Carlos Santana unfortunately hasn't given any concerts in Hungary for a few years now.
No wonder that we were very surprised when in January 2014, the then 7-year old Fanni asked us to organize a meeting with Carlos Santana!

So where did her idea come from? Fanni told us that her grandfather, whom she had only seen on video recordings, used to play the music of Santana, and since she never had a chance to meet him, at least she wanted to meet his favourite musician.

We at Magic Lamp live for these seemingly impossible wishes; thus we started to rack our brains how we could arrange the meeting of Fanni and this world-traveling artist.
Of course we told Fanni that it's going to take a lot of time and luck to make this wish come true. It could even take years, if Santana doesn't perform in Hungary or in a neighbouring country. But Fanni was holding on to her wish, saying that she was willing to wait patiently, as long as it takes.

After doing some research, we found out that Santana was actually booked to perform in Austria, in a town called Burg Clam. So okay, we can buy a ticket and take Fanni to the concert, but how were we going to organize the meeting?

It turned out that Mr. Santana has a foundation, The Milagro Foundation, which helps disadvantaged children in the fields of education, health-care, and arts.
So we wrote to this foundation, and explained to them who we are and what we do. Fanni also wrote a beautiful letter, explaining why she wanted to meet Mr Santana. The people at the foundation forwarded our letters to the concert tour manager, who sent them to the artist.

After exchanging many emails and making many phone calls, finally our little group, including us, Fanni, and her parents finally arrived to Burg Clam. Fanni and her parents were put up in a gorgeous few-hundred year old palace. With that another secret wish of Fanni had come true. Even the owner of the palace, count Clam came down to personally greet Fanni.

Mean as we are, we still didn't tell Fanni the real purpose of this trip. We only told her that we were going to the concert, where she could give her drawings to the manager, who will give them to Mr. Santana. In our defense, we have to note that Fanni's parents also participated in the conspiracy. However, they taught Fanni a few useful Spanish sentences. Just in case..

Finally the time of the concert had come. We were only told to that - as special guests - to be at the left side of the stage at 7:15 pm. There we were greeted by the chief of security, who escorted us backstage. In a few seconds Mr. Santana himself walked in.

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As they say, a picture is worth of thousand words. But the point is that Fanni was able to hand over her gifts, including a Gabor Szabó CD, to Mr. Santana in person. The artist thanked her for the gifts and wished her a fast recovery. As it turned out Fanni didn't learn the Spanish sentences in vain; she was able to wish Mr. Santana a happy birthday in Spanish.

But now it was Mr. Santana's turn to surprise all of us : he gave Fanni a PRS SE One Santana Abraxas White Wash guitar. He even signed the special instrument for Fanni.

The concert was to begin shortly, so it was time to take our leave. We gave Mr. Santana and the organizers our signature Magic Lamp gingerbread cookies, then said goodbye.

Fanni watched the two-hour long "Corazon Tourˇ concert from the best imaginable place: from a window of the palace.

We wish Fanni a speedy and complete recovery!