Carlos Santana and Grupo Frontera unlocked something within each other while creating their first collaboration, “Me Retiro.” The single combines the guitarist’s weighted influence with the música mexicana group’s steadfast ambition. Edgar Barrera, who wrote and produced the song, is responsible for bringing them together.
“It’s always a surreal moment when you get to collaborate with people you’ve looked up to your whole life,” Grupo Frontera shared in a statement. “Edgar Barrera told us that Santana wanted to make a song together and we were shocked. Being in the same room as him, watching him work, we were speechless. We learned a lot from the experience.”
“Me Retiro” hands itself over to heartbreak as Santana and Grupo Frontera come together to say goodbye. “When I hear the music and lyrics of this song, it’s about healing people, sharing light, love, and joy with them,” Santana shared. “To me, this music is meant to uplift our spirits and align our motives, purpose and intentions toward the highest good of life, people and the planet.”
Santana has said before that he won’t ever agree to a farewell tour, telling Rolling Stone: “I don’t think like that. I’ve seen a lot of people who retire every year. Every tour for the last 20 years has been their last tour. When I’m done, I’m not even going to tell anybody. I’ll just do the last concert.” He’s scheduled to kick off the Oneness World Tour on June 9. It’s collaborations like “Me Retiro” that keep him going.
“It feels beautiful to share with them; this is just the beginning because we’re going to do more things in the future. We’re achieving something multidimensional—we want a South American tour, a Latino Woodstock,” Santana added about Grupo Frontera.
The band is eager to continue learning from the music legend, too. “What we always learn from these iconic artists we’ve worked with is that no matter how many years you’ve been in your career, professionalism and work ethic remain the same,” they said. “He arrived, greeted us, and got straight to work. He jumped right into working, and that’s something we need to learn from.”