Guantanamera: meaning and origin of the Cuban song

Guantanamera means a woman from Guantánamo, the Cuban city that gives the song its title. The word is a demonym—a name for a person connected with a place—and in the refrain it joins another Cuban word, guajira, meaning a country woman or peasant girl. In 1929, Joseíto Fernández's song of the same name first appeared on the radio and soon became one of the best-known musical symbols of Cuba.

Compositionally, Guantanamera is set to the Cuban folk rhythm of guajira, a form connected with rural song, guitar accompaniment, and the décima tradition. The style also travelled back across the Atlantic and became part of the flamenco repertory in Spain during the 19th century, which helps explain why the title phrase carries both Cuban local colour and a wider Hispanic musical memory.

The lyrics of Guantanamera have often been varied by performers, but the canonical version is built from four verses by the Cuban poet José Martí, taken from his 1891 collection Versos Sencillos. Martí's place in Cuban independence history helped turn the song into an unofficial anthem, while the verses themselves remain open, lyrical, and full of the direct images that made his poetry so singable.

Listen to Guajira Guantanamera by Compay Segundo:

According to Joseíto Fernández, the chorus "Guantanamera guajira Guantanamera" came from a street encounter. He said he used the phrase while flirting with a girl from Guantánamo, only to be rejected sharply in front of his friends. The embarrassment became the seed of the refrain and gave the song a personal anecdote behind its later national and international life.