Last year was a big one for Alex Cuba. We’re talking even bigger than the man’s signature sideburns and afro. Huge.
Well-known in Latin music circles across Canada through his work with his twin sibling Adonis in the Puentes Brothers band, Smithers-based musician Alexis Puentes launched his solo career as Alex Cuba in 2006 with the Juno Award-winning Humo de Tabaco.
He followed it with 2008’s Juno-winning Agua del Pozo. This disc showcased a decidedly non-traditional sound with funk and rock hooks aplenty that has been dubbed “Latin Soul.”
Nelly Furtado heard the pop tunesmithing loud and clear, enlisting Cuba to collaborate with her on half of the material on her Spanish-language album Mi Plan.
Last year, his self-titled third CD fetched Cuba the Latin Grammy Award for best new artist and then earlier this year was nominated in the regular Grammy awards for best Latin pop album.
“The win certainly translated into more collaboration in the American Latin music market,” says Cuba pre-gig on the phone from Regina. “I wrote four songs with Luis Enriquez, who is one of the biggest salsa singers in the world, and has one of the biggest hits in the charts right now. Then there is Jose Mi Carmona, a Spanish flamenco singer whose new album is a best flamenco Latin Grammy nominee and a project with Noel from Mexico’s Sin Bandera.”
While this work certainly keeps the bills paid, there are still a lot of logistical challenges in getting his name and music out into the greater Spanish-speaking world. Europe has been positive and tours in Canada and U.S. are solid, but he is wondering about how best to break into Latin and South America.
“In terms of being courted by a major label or anything like that, I am at a crossroads. And all the artists I’m working with are major label acts and I was the only independent nominated at the Grammys in my category. Nobody came knocking after the award win, which was disappointing, for sure. But maybe that says something about where the business is and I should just keep growing it organically as it seems to be working, you know.”
He releases his music on his own Caracol imprint retailing online via iTunes, Amazon, alexcuba.com and other sites. As for being located in a town that is a 14-hour drive due north from Vancouver, well, he tours a lot. Growing up in a musical family in Artemisa, Cuba, he understood life on the road from an early age. Living somewhere literally off the grid when it comes to Latin community may be key to his creative power, too, as his lyrics and melodies stand outside his contemporaries.
“I have wondered at times about being in a place with a non-existent Latin market (Canada) and how that might affect my songwriting by being so removed from what is going on in the scene. But when I was at the Grammys I realized that nothing else in the category sounded like me and that was because of where I am and that’s all I needed to know.”
He isn’t interested in fitting into any kind of genre niche anyways. Growing up in Cuba, he was as caught up in traditional and contemporary sounds of the island nation as well as he was in the funk and fusion coming out of the U.S. Beginning his career as a bass player with aspirations to be another Jaco Pastorious or Marcus Miller means he still often composes on the instrument though he is a fine guitarist. Playing behind other frontmen played a key role in the solid funk and soul vibe that infuses material such as his first English-language party jam “If You Give Me Love” or the psychedelia-tinged “Caballo.” Being “a musician before being a singer/songwriter” gave him the chops he relies on today as well as enabling him to understand the total sound of his power trio.
“You know I wouldn’t be the artist I am now if I hadn’t done that. It always keeps me pushing. In the case of my new album, where I thought I was going to be laying back and probably doing some more ballads, it suddenly turned into the most upbeat and best material I’ve ever written. There are more songs in English, I’m really happy with it.”
Coming from a guy who can get a packed festival crowd moving with just himself and a single guitar, you have to figure that he’s not overstating the case. Bonus, the first new single from the album slated for release next May is due out on his website today.
sderdeyn@theprovince.com
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Where: Vogue Theatre, 918 Granville St.
When: Friday at 9 p.m.
Tickets: $25 at voguetheatre.com
