The Voice of the People: Totó La Momposina

Long before Bomba Estereo unleashed their special brand of psychedelic cumbia on the world, there was Totó La Momposina. The 68-year-old Afro-Colombian roots singer and dancer has been spreading the country’s Caribbean rhythms throughout the globe since she was 12—and she’s still going strong. “I want to make the music of Colombia a star,” she recently told the NY Daily News. And she’s done just that.

Her cumbias and porros are laden with the same flutelike gaitas and African drums that were first heard when indigenous tribes and slaves started jamming together hundreds of years ago, and her rich voice has captivated audiences as far off as Japan.

She recently released her ninth album, La Bodega, in which she continues to showcase traditional sounds that remind me of the carnival floats in Barranquilla, the sunset views from Cartagena’s malecón and the general ease of life on the coast. Even if you have no idea what I’m talking about, listen to the slow-moving “Yo Me Llamo Cumbia” and you’ll understand what I mean:

Yo me llamo cumbia, yo soy la reina por donde voy/ no hay una cadera que se este quieta donde yo estoy/ mi piel es morena como los cueros de mi tabor/ y mis hombros son un par de maracas que besa el sol.

Here’s a rough translation: My name is cumbia, I am the queen wherever I go/ There’s not a hip that stays still where I am/ My skin is brown like the leathers of my drum/ And my shoulders are a pair of maracas kissed by the sun."

It’s a beautiful homage to cumbia music that can only come from Totó La Momposina’s lips, so here it is: