Totó La Momposina’s entire life has been dedicated to representing the music of Colombia’s Caribbean coastline. As a singer, dancer and teacher she embodies that fertile place where Colombia’s African, Indigenous Indian and Spanish cultures mingle to create a unique musical tradition. Totó is not only its greatest interpreter, but also a restless innovator.
Normally associated with powerful rhythmic pieces and a full band, this is an unusual and very personal song performed solo a cappella. 80 this year, Totó is a proud grandmother with 9 grandchildren. She spent many hours looking after them as babies and would often sing this lullaby, Tanguita, to comfort and lull them to sleep. Something of a family treasure therefore, this is the first time Tanguita has been released and we hope it is of help to mothers and babies everywhere!
Totó La Momposina's represents the music of Colombia’s Caribbean coastline. As a singer, dancer and teacher she embodies that fertile place where Colombia’s African, Indigenous Indian and Spanish cultures mingle to create a unique musical tradition.
Totó is not only its greatest interpreter, but a restless innovator too. Whilst still a child, civil war forced her family to flee their home and move to the capital Bogotá. There her mother started a dance group from which Totó emerged as a promising singer in the 1950s, forming her own band in the 1960s. She began touring internationally a decade later but it wasn’t until the early 1990s that her global fame was cemented by a WOMAD tour across three continents, the release of La Candela Viva on Real World Records and the many international shows and recordings that followed.
