{"id":2000112629,"date":"2026-05-20T15:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000112629"},"modified":"2026-05-20T15:26:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:26:28","slug":"afro-influenced-colombian-music-legend-toto-la-momposina-dies-aged-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/afro-influenced-colombian-music-legend-toto-la-momposina-dies-aged-85\/","title":{"rendered":"Afro-influenced Colombian music legend Tot\u00f3 la Momposina dies aged 85"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Her children announced that she died from a heart attack, describing her as a woman who carried the culture and memory of the Colombian people to the world through her music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born Sonia Bazanta Vides in 1940 in northern Colombia, Tot\u00f3 grew up in a family of musicians before becoming known internationally for performing traditional Colombian styles such as cumbia and porro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her music drew heavily from African roots found along Colombia\u2019s Caribbean coast, mixing rhythms and traditions passed down through generations. She became known for preserving musical styles such as chand\u00e9, mapal\u00e9, bullerengue and fandango while introducing them to global audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tot\u00f3 began performing with her band in the late 1960s and later gained international recognition through collaborations with artists and producers including Peter Gabriel. Her songs were later sampled by major international artists including Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Major Lazer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She spent part of her life in exile in France after being blacklisted in Colombia because of her political views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Tot\u00f3 received several international honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Latin Grammys in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She often described traditional music as something living and evolving, saying it helped people preserve identity and dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tot\u00f3 received several international honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Latin Grammys in 2013.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tot\u00f3 la Momposina, one of Colombia\u2019s most celebrated traditional musicians whose music blended African and Indigenous influences, has died at the age of 85.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000112631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000112629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000112631,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Toto-La-Momposina-obit.jpg","alt":"","caption":"Tot\u00f3 received several international honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Latin Grammys in 2013.","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":563,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Toto-La-Momposina-obit.jpg","width":150,"height":84},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Toto-La-Momposina-obit.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Toto-La-Momposina-obit.jpg","width":768,"height":432},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Toto-La-Momposina-obit.jpg","width":1000,"height":563},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Toto-La-Momposina-obit.jpg","width":1000,"height":563}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000112629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000112629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000112629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000112632,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000112629\/revisions\/2000112632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000112631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000112629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000112629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000112629"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000112629"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000112629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}