FROM CUBA, WITH LOVE
Songwriter’s happy vibes come from inspiration he finds from being joyous
Most songwriters will tell you they tend to find inspiration more easily in darker, melancholy moments and tough experiences. Not Alex Cuba.
“It’s just who I am,” he admits. “In the beginning, there were a couple of times I felt almost embarrassed by writing positive music because most people want to feel their misery, and if that works for them, like a therapy, that’s good. But when I’m feeling blue, I don’t write. When I’m happy, that’s when all the songs come down.”
You can feel the positive vibes spinning out of his recent release, Lo Unico Constante ( The Only Constant), some of the best work of his career. It’s full of original songs, but something of a departure, mostly acoustic and a look back to the emotional singers of Cuba’s “filin movement” ( a pun on feelings) that he grew up hearing due to his father, guitarist and music teacher Valentin Puentes.
“There’s an apparent simplicity to it, with just acoustic guitar, but it’s not really simple. It’s really going back to my roots. … The singers would really go for expressing emotions, almost dramatic or theatrical, pulling their hair on stage. When the singers came to my town, my dad would get hired to play for them.”
The Cuban- Canadian singer based in small- town British Columbia notes he was not pulling his hair out when he made the songs. They’re mostly in Spanish, but Cuba offers English explanations, and even the more serious themes take on an upbeat mood.
“People have told me many times that I was born an ‘ old soul’ and maybe that adds a bit of maturity or responsibility to what I’ve done. I’m just trying to do the best I can, because I was exposed to heavy music early in my life. This latest album is essential. It goes straight to the point.”
He’s doing something right. In little more than a decade since he put out his first solo album, the singer has picked up two Juno awards and four Latin Grammys. He’s up for another Latin Grammy nomination this month for Lo Unico Constante.
Despite its acoustic feel, the new album sports some complex, multi- layered tracks, the singer’s gift for catchy hooks, and a mix of Cuban and Canadian supporting players. There are even strings on a few tunes, arranged by Adrian Dolan of the Victoria roots band, The Bills. Once again, Cuba’s longtime friend, Joby Baker, serves as co- producer.
For Cuba, returning to his roots spawned a few rediscoveries. One favourite song, Todas Las Cabezas Estan Locas, was written 10 years ago, but was only just unveiled.
“It means ‘ all heads are crazy,’ and it’s a metaphor about love, but it feels almost cruel to be singing it today because the metaphor goes into everything, from politics to social media.”
Cuba was born Alexis Puentes in Artemisa, Cuba. Many Canadians first heard of him after he and his brother Adonis settled in Victoria in the late 1990s, performing and touring as The Puentes Brothers, earning a Juno nomination for their debut selftitled album of 2001. He married a Canadian woman in 1999 and once they settled in her hometown of Smithers, he started a solo career as Alex Cuba with the 2005 release, Humo De Tabaco.
He enjoys retreating to a quieter locale when he’s not on the road and it’s been a good place to raise his three children. You can see Smithers on Cuba’s latest music video for the song Piedad de Mi, a bit of a comic- romance story shot on the town’s main street with puppets and a few real- life citizens. Cuba gets a double in a blue puppet with Afro hair.
“Pretty soon, I’m going to pass the mark of having lived as long in Canada as I did in Cuba. Cuba is a musical powerhouse, but in Cuba I created very little music of my own. I was mostly a bass player for somebody else. Canada was the door that opened things for me, so it’s difficult to say how Canada has influenced me, because it helped me put together my whole career. Cuba laid the foundation, but in many ways Canada shaped me.”
Ironically, his music is unknown in Cuba, though when he was last there almost a year ago, other Canadians recognized him.
Cuban- Canadians from the album sessions make up his tour-
ing band: drummer Alain Berge, bassist Joser Rodriguez and percussionist Jose Sanchez, with Cuba’s own acoustic and electric guitars.