“ I just realized now that the sounds of horns on my albums are beautiful but it ’ s not for everybody . It ’ s almost like I was doing music for musicians , strictly .”
That ’ s not to say the changes on Healer are radical . His music has always walked the line between traditional Cuban and what you would find on a hits radio station . While his father was a major musical influence , Cuba was also an avid student of the King of Pop and other American hitmakers .
“ A lot of pop music , a lot of American music , a lot of Michael Jackson ,” he says of his earliest influences . “ The pop influence is totally visible in all of my albums because of that . It ’ s quite natural for me to write a song that is catchy .”
The ones comprising Healer were mainly written on the road over the course of two years . Cuba admits he ’ s not the type to take a month off to write in a remote cabin , but is inspired by everyday life . Recording took place in New York City and Victoria , BC . He hired two local guys in NYC as a rhythm section who would set up in the live room while he played along on guitar in the control room , adding in overdubs as needed . “ What ’ s special about it is I didn ’ t go to Cuba on this album as I did on all my albums ,” he says . “ I wanted a more intimate sound , more soulful .”
If the resulting music is filled with hooks to get the dance floor moving , it doesn ’ t lack for harmonic complexity . Rather than your straight-ahead major and minor chords , Cuba toys around with chord extensions and voicings more typical of jazz , another influence copped from his father .
“ That gave me a sort of interest in harmonic language when I play guitar . I do pop music with funny sounds in the back ,” he says with a laugh . “ It ’ s completely natural ; I don ’ t think about it . Of course , it gives longevity to my music because people keep coming back and finding more and more in the music .
“ My concept that I ’ ve come to develop is proving that a song can be catchy but can also be musical ,” he adds . “ I find it kind of funny every time someone says , ‘ If a song has more than three chords , it ’ s jazz .’”
The surprising complexity of his songs might keep audiences interested on repeat
listens , but for a road warrior solo artist , it can present a few challenges . Namely , keeping cocky hired guns humble .
“ It has happened to me a number of times where I ’ ve been somewhere and I need to hire a musician to play with me and he says ‘ Oh yeah , sure , your music isn ’ t that difficult . My wife is a fan of yours ,’” says Cuba . “ And I ’ m going ‘ Oh , I ’ m really happy about that .’ Then they go home and they start practicing my music at the last minute , the night before the show , and then halfway through practice I get a phone call saying ‘ What the fuck are you playing here , motherfucker ?’”
His music might be pissing off lazy session guys , but it ’ s definitely pleasing the critics . Along with his dedicated fan base , Cuba seems to have found acceptance among the powers-that-be in charge of music awards . Healer won Best Singer Songwriter Album at the 2015 Latin Grammy Awards – his fourth win from five nominations over the years – and was nominated for Best Latin Pop Album at this year ’ s Grammy Awards . That ’ s on top of previous Juno wins in the world music category ( though he warns , “ I ’ ve never considered myself a world music guy ”) and a previous nod for Best Latin Pop Album at the 53 rd Grammys in 2011 .
It ’ s an unusual amount of success south of the border for a Canadian artist . “ When I started , the world music community of Canada saw me as someone that was standing out and it wasn ’ t until I started making waves down south that they started taking another look at what I do and they said ‘ Shit , yeah ! You ’ re pushing this forward ,’” he says . “ In my opinion , there ’ s many ways to sell out . One way is to exploit a genre and do it in a way that you sort of take advantage of that .”
In other words , Cuba may have taken his native country ’ s name as his own , but that ’ s purely in tribute . He doesn ’ t need to out-Cuba anyone just to prove his bonafides . “ I respect cultures and traditions , but I ’ m never going to go directly to Cuba when I ’ ve been in Canada for 17 years and dress traditionally Cuban just to say I ’ m the real deal from Cuba ,” he says . “ I ’ m the real deal in my own universe .”
Of course , it isn ’ t just the world music scene in Canada that ’ s finally embraced Cuba as its own . He ’ s had a remarkable run of collaboration with a pretty astounding spectrum of Canadian talent . Healer features appearances from Ron Sexsmith and Alejandra Ribera among other Canadian artists and Cuba has spent time onstage with Blue Rodeo ’ s Jim Cuddy and in the studio writing for Nelly Furtado . It ’ s an impressive list of household names from the country ’ s mainstream music community , and their acceptance of him as a fellow Canadian artist means a lot to him as someone who chose Canada as his home , rather than being born into it .
“ What I wanted to do from the beginning was be accepted and integrated into the country ’ s music scene ,” says Cuba . “ I have friends all over .”
While working with those friends on Healer , the writing process was collaborative , though the one thing all the songs have in common is that Cuba is the driving force .
“ I think the first 10 minutes together will tell you where we ’ re going ,” he says . “ I kind of always have a new song that I ’ ve started writing hidden somewhere . So if I show up to a writing session and within the first 10 minutes nothing is feeling cool , I usually pull out one of my melodies .”
40 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN