Totó la Momposina was for decades a living memory of the Colombian Caribbean thanks to its ancestral voice and its scenic power, projecting the rhythms of cumbia, porro and bullerengue to the world. His role was that of a bridge between the rural and the global, between grassroots cumbia and international stages, always with one foot in Afro-indigenous tradition and the other in modernity.
Its international projection was consolidated based on stages such as WOMAD (the universe of Peter Gabriel), Glastonbury or Roskilde, among other festivals. His album ‘La Candela Viva’, released by Real World Records, Peter Gabriel’s label, is essential to understanding Colombian music.
The mark of Totó, who died this week at the age of 85, on contemporary music has been indelible. Jay-Z, Major Lazer and Sevdaliza – who used the melody of ‘Rosa’ in his global megahit ‘Alibi’ – have sampled or remixed it. And songs like ‘La Candela Viva’, ‘El Pescador’, ‘La Sierpe’ or the druma-chalupa songs have opened Colombian music to the world.
“We say goodbye to the eternal Totó, the eternal teacher who toured the entire world to the rhythm of cumbias, joints, Mapalés and bullerengues born in the heart of our land,” said the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, remembering “the eternal Momposina who spoke about the traditional music of the Caribbean, enhanced and enriched it for decades to write an entire chapter in the cultural history of our country.”
