Chinese-Cuban Lullaby
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Chinese-Cuban Lullaby Lyrics. An original lullaby inspired by the Chinese-Cuban community of Havana’s Barrio Chino, one of Latin America’s oldest and largest Chinatowns. Chinese laborers first arrived in Cuba in the mid-1800s under contract-labor schemes that filled the gap left as the African slave trade wound down, and though intermarriage over many generations means very few fluent Chinese speakers remain today, Chinese-Cuban food, festivals, and identity are still very much alive in Havana’s Barrio Chino. Here you will find the lyrics, meaning, and chords.
Lyrics & chords
An original arrangement, with guitar & piano chords above each line.
Verse
What the words mean
Chords — guitar & piano
What “Chinese-Cuban Lullaby” Means
“Mama” means mother in Cantonese, the language of most Chinese immigrants who settled in Havana’s Barrio Chino from 1847 onward. This original lullaby draws on those lantern-lit and old-quarter images of Chinese-Cuban life, with “mama” used as a warm address rather than a literal translation.
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- An original lullaby by Relax In No Time, inspired by the musical traditions of its region. The words, melody, arrangement and recording are ours.
- Recording and arrangement: real instruments played by hand, no AI music, by Relax In No Time.
- Chords: written by us for guitar and piano.
- Translation: our own meaning-for-meaning translation, written for understanding. The sung words stay in the original language.
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