You won eight Grammy awards Wednesday night, fitting recognition of more than 30 years of sweet playing. In the 1960s and 1970s, your band - one of the first multicultural, world-music groups - was a hit-maker, the high point of the original Woodstock with the blazing "Soul Sacrifice." Amid the thick forest of electric guitarists, yours is one of the few truly distinctive sounds, a mastery of "sustain" and Latin melody. ¡Felicidades, hombre!

All the time, you've stuck to your humane philosophy of harmony among people. You've backed it up with civic and humanitarian work from El Salvador to your native Mexico to East Los Angeles to Manhattan. Wednesday night, you said your music was all about "healing." ¡Eso! Your generation of musicians kept saying that music could change things for the better. You, Carlos Santana, are living proof. ¡Viva Santana!

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