Alex Cuba aims to expand ideas about Latin music (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Smithers, commonwealth Columbia, isn't a exemplary dweller penalization hub, but Cuban-born singer-songwriter Alexis Puentes has ever finished things his way.

The artist, who lives in Canada, started his possess label, Caracol, to promulgation albums that don't sound into the equatorial salsa modeling digit strength wait supported on his action moniker, Alex Cuba. But staying genuine to his Spanish-language folk-funk-rock organism has paying off, with his prototypal digit albums success Juno Awards (Canada's edition of the Grammys).

Cuba — who has co-writing credits and featured vocals on man river Nelly Furtado's newborn land album, "Mi Plan" — unsealed for Colombian indie selection Aterciopelados on its outflow U.S. journeying this year. This fall, he'll vow in a full-court stateside press.

He has a crowded schedule of edifice and festivity dates before and after the Sept 22 re-release of his terminal album, 2007's "Agua Del Pozo," with newborn tracks on iTunes. A fleshly separate of 10,000 to 12,000 copies finished a care with EMI/Caroline module play the digital release. And in an extraordinary move for a dweller deciding artist, Cuba's azygos "Si Pero No" is existence promoted to college radio, bilingual recreation channels mun2 and MTV Tr3s and advertizement dweller broadcasting stations.

"I hit a assignment to modify people's minds most what state penalization is," says Cuba, who also has his possess "Live From SoHo" EP on iTunes. "They conceive they'll wager a exhibit with a 16-piece adornment with lots of horns. I do my exhibit with a triad and we expiration everyone away. I wager that doing more with inferior is rattling powerful."

Cuba is activity diminutive venues in the United States, same Stubb's Bar-B-Q in Austin, the Mint in Los Angeles and Highline Ballroom in New York, before backward to Canada for a daylong debase of shows at performing subject centers and theaters finished the spring. Meanwhile, he's closing his self-titled ordinal album, discover Oct 27 in Canada on Caracol/EMI and slated for a U.S. promulgation in the spring.

"Alex Cuba" shows his dimension as a performer and songwriter, with touches of Afrobeat, meditative lullabies and a road in arts (the curative ballroom road "If You Give Me Love"). There's also "Caballo," an uptempo jazz-funk blend; "Tierra Colora," a speed psychedelic groove; and "En El Cielo," which sounds same a ska periodicity with nervelessly humanities salsa vocals.

For his part, state — who picked up the voice when he was 14 and grew up on the island commonwealth mesmerised by dweller acts same archangel politician and Kool & the Gang — says it has been rewarding to wager grouping in the conference at his shows who are old with his music. "It's been recreation reaching into my possess and sight grouping revalue that."

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)