Totó la Momposina, Colombian Folk Music Star, Dies at 85

Totó la Momposina, the Colombian singer and dancer who brought Afro-Caribbean and Indigenous musical traditions to international audiences, died on May 17 in Celaya, northwest of Mexico City. She was 85. Her family said the cause was a heart attack. She retired in 2022 after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and aphasia.

She emphasized traditional styles and instruments such as the tiple, gaita and tambora, and described her music as “an enterprise that began 500 years ago,” meant to strengthen national musical identity. Carolina Santamaría-Delgado, a musicology professor at the Universidad de Antioquia, said Totó represented a confluence of styles and a symbolic resistance to musical conformity.

Her career began in the late 1960s with cumbia, bullerengue, fandango and porro, and she performed at Radio City Music Hall in 1974 before touring Europe and the Soviet Union. In 1979 she went into self-exile in France after her support for left-wing causes threatened her safety in Colombia.

Mexico, Celaya

totó momposina, colombian singer, celaya, mexico, heart attack, alzheimer's disease, aphasia, cumbia, afro-caribbean, tiple