🎸 Black Magic Woman: The Orange Cassette - Santana and the National Panasonic Music Center

Way before I knew anything about music genres, I knew “Black Magic Woman.” Today’s music streaming generation would never be able to understand the clicks and clacks of the cassette players, or rewinding a cassette reel back using a pencil. If I look back at the exact moment my relationship with English music began, it traces entirely back to a single song: Santana’s “Black Magic Woman.”

The song came into our lives as part of a magnificent gift brought to us from England by Khala Farhat. She brought us a beautiful, Japanese-made “National Panasonic” Music Center. Along with the system came a cassette tape that I will never forget—it had a bright, vibrant orange color label on it.

That orange cassette became a permanent fixture in our home. When I first pressed play and heard those unforgettable, weeping guitar riffs from Carlos Santana layered over those rhythmic Latin rock beats, I was completely transfixed. I didn’t know it back then, but I was listening to a legendary blend of Latin and blues rock.

That specific track was my gateway to the entire world of English music. I started listening to it back in the 1970s, and to this day, those opening notes hold the exact same magic for me. Decades later, I still listen to it, and those riffs remain utterly unforgettable.

As long as I will remember the music, I will remember the “Black Magic Woman!”