Singer-songwriter
Alex*Cuba hails from Artemisa, Cuba
(1 hour west of Havana) and resides in Smithers,
B.C. (14 hours north of Vancouver).
Musically, he lives everywhere in between. His trademark sugarcane-sweet
melodies, pop-soul hooks and rock chords subtly subvert commonly held notions
of what Cuban music is. Alex is on the vanguard, crafting a cross-cultural
sound that mirrors his geographical journey. Not tied to tradition, this
Cuban-Canadian prefers his vintage Gibson over el sencerro (cowbell) anytime. Forgoing conventional stereotypes that
typify much of the Latin music landscape, Alex is instead defining his own
“Latin Soul” genre. Like the handful of unique, genre-defying artists before
him, Alex’ uncompromising “go your own road” approach was difficult and lonely
at first, but is now beginning to pay dividends.
From
his earliest years in Artemisa, he was immersed in music. Alex's first stage
appearance on national TV was at the tender age of four, playing claves (a
percussion instrument) in a group directed by his music instructor father. Alex
went on to study guitar, tres, percussion and bass, practicing eight hours a
day during his teens.
After
a stint with his twin brother Adonis to record Morumba Cubana, as The Puentes
Brothers, Alex departed from Cuban music norms to follow his own path. His
debut CD with the Alex Cuba Band, “Humo De Tabaco”, earned him a Juno award for
World Music Album in 2006, with the si …
Singer-songwriter
Alex*Cuba hails from Artemisa, Cuba
(1 hour west of Havana) and resides in Smithers,
B.C. (14 hours north of Vancouver).
Musically, he lives everywhere in between. His trademark sugarcane-sweet
melodies, pop-soul hooks and rock chords subtly subvert commonly held notions
of what Cuban music is. Alex is on the vanguard, crafting a cross-cultural
sound that mirrors his geographical journey. Not tied to tradition, this
Cuban-Canadian prefers his vintage Gibson over el sencerro (cowbell) anytime. Forgoing conventional stereotypes that
typify much of the Latin music landscape, Alex is instead defining his own
“Latin Soul” genre. Like the handful of unique, genre-defying artists before
him, Alex’ uncompromising “go your own road” approach was difficult and lonely
at first, but is now beginning to pay dividends.
From
his earliest years in Artemisa, he was immersed in music. Alex's first stage
appearance on national TV was at the tender age of four, playing claves (a
percussion instrument) in a group directed by his music instructor father. Alex
went on to study guitar, tres, percussion and bass, practicing eight hours a
day during his teens.
After
a stint with his twin brother Adonis to record Morumba Cubana, as The Puentes
Brothers, Alex departed from Cuban music norms to follow his own path. His
debut CD with the Alex Cuba Band, “Humo De Tabaco”, earned him a Juno award for
World Music Album in 2006, with the single “Lo Mismo Que Yo”, featuring Ron
Sexsmith charting in the Top 20 at BBC Radio 2. For “Humo”, Alex took UK producer Martin Terefe to Cuba to record
the album’s funk infused horns and percussion, a sound that got under Terefe’s
skin. By extension, that “Alex*Cuba
sound” is now evident on Terefe’s productions for Craig David, Ron Sexsmith and
Jason Mraz.
After
a musical and spiritual evolution, Cuba
returned to the studio, this time with co-producer Joby Baker of Victoria, to
record “Agua Del Pozo” which was released in Canada in February 2007 under his
own Caracol Records imprint. Acclaimed for its blend of tempo, instrumentation
and songwriting, the album is a clear evolution from the debut, punctuated by
the introduction of Alex's electric guitar, a vintage Gibson. With the soul-pop
sensibility of tracks like “Si Pero No”, the album revealed Alex’ Latin Soul
DNA. The song, which was an iTunes
Single of the Week in Japan,
proved to be huge with fans and confounded radio programmers who didn’t know
which format in which to program it. “Agua” earned Alex his second Juno Award
for Best World Music album 2008. “Agua Del Pozo” was released in the U.S. with two
unreleased tracks on September 22, 2009 to fan and critical acclaim alike.
In
the digital space, Alex*Cuba
has had four iTunes Singles of the Week (Canada,
U.S., Japan, Netherlands),
has charted on various iTunes charts in Canada,
the U.S. and Japan and has
independently built an impressive, loyal online community around the world.
Alex
recently collaborated with Nelly Furtado for her Spanish language debut album
“Mi Plan” (My Plan) which was released September 2009 around the world
(Universal). The creative chemistry between Alex, Nelly and James Bryan was
magical and resulted in nine co-writes including the #1 single “Manos Al Aire”
(Hands in the Air) and the title track where he appears as an invited guest on
vocals. A prolific songwriter, Alex is continues working on new collaborations
with writers and artists on various projects.
In
between tour dates and the Nelly Furtado collaborations, Alex recorded his
third album at Baker Studios in Victoria,
B.C. The self-titled project was released October 27th, 2009 in Canada and the U.S. release is slated for June 8th,
2010. Featuring surprising new grooves, innovative electric guitar inflections
and varying tempos and structures, the album is an important step in Alex
Cuba’s ongoing musical revolution. The first single “Caballo” (Horse), a
Cuban-funk-rocker, was also made into video conceived and produced in Smithers.
Other highlights are “Solo Tu” (Only You), a moving, mid-tempo rock ballad,
“Tierra Colora” (Red Soil), a samba-rock-surf-punk sizzler and the funked up
“If You Give Me Love”, Alex’ first-ever song in English, which was recently
serviced to radio, video and online outlets in Canada. The album was just
released in the U.S.
to acclaim by media outlets and his growing, loyal fan community. Early radio
accolades for the album include an NPR “First Listen” feature, an “Album Of The
Week” feature at Jazz FM UK, a glowing Billboard review and lead-off track
“Directo” was selected as KCRW’s “Today’s Top Tune.” Most recently, Alex was
honored with the award for Best New Artist at the 2010 Latin Grammy Awards
which took place Nov. 11th in Las
Vegas. The album “Alex Cuba” was also nominated for
Best Male Pop Vocal Album.
Critical
to Alex’ success has been constant touring with a live show that has been
described as explosive. Revealing his bass player past, Alex picks, plucks,
strums and rocks his Gibson ES355, equipped with the heaviest guage steel
strings available, without a pick. With Alex its just skin on steel, with solos
that often lead to bleeding fingers. His visionary rebel nature is evident in
the fact that contrary to the prevailing Cuban and Latin big band formations,
Alex*Cuba
performs as a trio (Alex on vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, electric
bass and drums). The simplicity, power, and sheer efficiency of this formation
has stolen the stage from bands quadruple their size and has confused many
production teams expecting the typical big band at load-in. Doing more with
less is an ever-present mantra for Alex*Cuba.
With
a heart as big as his retro 'fro, Cuba takes it all in stride and
focuses on what he does best: crafting songs that cut through linguistic and
cultural barriers like a machete through sugarcane.
