Cuban born, Smithers, B.C based Cuban/Latin pop musician musician Alex Cuba is excited to be back.
He returns to the Geomatic Attic, Tuesday, March 15 in support of his eighth studio album “Mendó” which is defined as “Substance of the Soul.”
“It’s wonderful to be back. I remember the Geomatic Attic. I always feel welcomed and appreciated in the Attic” Cuba said, as he prepared to get back on the road on a tour that takes him through Western Canada and then back down to the United States in support of his 2021 Juno and Grammy nominated album Mendó.
He took advantage of downtime during the pandemic to build a studio in his garage and record the new music at home. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin pop album as well as a Juno.
“I’ve won two Junos so hopefully this will be my third,” he said.
While he played most of the instruments on the album including a lot of upright bass, he reached out to a lot of other musicians who were also stuck at home during the pandemic like “Cubano James Brown” Cimafunk, Grammy Award winner Lila Downs, world renowned Flamenco artist and Eurovision Winner Antonio Carmona as well as musicians from his Cuban homeland So Joven Jazz Band.
“All of my guests are internationally known and Grammy Award winners who I have met during my career. They were recording in their home studios too. It was beautiful,” he said.
“ Music is medicinal and healing,” he said noting he played most of the instruments on the album.
“I play a lot of different instruments . So I played everything on the album except for the horns on the three songs that feature them.
He also embraced more upright bass on this album.
“I love the sound of the upright bass. I have a 1966 Kay American bass, that I started really playing on the last album ‘Sublime.’ I just love he sound of it. It‘s a very cool instrument to create music on I usually write on guitar or bass and you can really tell which songs were written on bass,” he said, adding he also embraced Latin pop music on the CD.
I play lot of pop music. This album is a mixture of quite a lot of musical styles— pop music, roots music and the traditional music from Cuba. But this album does feel a little more pop,” he said.
Having access to his new home studio allowed him to complete another new album, though he will be holding off on releasing it.
“I never stopped. But because I couldn’t tour because of the pandemic, I want to give these songs a chance to live from the stage before I release the next album,” he said, adding he really missed touring.
“ I missed it. I certainly get excited to to tour again,” he said.
Usually he tours with either a three-piece or four-piece band, but he is touring solo this time.
“ I’ll be playing acoustic and electric guitar,” he said.
He has eight albums of material to choose from for his set.
“There will be a lot of different music from all eight albums,” he said.
Alex Cuba plays the Geomatic Attic at 8 p.m., Tuesday, March 15. Tickets are $45.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
