Corazon Espinado by Santana featuring Mana  

       Nothing in the world is as certain or as confusing as change. One day a band or a genre might be popular and soon thereafter it might disappear or perhaps even go up in flames.  Remember Disco Demolition night in Chicago?  Despite the ill fated  Chicago White Sox publicity stunt Disco had gone from being the most popular musical genre to the junk heap in the blink of an eye.  On the other hand some musical genre's seem to thrive over time.  They might wax and wane like the cycles of the moon but they tend to stay popular against the ravages of time.  
       One such genre is the latin/rock/jazz fusion made popular by such acts as Los Lobos, War, Ritchie Valens, Jennifer Lopez,  Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, & Ricky Martin.  Of course none of these acts, including Lopez, or Estefan, has managed the popular long term success or total coolness of Carlos Santana.  Born in Mexico, he moved to San Francisco at a young age and embraced the Haight Ashbury hippie culture. While there he was accidentally discovered by promoter Bill Graham of The Fillmore fame.  Santana's guitar playing was born of the blues and heavily influenced by Latin jazz.  This unusual, and very original fusion found it's voice in unique cover versions of Willie Bobo's Evil Ways and Fleetwood Mac's Black Magic Woman.  In fact the Santana cover versions were, by far, better sellers and are still considered the definitive versions of these songs.
       In 1999 Santana returned to international fame with his album Supernatural .  The big hit from that record was Smooth which was co-written and sung by Rob Thomas from the band Matchbox 20.  Smooth spent 12 weeks at number one on Billboards top 40 with a 30 week stay in the top 10  culminating in 3 Grammy awards in 2000.  It was also Santana's first chart topping single since Black Magic Woman in 1971.  The album featured collaborations with rock icon's Eric Clapton, & Dave Matthews plus an outstanding collaboration with the Mexican rock band Mana.  The song written and sung by Mana front man Fher Olvera called Corazon Espinado  received limited US airplay because it was performed in spanish.  But it is, in my opinion the best song on the album. 
       The song opens with piano and the Santana signature latin percussions.  Santana's virtuoso unique guitar sound and fills create an extraordinary counter point to Olvera's plaintive singing.  Corazon Espinado translates to "pierced heart" and Carlos's guitar drives that point home between the vocal line's.  The idea of latin romantic passion has been a prime literary subject for centuries and this strongly song delivers on that point wrapped in a rock and roll sensibility that will still sound as fresh and exciting in 40 years as Black Magic Woman still sounds today.