Totó la Momposina, one of Colombia's most celebrated musicians, has died at the age of 85. Her three children announced her death from a heart attack on Instagram, describing her as a woman who 'carried the culture and memory of the Colombian people to the far corners of the world'.
Born Sonia Bazanta Vides in 1940 in Talaigua Nuevo, northern Colombia, she came from a family of musicians. After moving to Bogotá, she adopted the stage name Totó la Momposina, combining her childhood nickname with a reference to the Mompós region where she was raised. By the late 1960s, she was leading her own band, Totó La Momposina y Sus Tambores, and her reputation grew, leading to a residency at New York's Radio City Music Hall in 1974.
In 1979, she discovered she was blacklisted in Colombia for leftwing political leanings and fled to France, where she sang in streets, restaurants, and the Métro. She joined the cultural delegation accompanying Gabriel García Márquez when he accepted the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. Her debut album, Cantadora, was released in 1983, but it was her partnership with Peter Gabriel's Real World Records, beginning with La Candela Viva in 1993, that brought her international fame.
Her music blended African and Indigenous influences, encompassing styles such as cumbia, porro, chandé, mapalé, fandango, puya, and bullerengue. She viewed traditional music as alive and evolving, stating, 'People need music to identify themselves; it dignifies them.'
In later years, she divided her time between the UK and Colombia, continuing to tour. She received a lifetime achievement award at the Latin Grammys in 2013 and was made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2016. Her song 'Curura' was sampled by Timbaland and Magoo for 'Indian Flute' (2003), and later by Major Lazer, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and others. She also appeared with Calle 13 on their 2011 track 'Latinoamérica'.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro paid tribute, calling her 'a luminary of Colombian Caribbean art and culture'. Totó la Momposina is survived by her three children.
