Smithers musician has eye on top prize
It’s a ‘big honour’ for B.C.’s Alex Cuba to be nominated for a Grammy Award Monday in Los Angeles
If Alex Cuba wins the Best Latin Pop Album award Monday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for his album Healer, it will be the first time the Smithers-based indie musician with the impeccable sideburns has won a Grammy from the National Academy of Recordings Arts and Sciences.
Cuba already has four Latin Grammy Awards from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to his name, including one for the same album last year.
With two past Juno Award wins as well, with another pending this year, he may need to reinforce the shelf they all go on.
“It’s a big honour for me, obviously, to be up against the huge artists from the United States and Latin America and be an independent, selfmanaged artist from a small town in northern B.C.,” says Cuba. “You know it’s this kind of incredible recognition that keeps me going.”
Alexis Puentes was born into a musical family in Artemisa, Cuba, in 1974. His musical path began at age six under the tutelage of his guitar-playing, music teacher father Valentin Puentes. By his 20s, he was an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and singer fronting a band with his twin brother Adonis.
After marrying his Canadian wife Sarah in Cuba, Alex immigrated to Victoria in 1999. Adonis also relocated to the Vancouver Island city where the Puentes Brothers duo built a solid following as well as a Juno nomination for its pop-inflected take on Afro-Cuban jazz titled Morumba Cubana. The brothers amicably split in 2003 to pursue solo careers.
Alex and family relocated to Smithers and his music opened up to include elements of funk, rock and more. Working from his home, he crafted his debut 2006 Juno-winning World Music Album of the Year, Humo De Tobaco. He also collaborated with everyone from Victoria’s Nelly Furtado — who’s 2011 hit Manos Al Aire netted him a BMI Latin Award for songwriting — to Toronto songwriting legend Ron Sexsmith.
His first big break in the U.K. was a duet with Sexsmith titled Lo Mismo Que Yo from his Humo De Tobaco album.
“Ron is a brilliant writer and a big inspiration to me for keeping control of my career,” says Cuba. “Obviously, it would be great sometimes to have a big label behind me and there has been some good distribution in Canada, but sometimes I can’t believe that my label Caracol Records has managed it elsewhere. It remains really tough getting to tour to other markets without major backing because of the logistics, and I would love to get to Europe, Latin America and so forth.”
For the early part of his career, Canada was it for performing. Cuban musicians couldn’t get into the U.S. to work, so the musician tirelessly criss-crossed this vast nation playing the gigs that were there. He still maintains a rigorous tour schedule of small towns and venues, which might seem somewhat at odds for someone with so many Grammy and Juno awards.
Turns out those don’t pay the bills. While he hates leaving his wife and three kids behind, performing brings a profound spiritual renewal.
“Music is a force for good and it keeps me healthy and happy in my life,” says Cuba. “When it comes from somewhere honest, it truly heals and that’s why I named the album Healer.”
While it is not unusual to hear Alex Cuba classics such as Directo, Toma Mi Vida or Eres Tú on the many Spanish language radio stations throughout the United States, his Canadian homeland has been a harder market to break. He sings in Spanish and now English, too. The self-titled Alex Cuba featured his first English track and crossover hit If You Give me Love. Healer boasts a number of English duets.
Still, the most likely place to hear his music in this country is on Radio-Canada’s Espace Musique.
“Look, I come from a small town in Cuba and look at my life now,” he says. “I have a wonderful family, live in a beautiful place in a great country and one of the best jobs in the world. And now my music is becoming known in Cuba and I get to go back there to play, too.”
CBC reports that Cuba is working on a Canadian documentary in his birthplace. The concept is to turn a bus into a mobile recording unit and scour the Caribbean nation for undiscovered talent. Who knows, maybe these artists will get their first taste of North American recognition being released on Caracol Records.
Check out all things Alex Cuba at alexcuba.com.