Totó La Momposina

Totó La Momposina stands as a prime representative of Colombia’s enduring folk heritage, having devoted multiple decades to the study and presentation of her country’s native songs and dances. The nation’s indigenous music blends Spanish, native South American, and Afro-Cuban elements into a strongly rhythmic form, and La Momposina’s command of its varied styles and rhythmic patterns earned her an invitation to perform at the 1982 Nobel Prize ceremony for Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Born in the village of Talaigua on the island of Mompos along the Magdalena River near Colombia’s northern coast, she grew up in a musically active household where her parents represented the fourth generation of performers, her father working as a drummer and her mother as a singer and dancer. The village also benefited from the guidance of veteran cantadora Ramona Ruiz, who trained La Momposina during her teenage years. She journeyed along the Colombian coast, absorbing music and dance from village festivities as well as the everyday songs that accompanied ordinary labor, while simultaneously refining her vocal technique and stage presence until the distinctive strength of her voice brought her widespread local recognition. In 1968, during her twenties, she assembled her own ensemble, maintaining appearances at modest community events yet pursuing wider professional opportunities. By the 1970s her reputation had reached international circles, leading to tours across Europe and much of the Western Hemisphere. She appeared at the 1982 ceremony honoring Gabriel Garcia Marquez with the Nobel Prize in Literature and afterward spent four years in Paris studying dance history at the Sorbonne. During that period she completed her debut album, 1985’s Totó La Momposina y Sus Tambores, issued on Auvidis. Returning to Colombia in 1987, she reestablished ties with regional audiences through local touring and extended her studies with a trip to Cuba. In 1991 she joined Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD festival, embarked on another global tour, and recorded a second album for Gabriel’s Real World label. La Candela Viva appeared in 1993 to widespread praise, placing La Momposina in high demand at festivals worldwide. Carmelina reached Europe in 1996; she then relocated to England and divided her time among the U.K., the Continent, and South America. Continuing to perform internationally, she integrated her children and grandchildren into her expansive troupe and elaborate productions. Her fourth album, Pacanto, arrived in 2001 and received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Tropical Album. She spent the following eight years on the road before settling once more in Colombia. In 2006 Womex presented her with a lifetime achievement award. Recording resumed in 2009 with the release of La Bodega on Astar Artes. In 2013 she received another Latin Grammy for lifetime achievement, and in 2014 Sony Columbia issued El Asunto. Earlier, in 2009, Swiss producer and DJ Michel Cleis released the house track “La Mezcla,” which incorporated two samples from La Candela Viva; the single became a major European club success, prompting Cleis’s label Cadenza to seek the original multi-track tapes for remix projects. Producer John Hollis, who had participated in the 1991 and 1992 Real World sessions, along with project manager Amanda Jones and additional colleagues, reviewed the complete session materials—twenty tracks and forty takes in total. They remastered both issued and previously unreleased material, resulting in Tambolero, a reimagined version of La Candela Viva created to mark La Momposina’s sixtieth anniversary as a recording and touring artist; the album appeared worldwide in the summer of 2015.