Alex Cuba’s ‘Healer’ bridges the gap between two worlds with great results

Bridging worlds is nothing new to singer-songwriter Alex Cuba (born Alexis Puentes), who as a teenager left his namesake homeland and immigrated to Canada. The multiple Latin-Grammy winning artist continues this theme with splendid results on his new album “Healer,’ which is due out March 31.

“Every album is based on the moment I’m going through, so ‘Healer’ finds me more soulful, more patient and more open,” Cuba told VOXXI. “I think I’m just at more of a peaceful moment in my life.”

Don’t confuse peacefulness with laid back.

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Cuba, who previously has worked with the likes of Nelly Furtado and Jason Mraz, delves deeper into the bilingual world on “Healer” with duets featuring Ron Sexsmith (“Half a Chance”), Alejandra Ribera (“Beautiful Mistake”), Kuba Oms (“Everytime”), David Myles (“In 1 2 3 4”) and Anya Marina (“No Esperes Mas”).

The new project is a follow-up to 2012’s “Static in the System,” which came on the heels of Cuba winning the 2010 Latin Grammy award for Best New Artist.

“That album was experimental in many ways,” Cuba said. “I wanted to go into a different direction and try singing in English, be more upbeat, more rock. I’d love for this new album to expand even more from what I’ve done. I think it has way more crossover appeal to it in attitude and sound. So I’m hoping it will take me a little bit further to people from all kinds of backgrounds.”

A different culture for Alex Cuba

Being a person from a different background is nothing new to Cuba, who over the course of his career has tackled issues stemming from immigration to displacement. Now he’s blatantly asking people to give him “Half a Chance.” The aforementioned Sexsmith duet doesn’t ingratiate as much as induce a smile from the listener with its beautiful chord changes and hints of reggae and soul.

Then there’s the bilingual “In 1 2 3 4,” which on the surface seems destined to end up on “Sesame Street.” Cuba said that notion is close to coming to fruition.

“We had that song in mind as something for Ricky Martin,” Cuba said. “I was thinking this song is different from anything I ever wrote. So I started playing it around my house. My kids started singing it. I said, ‘Wait, a minute, I think this song is for me. Screw Ricky Martin.’

“The bass player playing on the song is also the bass player for ‘Sesame Street’ in New York City. He told me, ‘Dude, I think they will take this song.’ So we’re trying to make the connection and hopefully something happens.”

As far as thawing relations between Alex Cuba’s native country and America, the artist said being in Canada for the last 16 years has distanced him from the news surrounding the Caribbean island.

Still, he’s optimistic the future is bright for Cuba.

“Any relationship, anything that has a positive attitude and a positive goal based on fairness and the good of people, I think we have to be very greedy to screw it up,” Cuba said. “When I look at this, I don’t see the governments. I see the people.

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“I know that we have a lot in common between the United States and Cuba. So I see those two nations, those two people really enjoying themselves and growing into something beautiful.”