. 1972. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
McGovern, Charles. “Rock.” Tribeca Film Institute. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.
