Alex Cuba Adapts Blue Rodeo Classic "Bad Timing" Into Spanish

ALEX CUBA ADAPTS BLUE RODEO CLASSIC “BAD TIMING” INTO SPANISH

AND RELEASES “ARREPENTIDO” EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH iTUNES CANADA DEC. 2ND

CBC RADIO 2 PREMIERE BEGINS DEC. 1ST

The story begins in Smithers, B.C. in 1996 when Alex Cuba’s (Alexis Puentes) mother-in-law introduced him to Canadian music by playing him Blue Rodeo’s seminal recording “Five Days In July”. Although Alexis did not yet speak English, he was especially moved by the song “Bad Timing” and fell in love with the track.
Fast forward to the 2008 Juno Awards in Calgary. While performing at the Songwriter’s Circle, Alex Cuba spots Jim Cuddy in the audience and sings a couple of verses of “Bad Timing” in Spanish. That same evening, as Blue Rodeo wins the Juno Award for Group Of The Year, it is Alex Cuba who hands the award to Jim and the band. Later that night at the Warner Music Canada post-Juno party, Blue Rodeo are on stage jamming and invite Alex onto the stage. Jim Cuddy then hands Alex his Gibson guitar and Alex tears into the song. The industry folks present are in awe at this magical music moment. At the Juno gala the night before, Alex takes home his second Juno for “World Music Album of the Year”.

Six months later Alex and Jim go into Blue Rodeo’s studio, “The Woodshed”, to record Spanish vocals over the original music tracks and hence, 12 years after Alex Cuba first heard this incredible song, “Arrepentido” (Bad Timing) comes alive.

The song will be released by Cuba’s own label Caracol Records as a digital download exclusively on iTunes Canada beginning Tuesday, December 2nd.

Beginning Monday, December 1st, the song will begin playing on CBC Radio 2 as part of a week-long premiere. Alex will visit the CBC Radio studios that week to tell the story and perform the song live.
Alex Cuba recently toured Europe playing in Seville, Barcelona and London and he performed at the Canadian Music Trade Mission to Japan’s showcase at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo. He goes on to play dates in Kelowna (15th), San Francisco (17th), Los Angeles (19th), New York (26th), Boston (28th) and Toronto (29th) to cap a busy November.

For a guy who moved from small-town Cuba to small-town Canada, Alex*Cuba thinks big. Playing guitar since he was 4 years old, he has won numerous awards including two consecutive Juno Awards and he has toured the UK, Japan and America. With a heart as big as his retro 'fro, Cuba takes it in stride and focuses on what he does best: crafting songs that cut through linguistic and cultural barriers like a machete through sugarcane.

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