Santana postpones tour dates over COVID-19 illness
Carlos Santana, performing in Mexico City in March 2019, seamlessly fused Latin rock, jazz and Afro rhythms in his music
Celebrated rocker Carlos Santana has been forced to postpone several tour dates after testing positive for COVID-19, his manager said.
The 77-year-old guitar icon "experienced dehydration" before canceling Tuesday's show in San Antonio, and "out of an abundance of caution" did the same for Wednesday's performance in Sugar Land, Texas, his manager Michael Vrionis said.
"Mr Santana has tested positive for COVID and is resting at his hotel," Vrionis said in a message posted to Santana's official Facebook.
"I am happy to report that Carlos is doing well and will be back on his U.S. Tour this Friday in Thackerville," in the state of Oklahoma, the statement continued. "We appreciate everyone's well wishes and concern. Carlos is looking forward to seeing you all very soon."
The postponed shows will be rescheduled as soon as possible, according to the post.
Superstar Santana is one of the world's most vaunted guitarists, who soared to fame after his legendary 1969 performance at Woodstock, and put out smashes including "Oye Como Va," "Black Magic Woman" and "Evil Ways."
He experienced a career renaissance in the late 1990s and early 2000s with his Grammy-winning, chart-topping "Supernatural" album.
© 2025 AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
Two of K-pop's BTS megastars released from military service
A mural in Goyang shows BTS band leader RM who, along with singer V, will be discharged after completing 18 months of mandatory military service By Sue Han Kim and Hieun Shin The world's most popular boy band are heading for a reunion: K-pop megastars RM and V from BTS were released Tuesday from 18 months of South Korean military service, prompting a fan frenzy. The seven members of BTS, South Korea's most lucrative musical act, have been on a self-described "hiatus" since 2022 while they separately undertake the mandatory service, required of all South Korean men under 30 due to tensions with the nuclear-armed North. Hundreds of fans gathered near two army bases just outside of the capital Seoul where band leader RM -- recently named "Favorite K-pop Artist" at the American Music Awards -- and singer V were released Tuesday. They are two of four BTS members who will be released this week. Two more, who enlisted first, were discharged last year, and the final member SUGA -- who has been working as a social service agent for alternative non-active-duty service -- will be released later this month. HYBE, the band's agency, urged fans not to go to the discharge location, citing safety concerns. "With the safety of both artists and fans in mind, we strongly urge fans not to go to the location in person," the agency wrote on Weverse, its superfan platform. Despite the warning, dozens of fans gathered outside V's military base, eagerly awaiting the return of their star. "Honestly, I came here with such high expectations," Yang Ho-hee, 28, told AFP outside the base. Fans had hung colorful banners to welcome the 29-year-old back to civilian life. "Taehyung, let's never be apart again," one said, referring to V's real name, Kim Tae-hyung. "I'll follow only you, Taehyung. We are each other's strength," said another. Near the bases, on a soccer field where the newly released BTS members are set to speak later, hundreds of fans from around the world gathered hoping to catch a glimpse of their idols. "Actually, it's mixed emotions. I feel like I'm crying already," said Arlene Mendoza, a fan from the Philippines. "I've been traveling to Korea so many times, but this is actually the first time I'll see V." In addition to the army releases, Friday is so-called FESTA -- a celebration that marks the anniversary of the group's debut and typically draws thousands of global fans to Seoul. Mendoza told AFP she plans to attend fellow member J-hope's concert on Friday, plus join other BTS FESTA events. All the band members signed new contracts with HYBE in 2023, and once SUGA is released June 21, analysts expect reunion activities. This should boost the K-pop industry as a whole -- and especially HYBE. "In the case of HYBE share prices, the current market consensus is seen as not fully reflecting BTS's impact," Lim Soo-jin, an analyst at Daishin Securities, told AFP. Despite an ongoing police investigation into the company chairman for suspected insider trading and a recent raid by authorities, analysts say HYBE's shares are expected to remain stable. "We see there's a high possibility of an upward revision in earnings forecasts, which could in turn drive the stock price higher," Lim said. HYBE's shares have seen a sharp increase, rising by 10 percent over the past week through June 9. Prior to beginning their mandatory military service, the mega boy band generated more than 5.5 trillion won ($4 billion) in yearly economic impact, according to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute. That accounts for roughly 0.2 percent of South Korea's total GDP, according to official data. HYBE has hinted at a BTS comeback this year, but has also said the members "need time for reflection and preparation". "Normally, the process goes from song production to album release, then a tour," Lee Jae-sang, CEO of HYBE, told a shareholder meeting in March. "But since BTS have already become global top-tier artists, we are continuing discussions about their vision and what's next," Lee added. Outside HYBE headquarters in Seoul, banners from fans read: "Thank you for making even the waiting feel joyful." The building was wrapped with the slogan "WE ARE BACK", the official logo for the upcoming BTS FESTA. © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
a day ago
- Japan Today
Kim Novak awarded Venice lifetime achievement award
