“My music is the fusion between a mango seed and an apple seed, so it makes a tree that grows in Cuba and grows in Canada.”
That’s a favourite metaphor that Cuban-Canadian singer-songwriter Alexis Puentes — better known by his stage name Alex Cuba — uses to describe how his musical roots influence the songs he writes from his home in northwestern British Columbia.
The award-winning musician will be bringing his Latin-infused soul, rock and pop music to the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough) at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24th.
The 44-year-old Alexis was born in Artemisa, a city southwest of Havana in Cuba, along with his fraternal twin brother Adonis. Their father Valentin was a respected guitarist and teacher and, at the age of six, the two brothers began playing music in their father’s group of 24 guitarists, including in an appearance that aired on Cuban national television.
When not on tour in Cuba, the boys performed at Artemisa’s Casa de Cultura across the street from their home. They played with Cuban musical legends like Ibrahim Ferrer well before Nick Gold and Ry Cooder made them famous as the Buena Vista Social Club.
VIDEO: “Piedad de Mi” – Alex Cuba
In 1995, the brothers joined their father in a band called Los Puentes which toured across Canada. During this tour, Alexis met and fell in love with Canadian Sarah Goodacre, the daughter of a former NDP politician in British Columbia. Sarah returned with him to Cuba, where they married before relocating to Victoria BC and then eventually to Smithers — Sarah’s hometown — in 2003.
Alexis’ brother Adonis also married a Canadian women he met while on tour and relocated to British Columbia. In Victoria, the two brothers formed a band called the Puentes Brothers, where they recorded the traditional Cuban music album Morumba Cubana, which was nominated for the Best Global Album Juno in 2002.
While Adonis wanted to continue with traditional Cuban music, Alexis wanted to explore contemporary Latin styles, and the two brothers embarked on their own solo careers in 2004 (although they continued to co-write with one another).
Alexis recorded his first solo album as the Alex Cuba Band in 2004. Humo De Tobaco — which featured sons of the musicians in Buena Vista Social Club, two-time Grammy Award winning pianist Chucho Valdesa, and a duet with Ron Sexsmith — earned him his first Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year in 2006.
In 2007, now recording under the name Alex Cuba, Alexis released Agua Del Pozo. The album earned him another Juno award for World Music Album of the Year in 2008 and firmly established him at the forefront of contemporary Latin music.
VIDEO: “Solo Tu” – Alex Cuba
In 2009, Cuba co-wrote and recorded a duet with Nelly Furtado, “Mi Plan”, which became the title track for her album of the same name. He also co-wrote more than half of the songs on that album.
Since then, Alex Cuba has released four more solo albums: Alex Cuba (2009), Ruido En Al Sistema (2012), Healer (2015), and Lo Único Constante (2017).
With his most recent album, Cuba returns to his roots and revisits the musical styles of his childhood. The album was inspired by the “Filin” musical genre in Cuba of the late 1940s to early 1960s (“filin” is derived from the word “feeling”, reflecting the high degree of emotion that singers and songwriters added to their songs).
He’s been nominated for the Best Latin Pop Album Grammy award three times, including in 2018 for Lo Único Constante (he lost out to Shakira), has received three more Juno nominations, and has garnered three Latin Grammy awards.
And Cuba has done all of this from his home in British Columbia, not a place most people would consider to be the home of Latin music in Canada.
“People don’t understand with three feet of snow outside how I can write as much as I write,” Cuba says in a 2010 interview with Guy Dixon in The Globe and Mail. “I will say that I have the only afro in town, so that makes it easy to know who I am, you know?”
Tickets for Alex Cuba’s April 24th concert at the Market Hall are $33 for general admission or $38 for assigned cabaret table seats, and are available in person at the Market Hall box office, by phone at 705-749-1146), or online at markethall.org.
Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).
VIDEO: Alex Cuba finds success in small-town B.C.
