Remembering Totó la Momposina

Celebrating the incredible life and music of legendary Colombian folk singer Totó la Momposina.

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Hi everyone. I've been trying to find a moment recently to talk about Totó la Momposina, the incredible, really incredible, highly acclaimed Colombian singer and dancer who unashamedly represented her Afro-Caribbean and indigenous heritage through her folk music. She died a few weeks ago on the 17th of May in Celaya, in the central north of Mexico, at the age of 85. And I've been meaning on just doing a little note in celebration of her and her music, but um other things have kept other news stories have kept getting in the way. Totó la Momposina, uh, as you'll hear in a moment, or if you may already have heard if you know her, had an absolutely incredible voice and was always a hugely colourful presence in person, wearing multicolored dresses, scarves, and headgear. She was definitely flamboyant and she was an absolute live wire, even late in her life. She emerged first in the 60s and 70s as a sort of a a driver, uh a proponent of Colombian folk music, which was then definitely neither fashionable nor ubiquitous and had largely been erased from sight uh culturally, but well in the s in let's call it Colombia's homogenous culture, which uh you know um was has been an ongoing point of of discussion. Of course, the the the hugely diverse um cultural representation representations of Colombia have always been there, they've just never really been sort of encouraged to be central, but uh but she was one of the big agents in um in in changing this. She didn't let those um that sort of yoke affect her, uh that pushdown affect her, and gradually she developed an audience in Colombia, but more importantly, she became known and celebrated abroad, which in turn had uh an um uh an effect for her, its effect for her domestically until she became known as the Queen of Cumbia, uh folk star which flew which uh fused the beats of African slaves in the Americas with the sounds and songs of Latin America and the Caribbean's indigenous people. It was and remains also inescapably protest music, and there is barely a major Latin American and Caribbean star who she did not collaborate with. Here she is in a little clip from uh uh uh a collaboration with uh Calle 13 on the song Latin America.

Speaker 1 3:03

Soy, soy los que dejaron, soy toda la sobra de los que se robaron, un pueblo escondido en las clima, mi piel es de cuero, por eso aguantan cualquier clima, soy una fábrica de humo, mano de obra campesina para tu consumo, frente de tribo en el medio del verano, el amor en los tiempos de cobra, mi hermano, soy el que nace y el día que muere, con tus menores, acá de ser, estoy en desarrollo en carne viva, un discurso político sin cativa, la cara más bonita que he conocido, soy la fotografía de un desaparecido, la sangre dentro de tus buenas, soy un pedazo de tierra, que vale la pena una canasta con triboles, soy maradona contra Inglaterra, notándote dos goles, soy lo que tiene mi bandera, castina por estar del planeta, en mi cordillera, estoy lo que me parece, no tiras mi patria, no fui a su madre, estoy américa la pena, estoy los piernas, pero camina, uy, For those of you who missed it, the lyrics focus on what cannot be sold. You can't buy the rain, you can't buy the sun, you can't buy happiness, you can't buy my pain. Remarkably, it was only after 25 years that Sonia Basante Vides, as she was named at birth, had her first album released in her home country. She'd been born in 1940 to a family with African, Colombian, and Indigenous roots on the banks of the Madalena River. Her father was a shoemaker, but as was so often the case with working class and agrarian societies of the time. And before then, historically, there was a rhythm to his work, which also meant that he was a drummer. He drummed all his life, wherever he was. Her mother, by the same token, played music, danced, and sang. Music is just part, an inherent part of the Colombian Indigenous and Afro-Colombian heritage and communities. It's innate to who they are and how they live. The beat permeates all aspects of their lives. For Toto, it was also something which would take over her life as she began to travel around Colombia in her early years, learning regional styles and traditions, and in that way also learn about injustices and historical oppression. In the 1950s, the family moved to Bogotá, the capital, in order to escape the violence being fought out between the government and guerrilla groups, something of a familiar story for families right across Colombia. It was definitely a rupture, but Bogotá, then being a place as now for exiles from across the country, it was also an incredible school of musical and social development. Here is an earlier one of her songs called La Verdolaga.

Speaker 2 6:12

Bonito Como serría la bedolaga. Ay lo la sembré. Ayo la sembré.

Speaker 6:40

In 1974, she travelled to New York to participate in a long-running show at Radio City Music Hall, but fled to Paris a few years later after learning that she was on a target list. She arrived in France with nothing and survived by busking. Then in 1981, she recorded her debut album, La Candela Viva, also in Paris, far, far away from home. And ten years later, Peter Gabriel learned of her, and she was invited to record at his studio in England, where she was a hit, an undoubted hit, and wowed everybody involved, which led to new recordings and a step into world recognition. She would go on to win two Latin Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year for Latin America. This was in 2011, which we played earlier on in the show, as well as a lifetime, a lifetime achievement award in 2013. And then in 2016, she was made in France the Chevalier in the Order de la Lettre in France. She will be missed, but uh you know her voice and her legacy stand strong and is irresistible.

Speaker 4 8:04

Yo me llamo pubia, yo soy la reina, por donde voy. No hay una cadera que se esté quieta, donde yo estoy, mi piel es morena como los cueros de mi tambor.

Speaker 5 8:33

Y mi sombra son un par de maracas, que ves en el sol, y mi sombra son un par de maracas, que ves el sol, llevo en la garganta una fina, fina, viva.