Reviews (6)

Cool, But Has Glaring Flaws
Viva Santana is an excellant way to view the many different time periods and group members of Santana. The video covers Santana's earlier days in Wood stock and on the Ed Sullivan show, and from those early days the video does a pretty good job of including at least on performance of Santana for every couple of years. The bad thing about this video is that the creators of this video decided to run their interview with Carlos over the music portion, which makes the music a lot harder to hear. (Couldn't they have saved to interview portion for its own little area on the video?) Aside from that glaring flaw, the music on the video is fun to watch, and this video serves as an okay summary of Santana's career.

Nice!
Enjoyed this video quite a bit....shows Santana through his many stages, including the jazz influnced 70s thru the rocking 80s. A nice mix of tone and tempo

Ruined!
Whoever edited this abomination should never work with Santana material again. He showed no understanding of the qualities of Santana's appeal. He treated them like they were a pop band, always careful to to show the band singing (never their strong suit) without interruption. Yet whenever the band beef up the instrumental muscle, especially when Carlos himself takes a solo, this is his cue to splice in the interviews with Carlos! Aarrgh! I found myself ignoring Carlos's interesting comments because I was trying to listen to the *music*! For Crissakes!

This could have been a great video. If someone with more taste and understanding was to re-edit it, who knows it might still be.

SANTANA SHOWS HIS TRUE COLORS
If you are an old Santana fan(since 1969) you will wear this tape out. I have sent it to many friends who play a variety of instruments and they all loved it. I hope they do VIVA SANTANA PART 2!! As a matter of fact it's on the TV now. I left it playing while I checked the web to see if he had any other tapes. GET THIS. 6 stars..

Documentary, not a music video
This is a great video to listen to Santana discuss his music and influences, but not to listen to his songs. Songs are spliced together from various concerts over the years and can be very annoying. Talking interupts most songs half way through the track. This is ok to watch once or twice, but not a tape you will wear out watching over and over. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Beautiful music and visuals!
Beautiful music and visuals! Our local PBS station plays this between shows. A stroke of genius by whoever thought of it. It's actually better than most of the shows. I got this video to help me recover faster from major back surgery (7 hours). I played it constantly while I was in the hospital (10 days). I still play it when I need to relax from the stresses of the day. Beautiful music and visuals!

The ultimate open eyed meditation!
Carlos Santana's Lightdance does just that. Scenes of nature glide by to his beautiful music. The music combines his ever reliable guitar in a composite of new age with spanish and rock overtones. One of our local PBS stations uses it between programs and often I wish these scenes would continue rather than the program starting. Way cool for taking one out of one's self. ... Read more

Product Description

Carlos Santana pays tribute to three guitar players who were major influences on him: Wes Montgomery, Bola Sete, and Gabor Szabo. The video features rare performance footage by each of these great guitarists, along with passionate commentary and inspired playing by Carlos which demonstrate their impact. (60 min.) ? ... Read more

Reviews (3)

essential viewing and listening
Don't you wish you could hang out with Carlos Santana in his living room, watch music videos and talk about what inspires you musically? This video takes you there. Carlos Santana is a living legend who gave something back to his fans by making this video. It is a gift. He is one of those rare musicians who have developed a spirituality centered in his music and the music of others. He introduces you to three incredible guitarists who inspired him and helped him to break out of the "BB King headlock". The video footage is excellent and is balanced by Carlos sitting with his guitar describing the music and demonstrating techniques on the guitar. It is not a Santana master class for guitarists, it is not a guitar istructional video. It is a video for guitarists who are seeking inspiration and to broaden their musical boundaries.

Incredible footage, wonderful presentation
Carlos Santana has done it again! He has presented a video spotlighting 3 guitarists who influenced his music: Bola Sete (Djalma de Andrade), Wes Montgomery, and Gabor Szabo. It is an amazing video, full of footage of each of these great guitarists performing. Buy this video.

2
3 ... Read more