Sublime Alex Cuba

• 1 Yo No Sé 02:29
• 2 Cantando de Alegría 03:36
• 3 Ciudad Hembra (La Habana) 03:31
• 4 Voz de Corazones 04:19
• 5 Dividido 03:34
• 6 Esta Situacíon 03:28
• 7 De los Dos 04:00
• 8 Solo Mía 04:15
• 9 Las Mujeres 03:30
• 10 Y Sí Mañana 03:37
• 11 No Son Manera 03:44
• 12 Hoy Como Ayer 04:32
• Total Runtime 44:35

Info zu Sublime

Alex Cuba is a Latin Grammy/Juno winner, singer-songwriter who is not tied to tradition; Alex has a vast musical vision. His sugarcane-sweet melodies, pop-soul hooks and powerful guitar riffs, relinquish a conventional stereotype that exemplifies much of the Latin music landscape.

Born Alexis Puentes in Artemisa, Cuba, was immersed in music at a very young age, playing claves with his fathers band at 4 years old. Alex then went on to study guitar and bass and touring nationally and internationally. In 1999, Alex relocated to Canada where he began to sing and front his own musical project, Alex Cuba Band.

Over the course of 6 albums he has been nominated and won over 20 awards including 4 Latin Grammys and the Grammy nominations.

If you need an album that nourishes, delights and reflects like a good story you just enjoyed then, Alex Cuba’s recent creation will leave you feeling Sublime. The motivation for this album is set to be “capturing that magic, while it’s still hot,” Cuba said in a press release, “in that moment of higher truth”. Indeed, this collection of stories – delivered in folk and acoustic rock style with Afro-latin influences weaving it all together – is received as beautiful and honest.

As an Anglophone listener, the Spanish lyrics are complementary with the unplugged rhythm, simplicity of choruses as well as collaborations between Cuba and both new and established performers. One prime example of this combination is “Dividido” a rhythmic conversation with Silvana Estrada, a young on-the-rise Mexican composer. The album is balanced with solos and excellent pairings such as “Hoy Como Ayer” with Pablo Milanés and his captivating vibrato. Milanés is one of the founders of the Cuban nueva trova style, a style combining politically progressive lyrics with traditional folk sound. This consortium speaks to the quality of work one anticipates to hear and also the variety to sustain interest in the melodic conversation.

Sublime’s multi-generational celebrity line up is exciting but, vaguely surprising since, Alex Cuba (né Alexis Puentes) is a Latin Grammy and Juno award-winning Cuban-Canadian artist. The variety of tempo and melody on this album is often a collaborative with guests and built on the foundation of Alex Cuba playing every instrumental accompaniment. So, consider this critique an invitation to listen and decipher if the work is truly sublime. (Kejo Buchanan, metradio.ca)

Alex Cuba, vocals, bass, requinto guitar, percussion
Kelvis Ochoa, vocals (track 3)
Silvana Estrada, vocals (track 5)
Leonel García, vocals (track 8)
Omara Portuondo, vocals (track 10)
Alex Ferreira, vocals (track 11)
Pablo Milanés, vocals (track 12)

Alex Cuba
is a Latin Grammy/Juno winner, singer-songwriter who is not tied to tradition; Alex has a vast musical vision. His sugarcane-sweet melodies, pop-soul hooks and powerful guitar riffs, relinquish a conventional stereotype that exemplifies much of the Latin music landscape.

Born Alexis Puentes in Artemisa, Cuba, was immersed in music at a very young age, playing claves with his fathers band at 4 years old. Alex then went on to study guitar and bass and touring nationally and internationally. In 1999, Alex relocated to Canada where he began to sing and front his own musical project, Alex Cuba Band.

It's a strange thing, watching audiences sing along with Alex without speaking his native Spanish. But they do.

They "la-la-la" their way from chorus to chorus, caught up in his inescapable gravitational pull. His warm, elastic vocals float above a sound essentially from everywhere–an effortless mix of Funk, Soul, and pan-Latin textures–and no matter where you're from, you can't help it. You're home.

He discovered music's power to mesmerize and transport you at an early age. "I used to skip meals," says Cuba, speaking of the long days he spent locked in his room as a child in Artemisa, Cuba, mastering the bass. "My mother would have to remind me that I was human, that I needed food. Music has always taken me away like that." Today, his performances carry audiences away in the same fashion, from the Hollywood Bowl to Radio Music City Hall, where he's shared the stage with artists as diverse as Sheryl Crow and Juan Luis Guerra, casting his spell as if genres weren't a thing.

At the heart of his ability to charm anything that breathes is Alex's mastery of a deeper, more important language. The dude speaks joy. And it doesn't matter if it's Tito Puente joy or Stevie Wonder joy; it's contagious. It shines through songs he's co-written with Nelly Furtado and Jason Mraz. It's the north star of his compositions. Wherever his songs start their journey–in the land of lust, deep affection, or even melancholy–they know where they're headed. Their path leads to a deep, shimmering gladness that everyone wishes was their native tongue.

It's this undeniable exuberance, expressed with masterful musicianship, that has catapulted Alex to the highest levels of global critical acclaim. It's what led this fiercely independent artist to 2 Juno awards, 4 Latin Grammys, and a 2022 Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album. Just like his songs elicit "la-la-las" from audiences without a translator, they woo critics without a middleman. The magic he makes with melody and rhythm can't be held back. Because in the end, whether in times of trouble or celebration, people everywhere want to go where Alex's songs are going: to an unconditional sense of home, belonging, and bliss.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet