Totó La Momposina / Colombia Culture Icon
Colombia's Grande Dame, Totó la Momposina: 50 Yrs In Musical Spotlight
Toto La Momposina performing for Colombian television in 1992.Juan Camilo Segura
The great matriarch of Colombian music, this is how Sonia Bazanta Vides, better known as Totó la Momposina, is known. For more than 50 years she has been an ambassador of Colombian culture, taking the sounds of this South American country all over the world. This year, she celebrates 50 years as one of her country's most beloved artists. In 1982 she performed at the Nobel Prize for Literature award ceremony and accompanied the world-renowned Colombian Gabriel García Márquez.
The singer's origins come from the village of Talaigua, in the heart of an island in the great Magdalena River, called Mompox, which is why she is known as La Momposina. Born into a family of musicians spanning five generations, Totó La Momposina, learned to sing and dance as a child.
The singer's family in 2022 announced her retirement from the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santodomingo, in Bogota. In the picture, the singer in the dressing room of the theater. Her music, however, will continue to be present in theaters and concerts through the group 'Los tambores de Toto", led by her son Marco Vinicio Oyaga.
