Totó La Momposina Dies at 85, Colombia Loses the Voice That Took Cumbia to the World

Totó La Momposina, the legendary Colombian artist who transformed Caribbean folk music into a global cultural force, died Tuesday in Mexico at the age of 85 after years battling neurocognitive health issues.

The death of the singer, born Sonia Bazanta Vides, was confirmed by Colombia's Ministry of Culture and by her family. Colombian President Gustavo Petro also paid tribute, calling her "an exalted figure of Caribbean Colombian art and culture."

"She died in peace," her son Marcio Vinicio told Colombian radio station Blu Radio, explaining that the singer had spent recent months in palliative care in Mexico after her condition worsened.

For generations of Colombians, Totó was more than a singer. She was the sound of the Magdalena River, the Caribbean coast and the fusion of Indigenous, African and Spanish traditions that shaped Colombian identity. Her music preserved rhythms like cumbia, bullerengue, mapalé, porro and chalupa while introducing them to audiences across Europe, the United States and Latin America.

Born in 1940 in Talaigua Nuevo, Bolívar, near the historic region of Mompox, Totó came from a family deeply rooted in music. Her father was a percussionist, her mother a singer and dancer, and her artistic lineage stretched back generations. According to her official biography, she began performing professionally with her family in the 1960s before later studying music and folklore in Bogotá, Paris and Cuba.

Her international breakthrough came in the early 1990s with the release of La Candela Viva through Peter Gabriel's Real World label, an album that introduced global audiences to traditional Colombian rhythms decades before Latin music became mainstream worldwide. Songs like "La Verdolaga," "Prende la Vela," "Cururá" and "El Pescador" became staples of Latin American folk music.

Totó's voice also became intertwined with Colombian cultural diplomacy. In 1982, she accompanied Gabriel García Márquez to Stockholm during the Nobel Prize ceremony honoring the Colombian novelist. The image of Totó bringing Caribbean rhythms to one of literature's most prestigious stages became part of Colombian cultural history.

Over the years, she collaborated with artists including Calle 13, Lila Downs and J Balvin through samples and reinterpretations of her work. Her music was sampled by artists ranging from Major Lazer to Jay-Z, helping bridge traditional folklore with modern global sounds.

In 2022, Totó officially retired from performing after revealing she suffered from aphasia and other neurocognitive complications that affected her speech and memory. Her final public appearance was at Colombia's Festival Cordillera that same year, where audiences gave her an emotional farewell.

Her death triggered an outpouring of grief across Colombia and Latin America Tuesday, with musicians, politicians and fans describing her as one of the last great guardians of traditional Caribbean music.

For many Colombians, Totó La Momposina was not simply an artist. She was the voice of an ancestral Colombia that survived colonization, civil conflict and globalization through drums, dance and memory.