Colombian Folk Music Icon Totó La Momposina Dead at 85

Totó La Momposina, the revered vocalist and global ambassador for Colombian Caribbean folk traditions, has died at 85 in Mexico following a prolonged battle with neurocognitive health complications.

According to various reports, the singer was pronounced dead on Tuesday, May 19. Her death was confirmed by Colombia’s Ministry of Culture and her family, with her son, Marcio Vinicio, telling Blu Radio that his mother “died in peace” after spending several months in palliative care.

Born Sonia Bazanta Vides in 1940 in Talaigua Nuevo, near the historic town of Santa Cruz de Mompós, Totó La Momposina built a career rooted in the rhythms and oral traditions of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. She began performing alongside relatives at local celebrations during the Fifties before forming her own ensemble, Sus Tambores, in the late-Sixties. That group would eventually carry her music across Europe and Latin America, helping introduce cumbia and bullerengue to audiences far beyond Colombia.

Her artistic profile expanded internationally in 1982 when she accompanied Gabriel García Márquez to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize ceremony. After releasing her debut album, La Verdolaga, in 1983, she connected with British singer and musician Peter Gabriel while living in France. Through Gabriel’s label, she released La Candela Viva in 1993, a landmark recording that featured the celebrated song “Curura.”

Throughout her career, Totó remained both a preservationist and an innovator. In 2011, she earned Record of the Year and Song of the Year honors at the Latin Grammys for “Latinoamérica,” and she later received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Recording Academy in 2013. Her 2014 album, El Asunto, was also critically acclaimed, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Latin album, and a Latin Grammy nod for Best Folk Album.

Her influence also reached contemporary music through samples and interpolations used by artists including Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Timbaland, Major Lazer, and J Balvin.

In 2022, she retired from performing after disclosing that aphasia and related neurocognitive conditions had affected her speech and memory. Her final public appearance came at Colombia’s Festival Cordillera, closing a career that cemented her as the “Queen of Cumbia” and “Voice of Colombia” for generations of music fans.