Grammy Award Winning artist, Alex Cuba, has announced his 17-date "Paralelo Tour", which will see him perform coast to coast across the continental United States. Named for the multiple projects Cuba has ongoing; completing a new album, performing shows, and working on an intergenerational, historical family musical project titled "Voices of My Family", the multi-award winning, multi-disciplinary artist will bring music from his genre-defying nine studio albums to stages across the US. Globally recognized as a remarkably talented singer, songwriter, musician, and producer with nearly 100 million streams to date, Cuba's music moves sonically and stylistically between genre, era, borders, and preconceptions.
His decorated career has included a Grammy Award, four Latin Grammys, and two Canadian JUNO Awards. He is the songwriter behind half of the Spanish language album by Canadian Icon Nelly Furtado, "Mi Plan", paid tribute to Carlos Santana at the 24th Annual Hispanic Heritage Awards alongside The Black Pumas and Juanes, and has collaborated with legendary and up-and-coming Latin artists, including Pablo Milanés, Lila Downs, Leonel García, and Cimafunk. His outfit from the 2021 Latin Grammy Awards performance was displayed alongside Taylor Swift at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. Most recently, Cuba was recognized as writer and producer on a track Omara Portuondo's Latin Grammy winning album. He is supported by guitar companies Taylor and Gibson with his acoustic and electric guitars.
As an eclectic multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Alex Cuba's live shows possess the profoundly rare ability to connect and communicate with audiences beyond the limitations of language. His engaging and soulful solo shows offer the audience a heightened connection with the musician, and an increased capacity for the artist to interact with the audience. His solo shows allow the artist to free his attention to share his engaging short stories, humour, and skillful musicianship with the crowd, while his fingerpicking style of playing together with a carefully crafted setlist of songs that encompass a wide variety of genres from his entire discography, share the intimate as well as the engaging journey of melody, rhythm and voice. Engaging and packed with Soul, Cuba's live shows have been celebrated for their lasting impact, leaving audiences in awe of his musical mastery.
Paralelo Tour Dates
April 26 - Toronto, ON - Koerner Hall
April 27 - Kansas City, MO - Folly Theatre
April 28 - Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk
May 1 - Cleveland, OH - Cleveland Museum of Art
May 2 - Newark, OH - Midland Theatre
May 3 - Cincinnati, OH - Jazz Vicace
May 4 - Pittsburgh, PA - Pittsburgh Winery
May 5 - Bethesda, MD - AMP Strathmore
May 7 - Los Angeles, CA - Venice West
May 8 - Santa Barbara, CA - Soho SB
May 9 - Santa Cruz, CA - Kuumbwa Jazz
May 10 - Palo Alto, CA - Stanford University
May 12 - Portland, OR - Showbar
May 13 - Seattle, WA - Jazz Alley
May 15 - Orlando, FL - Judson's at Dr. Phillips Center
May 16 - Stuart, FL - The Lyric Theatre
May 17 - Sarasota, FL - Fogartyville Arts Centre
May 18 - Woodstock, GA - Woodstock Arts
Alex Cuba is a Grammy/Juno winning singer-songwriter/producer/musician, born Alexis Puentes in Artemisa, Cuba. He was immersed in music at a very young age, joining his father’s (guitarist and teacher Valentin Puentes) group of 24 guitarists. Alex went on to study electric and upright bass, touring and recording nationally and internationally. His sound is the unique confluence of tradition and global influences in articulate arrangements that convey emotions through melody and lyric. Moving to Canada in 1999 he began his career as a singer songwriter based in Smithers, BC. In 2022, he won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop for Mendó as producer, artist and engineer, his proudest accomplishment to date as an independent artist based in Smithers, BC, Canada.
Alex’s first project in Canada in 2000 was Morumba Cubana, alongside his twin brother Adonis, as The Puentes Brothers. Alex went on to record his solo debut album Humo De Tobaco in which earned him a Juno award for World Music Album of the Year in 2006. Followed by Agua Del Pozo, which also earned him another Juno award for World Music Album of the Year in 2008. From there, Alex released his third album, a self-titled project Alex Cuba in 2009, and the next year Alex took home the award for Best New Artist at the 2010 Latin Grammy Awards, where it was also nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Album and was followed by a nomination for Best Latin Pop Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Award in 2011 where Alex took home a BMI Latin Award for his songwriting on Nelly Furtado’s #1 Spanish hit “Manos Al Aire”. In 2012, Alex released his fourth album Ruido En El Sistema, a year in which Alex received his second Socan Hagood Hardy Award for outstanding achievement in Jazz and World Music. He also won his second Latin Grammy Award – this time as a songwriter, alongside co-writer Yoel Henriquez received the award for Best Tropical Song for Milly Quezada’s single, “Toma Mi Vida”feat. Juan Luis Guerra. In 2013, he again brought home a Latin Grammy for the video “Eres Tu” from Ruido En El Sistema, a video produced entirely in his hometown of Smithers.
Alex Cuba’s 5th studio album, Healer, featured five duets with singer songwriters, four being Canadian, Ron Sexsmith, David Myles, Alejandra Ribera and Kuba Oms as well as New Yorker Anya Marina. The album won a Latin Grammy for best Singer-songwriter and was nominated for a Grammy as best Latin Pop in 2016. Lo Unico Constante, his 6th album, delved deeper into Alex’s songwriting roots, focusing on nylon string guitar and upright bass. Looking at the “filin” movement of the forties in Cuba that fused jazz and trova, music that influenced his writing style to this day. The album was nominated for both a Latin Grammy for Best Singer-Songwriter and Grammy for Best Latin Pop. In 2019 Alex Cuba embarked on a completely self-produced collection of songs featuring 5 collaborations, this time with Latin American singer songwriters, recorded in Gibsons, BC with John “Beetle” Bailey and mixed at John’s Drive Shed studio in Ontario. The album received a Latin Grammy nomination and performance at the televised Award Show in Miami November 2020. Alex recorded at home in 2021 and added recording engineer to his credits as musician, singer-songwriter, producer. The album, Mendó took home the 2022 Grammy for best Latin Pop Album! It was Alex Cuba’s 4th nomination and first win.
2023 marks the first production for Alex Cuba of another artist. Spanish artist, Aarón Miguel’s album Sé, released May 19th with Alex credited as producer, musician and record label. Alex’s own music, El Swing Que Yo Tengo, made public May 12th, his ninth studio album, with experimentation, he has creatively drawn from his bass playing teenage years with the opening title track El Swing Que Yo Tengo. Followed by an upbeat hymn to reconciliation, "No Puede Ser", alongside a fabulously daring version of the legendary Cuban song "Pedacito de Mi Vida" and the musically extravagant and social message of "La Bestia". Alex then leaves us with the desire to love continuously on the ballad "Quiero Quedarme" while "Son Para Tu Boca" radiates the colour and flavour of the electronic cha-cha-cha, leading to the last song and journey to his Caribbean roots embracing mother Africa in a musical party "Agüita de Coco" the only duet on the album featuring Rwandan singer-songwriter Butera Knowless. His musical evolution for years was all about searching for the simplicity and soul in Cuban music – taking apart the complex arrangements, mixing it with North American influences, adopting the melodic simplicity of pop music, looking to Cuban folk traditions for inspiration – he’s always exploring, always creating something fresh and new, and always, it seems, getting it just right.
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