lullaby

After birth, a baby is immediately immersed in a sea of words and rhythm, as their caregivers coo over them, chatter and sing lullabies.

Toni Morrison, whose “Beloved” changed me when I first read it as a teen, showed me how a novel can be ghost story, reckoning, testimony and lullaby all at once.

I also like to listen to lullaby music, which makes me sound like a fetus, but it helps me get over my insomniac tendencies.

Soon to enchant the audience with her honeyed vocals is Judeline, the Spanish Venezuelan singer known for her heavenly electronic pop lullabies.

Not long afterwards she was looking through an old briefcase when she came across an ageing, brown reel-to-reel tape-recording of her lullaby.