Feliz Cumpli, Chepito

From the Facebook group Nicaragua y Su Historia, I learned that one of Santana's long-time percussionists was born in the city of León, a place full of visual art and historic lessons that I have enjoyed visiting close to a dozen times.  

The group posted this brief biography of Chepito -- with terrific photos --  on the occasion of his 79th birthday. From the post, I not only learned about his contribution to the music of Santana. I also learned that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland -- which I have visited three times so far -- has a much more poetic name in Spanish: Salón de Fama del Rock.

Chepito, from Nicaragua y Su Historia

He was with Santana in its early decades -- very early in fact. Among the several percussionists who were part of the Soul Sacrifice performance at Woodstock, he is the one in the red shirt. Mesmerizing.

All of this was before Santana the person pivoted toward predominantly Latin music -- as opposed to mainly English or acoustic rock. This Nicaraguan-born musician was not on Supernatural or many of the other albums that were produced primarily in Spanish. As of this 2025 writing, I am realizing that I have written several posts about Santana's Latin American music on my Environmental Geography blog, though not here on The Planet Sings.