Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* As he did in his 2017 biography of Muddy Waters, Mahin celebrates the music of a popular artist while delving into the soul from which it springs. In the case of Carlos Santana, according to Mahin, it is his deep desire to make music so glorious the angels would listen, just as his father's violin music seemed to fill the world with magic and love. But throughout his life, Santana has struggled. As a youth, he tried several instruments unsuccessfully. His mother moved him to Tijuana, where he dressed in costume and played popular songs on the violin for tourist coins. It was there that he heard guitar music and learned to play. In exhilarating language, peppered with Spanish words and often invoking angels the narrative brings Santana to San Francisco as his musical abilities, his sense of self, and a growing awareness about injustice fuse just as the various musical influences blues, jazz, Afro-Caribbean fuse to make his sound. The story ends at Woodstock, but an afterword chronicles the rest. Mahin's words match well with Ramirez's intense, beautifully colored folk art, a mosaic of brown faces, young and old. The pictures demand second, even third looks whether Santana is playing at Aquatic Park or sweeping the floor at Tick Tock Burgers. A biography fitting of the man's music.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
When Angels Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana by Michael Mahin; illus. by Jose RamirezCarlos Santanas 1971 rendition of Tito Puentes classic Latin jazz anthem Oye Como Va still elicits instant recognition, perhaps because Santanas signature guitar communicates the essence of Latino sabor. Two new picture-book biographies center Santanas formative years and the experiences that shaped his musical corazn. In Carlos Santana, Golio presents a chronological account of Santanas boyhood growing up in the birthplace of mariachi musicJalisco, Mexicowhere his father teaches him to read music and play violin, and later buys him his first guitar. The acute pain of separation felt when Pap is gonesometimes for months?earning money balances against Gutierrezs tender and realistic rendering of Santanas mother, who moves her family to Tijuana to seek a better life. Brown faces predominate in the swirling, psychedelic, sixties-inspired acrylic illustrations, illuminating the centrality of family despite Santanas at-times contentious relationship with his father. In When Angels Sing, Mahins staccato second-person text (One day, you went to Aquatic Park. Los congas rumbled into your chest. There was magic in their beat. A breath. A breeze. A feeling) lends immediacy to his account of Santanas youth. Mahin relates the boys experiences of migration (first within Mexico and then to San Francisco), racial discrimination, and poverty in a manner both accessible and deep. He shows how Santanas brothers activism and determination during Californias 1960s farmworkers struggle inspires Santana to keep playing guitar and never give up (If they can, I can). Ramirezs full-bleed Mexican-folk-artinfluenced acrylic and enamel marker illustrations expertly capture mood and propel the narrative forward, subtly incorporating year stamps on many spreads to mark the passage of time. While both books cover similar events in Santanas boyhood, Mahins buoyant and lyrical storytelling allows the reader closer proximity to the musicians world. Authors notes and bibliographies in each book contextualize Santanas place in American popular culture; Golios book also appends a glossary. lettycia terrones(c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
From the three-way scrimmage among his great-aunt, his father, and his mother for the right to name himhis mother wonto his growth as a musician, Carlos yearns to hear the song of angels.Instrument after instrument fails to resonate within his heart until the chords of a guitar stand his arm hairs on end. "An angel's breath?" But not even his beloved guitar can drown out the English-speaking bullies in San Francisco schools, so he runs away and returns to Tijuana. His family, however disagrees. They'd left Mexico for a better life, and they will not let Carlos stay behind. Bit by bit, the city's diverse cultural harmonies become one: "the soul of the blues,the brains of jazz,the energy of rock and rollthe slow heat of Afro-Cuban drums and the cilantro-scented sway of the music you'd grown up with." The Santana Blues Band plays through Carlos' homesickness, plays through Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, plays through Vietnam's destruction and America's unrest, until, in front of 400,000 people in Woodstock, the angels finally singnot to but within Carlos. Ramrez's double-page-spread acrylic-and-enamel-marker images evoke the vibrant electric energy of Huichol yarn art. The years denoting milestones in Carlos' story subtly blend into the multicolored pages. Mahin's second-person lyrical narrative unites the disparate elements that ultimately became Santana. A musical journey perfectly aimed at young readers' excitement to know what they will be. (author's note, bibliography, discography) (Picture book/biography. 6-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
