• Submitted by: lena campos
• Music
• 10 / 11 / 2013

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Alex Cuba may have recently received his third Latin Grammy nomination - he won the award for Best New Artist in 2010, and got the nod this year for the video to "Eres Tú" - but he still wants more.

"I would have liked to see the album nominated," the Cuban musician, 39, says while on a tour stop in North Hampton, Mass.

"But I guess I'm happy."

The album in question is Cuba's bilingually-titled "Ruido en el Sistema/Static in the System," a collection of songs that expose Cuba as one of North America's (he resides in Canada) premier Latino pop-rock songwriters.

What makes Cuba's music compelling is that even when he sings mainly in Spanish, the Cuban-born artist doesn't feel forced to highlight his Latino heritage in the songs. He's only searching for the perfect pop song.

"The music needs to speak to you whether you're Latino or not," says Cuba.

RELATED: ALEX CUBA HITS NEW YORK CITY

"I don't make music for a demographic. I make music thinking of the world. If the song doesn't have a Latin beat, I wouldn't go near a Latin thing. I just write the music that the song is asking for."

Cuba's current tour will bring him to Manhattan's City Winery, (155 Varick St.) on Oct. 14, where he will test some new songs - a reggae-cumbia called "A Buscar Tu Amor" and the ballad "Diablo de un Segundo" - for the new album he plans to start recording in the spring.

"On this tour we're playing a lot of music from "Ruido en el Sistema," which has a lot upbeat songs, so it's an upbeat show.

"But we do what is Alex Cuba's signature: to mix it all and have a lot of variety in the same show," he adds.

Whatever Cuba's new title ends up being - he says he doesn't work around a pre-conceived notion, because that would be "cold" - it's sure to keep the spirit of what led him to name the latest one ruido en el sistema - a Cuban saying for when someone is talking behind your back.

"You can put it in the context of the Cuban use of the expression - when people say things about you, they're putting static in the system - but it grabs a universal meaning the way I put it," Cuba explains.

"The volume of information the world is putting around us is noise - it's ruido en el sistema - and I want to create music that makes you warm in the soul."

Source: NYDailyNews.com