By his own admission, Carlos Santana has led a charmed life. In 1999, he walked into the studio to record “Smooth” only to find that a team of two dozen people had already figured out the bridge, the chorus and the verses. The song became an international smash hit, winning multiple Grammys and catapulting the virtuoso guitarist back to the top of the pop charts three decades into his career. “All I had to do was just close my eyes and play my guitar,” recalls the 77-year-old contentedly. “I’m happy to say that it’s been like that with my life since I can remember. I just show up, the great spirit orchestrates the scenario, and all of a sudden Carlos Santana looks and sounds really, really good!”

Today he’s at home at his $20m, 8,000 sq ft retreat overlooking Hanalei Bay on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. I can’t attest to how he’s looking, but the great spirit certainly has Santana sounding pretty well. When I ask over the phone how he’s doing, he purrs: “I’m grateful, how are you?” Well, you would be, wouldn’t you? “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die,” he tells me when I ask, redundantly, what attracted him to life in Hawaii. “When you’re in Kauai, you’re in heaven and you’re more alive than ever.”

Santana is fond of these sorts of metaphysical allusions. He speaks much like he plays guitar, never more than a few moments away from drifting off to some distant cosmic plane. His habit of talking in abstract platitudes is entertaining if occasionally frustrating. Attempting to pin him down to a firm answer can feel like trying to drive a nail through a sunbeam.

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