Alex Cuba and the healing power of music
'Music has healed me. I feel healthy, I feel that due to what I listen to my life is happy'
Alex Cuba believes in the healing power of music.
"When it's not manipulated to sound like something else, music is a healer," Cuba told Radioactive host Portia Clark, "And that's why I named the album Healer."
"Music has healed me. I feel healthy, I feel that due to what I listen to, my life is happy. I feel that I never get depressed or anything."
"Healer," released last year, is currently nominated for a Grammy award for best Latin pop album.
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This category is one Cuba knows well. He scooped up an award in the same category in 2011 for his self-titled album to add to his long list of awards which includes multiple Junos and Latin Grammy Awards.
The journey to the new album for the singer-songwriter has been a long one.
In 1999, a then-25-year-old Cuba moved to Vancouver from his small town in Cuba to record an album. He has called Canada home ever since, releasing five albums here.
But even though Cuba now lives in Canada, he still records almost all of his music in his native tongue of Spanish.
Cuba is based in Smithers, B.C. and, much like the healing power of music, Cuba believes the tranquility comes from living in a small town. It also helps his songwriting.
"I think the peace and the calmness of the music comes from living in a small town where you don't have to drive anywhere, or you don't have to think of traffic or anything."
He didn't randomly choose Smithers as his new home. It is the hometown of Sarah, his wife of twenty years.
Cuba says the longevity of this relationship is something he is very proud of. It's the theme of a song he titled after his wife on Healer.
"I started doing it, and said 'Oh wow, it fits perfectly in the melody, the name, the name.' And I went up to her and asked her and said 'are you going to allow me to put this on the record?'
"She said, 'I love the song, let's do it.' "
Alex Cuba is playing Friday night at the Arden Theatre in St. Albert, and while there, he is adamant he only has one goal in mind.
"I want people to be happy when they listen to me."