# Alex Cuba performed in Havana

**Date:** 12/24/2019

Alex Cuba, whose real name is Alexis Puentes, a native of Artemisa, performed on a stage on the Island after settling in Canada more than 20 years ago.



For the first time, composer, musician, and singer Alex Cuba, whose real name is Alexis Puentes, a native of Artemisa in the province of the same name, performed on a stage on the Island after settling in Canada more than 20 years ago. Today, the Canadian-Cuban singer-songwriter, with three Grammy Award nominations, four Latin Grammy Awards, and two Juno Awards, fulfilled the dream of singing for his own people and did so during the second night of the Lucas Awards gala at the Karl Marx theater, where he was nominated in more than one category for his music video Habana hembra, alongside Kelvis Ochoa, directed by Robin Pedraja.

For many, the presence of Alex Cuba perhaps went unnoticed. A graduate of our national system of artistic education, this Cuban artist, a bassist above all, founded the group Temperamento together with Roberto Fonseca, Javier Zalba, Ruiz López-Nussa, Emilio del Monte Jr., and Elme Ferrer. He also played with Augusto Enríquez's band. He owes his beginnings in music to his father, Valentín Puentes, a graduate in classical guitar and for many years a teacher of the instrument at the House of Culture in Artemisa.

The song he performs with Alex and Kelvis is part of the artist's most recent album, titled: Sublime. It was released on September 20th and was recorded in just ten days between Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and Spain. In it, Alex personally plays all the instruments and produced the voices of the guest singers. On the Cuban side, in addition to Kelvis, Omara Portuondo participates in the song And if Tomorrow and Pablo Milanés in Today Like Yesterday. The other guests are: Mexicans Silvana Estrada and Leonel García, and Dominican Álex Ferreira. All the songs are his own except the one titled Today Like Yesterday, written with Chilean Fernando Osorio, who is part of the Latin Composers Hall of Fame. In total, the album contains eleven works.

Habana hembra, he said during his performance at the Karl Marx, is a song he owed to Havana, and what better moment than to sing it here, precisely this year when the 500th anniversary of its founding is being celebrated.

Regarding the album, Alex Cuba has stated: "Sublime is my most Cuban album. It has made me return to my roots. I had a strong desire to bring together artists from my country in one of my albums. Singing with Omara, Kelvis, and Pablo is something dear to my homeland. Cuba will be in me forever, it will be impossible to erase it."

Judging by statements the artist has made at various moments in his life, in which he has affirmed that he does not find himself in conditions to sing again in his country, where he acknowledges there are very good musicians and singers, "why would I take their place?", this professional visit to the Greater Antilles could be the beginning of a new stage in the life of the renowned and award-winning Cuban singer-songwriter. Let's hope so.