SANTANA Announces 2013 Tour Dates for Hawaii, Australia & More

In late February, Santana will play two dates in Hawaii ( Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu on 2/26 and Maui Arts & Cultural Center on 2/28) before embarking on a month-long tour of Asia, Australia, and New Zealand throughout March. The itinerary begins March 4 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore, and concludes on March 31 with the inaugural Deni Blues & Roots Festival in Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia. Other highlights include shows at Challenger Exhibition Hall in Bangkok, Thailand on March 6; the Linko Dome in Taipei, Taiwan on March 9; Budokan in Tokyo, Japan on March 12; the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand on March 19; Sydney Entertainment Centre in Sydney, Australia on March 27; and the Bluesfest in Byron Bay , Australia on March 29.

Most recently, Carlos Santana was honored by Seattle's EMP Museum with its 6^th annual EMP Founder's Award at a sold-out celebration and gala on December 6. The purpose of the Award is to honor a musician who has helped advance the appreciation of music; the gala benefits EMP's youth programs, which offer accessible music Education programming to more than 40,000 school children annually (previous honorees, from '07-'11, are Ann and Nancy Wilson , Robbie Robertson , Steve Cropper , Billy Cox , and Buddy Guy ). EMP Museum was founded in 2000 by Paul Allen , and is dedicated to the exploration-past, present, and future-of popular music, pop culture, and science fiction.

Carlos Santana will be in the studio beginning his next project to be released in 2013. It will follow up 2012's Shape Shifter, which charted #16 on the Billboard 200 making it Santana's 13th Top 20 album debut. The first release onSantana's new label Starfaith Records, Shape Shifter is an instrumental album that had been long awaited by fans (one song has vocals by Santana's lead vocalists Andy Vargas and Tony Lindsay ). Previously, 2010's Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time­ made Santana the only act in Billboard history-other than the Rolling Stones-to score at least one Top 10 album in each decade from the 1960s to the present.

Since Santana emerged from the San Francisco Bay Area music scene in the 1960s, the group has sold more than 100 million records, reached more than 100 million fans at concerts worldwide, and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Santana has won 10 GRAMMYs, including a record-tying nine for a single project, 1999's Supernatural (including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Smooth"). Among other honors, Carlos Santana is #15 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"-"Santana's crystalline tone and clean arcing sustain make him the rare instrumentalist who can be identified in just one note."

For more information: www.santana.com

SOURCE Carlos Santana