Kim Novak, pictured alongside Matthew McConaughey at the 2014 Oscars, played the chilling dual role of suicidal blonde Madeleine Elster and brunette shop girl Judy Barton in 'Vertigo' Hollywood actress Kim Novak, 92, best known for portraying the double life of a woman in Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo", has been awarded Venice's lifetime achievement award, the film festival said on Monday. Despite a short-lived career, Novak became "a living legend, earning her rightful place in history, with the respect and esteem of the film critics and industry alike", the festival said. Novak said she was "deeply, deeply touched" to receive the award, which will be presented during the festival, which runs from August 27 to September 6. "To be recognized for my body of work at this time in my life is a dream come true. I will treasure every moment I spend in Venice. It will fill my heart with joy," she said in a statement. Novak played the chilling dual role of suicidal blonde Madeleine Elster and brunette shop girl Judy Barton in "Vertigo", which was released in 1958. Other memorable roles included a prostitute with a big heart in "Kiss Me, Stupid" by Billy Wilder (1964), a witch in Richard Quine's "Bell, Book and Candle" (1958) and an adulteress in another Quine film, "Strangers When We Meet" (1960). In 1965 she largely turned her back on Hollywood, refusing to accept the iron-fisted rule of studio executives, and turned to painting instead. The festival's artistic director Alberto Barbera said that Novak had not planned on becoming an actress but "inadvertently" become a screen legend. She was "one of the most beloved icons of an entire era of Hollywood films, from her auspicious debut during the mid-1950s until her premature and voluntary exile from the gilded cage of Los Angeles a short while later," he said. "Independent and nonconformist, she created her own production company and went on strike to renegotiate a salary that was much lower than that of her male co-stars," he added. The award "celebrates a star who was emancipated, a rebel at the heart of Hollywood who illuminated the dreams of movie lovers," Barbera said. The documentary "Kim Novak's Vertigo" by Alexandre Philippe, made in collaboration with the actress, will be presented in its world premiere screening during the festival. © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
Studio Ghibli marks 40 years, but future looks uncertain
Studio Ghibli, the name behind the Oscar-winning 'Spirited Away', has become a cultural phenomenon By Natsuko FUKUE Japan's Studio Ghibli turns 40 this month with two Oscars and legions of fans young and old won over by its complex plots and fantastical hand-drawn animation. But the future is uncertain, with latest hit "The Boy and the Heron" likely -- but not certainly -- the final feature from celebrated co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, now 84. The studio behind the Oscar-winning "Spirited Away" has become a cultural phenomenon since Miyazaki and the late Isao Takahata established it in 1985. Its popularity has been fuelled of late by a second Academy Award in 2024 for "The Boy and the Heron", starring Robert Pattinson, and by Netflix streaming Ghibli movies around the world. In March, the internet was flooded with pictures in its distinctively nostalgic style after the release of OpenAI's newest image generator -- raising questions over copyright. The newly opened Ghibli Park has also become a major tourist draw for Aichi Prefecture. Julia Santilli, a 26-year-old from Britain living in northern Japan, "fell in love with Ghibli" after watching the 2001 classic "Spirited Away" as a child. "I started collecting all the DVDs," she told AFP. Ghibli stories are "very engaging and the artwork is stunning", said another fan, Margot Divall, 26. "I probably watch 'Spirited Away' about 10 times a year still." Before Ghibli, most cartoons in Japan -- known as anime -- were made for children. But Miyazaki and Takahata, both from "the generation that knew war", included darker elements that appeal to adults, Miyazaki's son Goro told AFP. "It's not all sweet -- there's also a bitterness and things like that which are beautifully intertwined in the work," he said, describing a "whiff of death" in the films. For younger people who grew up in peacetime, "it is impossible to create something with the same sense, approach and attitude", Goro said. Even "My Neighbor Totoro", with its cuddly forest creatures, is in some ways a "scary" movie that explores the fear of losing a sick mother, he explained. Susan Napier, a professor at Tufts University in the United States and author of "Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art", agrees. "In Ghibli, you have ambiguity, complexity and also a willingness to see that the darkness and light often go together" unlike good-versus-evil U.S. cartoons, she said. The post-apocalyptic "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" -- considered the first Ghibli film despite its release in 1984 -- has no obvious villain, for example. The movie featuring an independent princess curious about giant insects and a poisonous forest felt "so fresh" and a change from "a passive woman... having to be rescued", Napier said. Natural world Studio Ghibli films also depict a universe where humans connect deeply with nature and the spirit world. A case in point was 1997's "Princess Mononoke", distributed internationally by Disney. The tale of a girl raised by a wolf goddess in a forest threatened by humans is "a masterpiece -- but a hard movie", Napier said. It's a "serious, dark and violent" film appreciated more by adults, which "was not what U.S. audiences had anticipated with a movie about a princess". Ghibli films "have an environmentalist and animistic side, which I think is very appropriate for the contemporary world with climate change", she added. Miyuki Yonemura, a professor at Japan's Senshu University who studies cultural theories on animation, said watching Ghibli movies is like reading literature. "That's why some children watch Totoro 40 times," she said, adding that audiences "discover something new every time". Miyazaki and Takahata -- who died in 2018 -- could create imaginative worlds because of their openness to other cultures, Yonemura said. Foreign influences included writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery and animator Paul Grimault, both French, and Canadian artist Frederic Back, who won an Oscar for his animation "The Man Who Planted Trees". Takahata studying French literature at university "was a big factor", Yonemura said. "Both Miyazaki and Takahata read a lot," she said. "That's a big reason why they excel at writing scripts and creating stories." Miyazaki has said he was inspired by several books for "Nausicaa", including the 12th-century Japanese tale "The Lady who Loved Insects", and Greek mythology. Studio Ghibli will not be the same after Miyazaki stops creating animation, "unless similar talent emerges", Yonemura said. Miyazaki is "a fantastic artist with such a visual imagination" while both he and Takahata were "politically progressive", Napier said. "The more I study, the more I realize this was a unique cultural moment." "It's so widely loved that I think it will carry on," said Ghibli fan Divall. "As long as it doesn't lose its beauty, as long as it carries on the amount of effort, care and love." © 2025 AFP
