LAMAMIMET

Sonia Bazanta Vides was born on 1 August 1940 in Talaigua Nuevo near Mompox, Colombia, into a family with four generations of musicians. She grew up immersed in Afro‑Colombian and Indigenous musical traditions, studying briefly at the National University of Colombia and later at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Adopting the stage name Totó la Momposina, she became an international ambassador of Colombian folk music. Her 1993 album La Candela Viva, released on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, brought her worldwide acclaim, and she performed for Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez’s award ceremony in 1982. Throughout her career she collaborated with artists such as Calle 13 and contributed her traditional sounds to numerous film soundtracks.

Totó received the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013 and an honorary doctorate from the National Pedagogic University in 2017. She continued to influence contemporary music through samples and collaborations until her death on 19 May 2026 at age 85, following health complications related to a neurocognitive condition.