Photo: Screenshot of the adapted song "You Are Not Alone"

Cuban singer Alina Coya Cruz, 28, felt happy when she heard from her family on Tuesday night that the version of Michael Jackson's song "You Are Not Alone" made by her and other foreign artists living in China was played on a Cuban television program. 

Cruz told the Global Times that they adapted the song to support and cheer up people in the fight against the novel coronavirus. "Many people put their lives at risk every day to fight against the virus," Cruz said, adding how she admires medical staff, police and other workers on the frontline of the epidemic.

Isolating herself with her boyfriend in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, Cruz watches news reports about the novel coronavirus epidemic every day. Her boyfriend also took part in the recording of the song as a guitarist.

Foreign artists living in different areas of China contributed their work to the recording of the song. Arlet Pino, another Cuban singer, wrote the new lyrics to the adapted "You Are Not Alone." 34-year-old Ukrainian violist Oleksii, who has been in China for three years, took part in the music recording on the balcony of an apartment he rents in Linyi, East China's Shandong Province. Cuban music producer Dave Francis took the responsibility of arrangement and mixing in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.

The foreign artists work for Shenzhen Meifeiya Culture Communication, a company based in Shenzhen, and voluntarily answered the company owner Annie Xu's idea to record a song to express their support for the fight against the epidemic. They came up with many songs that could convey their encouragement but they chose Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone." 

"This is a beautiful song that touches all of us. We all like Michael Jackson, a great musician known around the world, and people can find it's easy to resonate with his music," said Xu. She further noted that they want to remind medical staff that "You Are Not Alone" which contains their gratitude and admiration.

Francis told the Global Times that he had never thought he would be in China making music, but he fell in love with Guangzhou and realized how kind Chinese people are. He will stay in China for a long time because the "country is full of opportunities for musicians and artists."

"I know it's a tough time and maybe we won't work for a while, but I believe everything will be okay soon," Cruz said.