Totó la Momposina, one of the most revered figures in Colombian music history, passed away on May 20, 2026, at the age of 85. Her three children announced her death from a heart attack on Instagram, describing her as a woman who, "with her voice and extraordinary dedication, carried the culture and memory of the Colombian people to the far corners of the world." Born Sonia Bazanta Vides in 1940 in the small town of Talaigua Nuevo, she was raised in a family with multiple generations of musicians. After relocating to Bogotá, she adopted the stage name Totó la Momposina, combining her childhood nickname with a reference to the Mompós region. By the late 1960s, she had established her own ensemble, Totó La Momposina y Sus Tambores, and her reputation within Colombia grew to such an extent that she was invited to hold a concert residency at New York's Radio City Music Hall in 1974.
Her trajectory shifted dramatically in 1979 when she discovered she had been blacklisted by the Colombian government for her leftwing political affiliations. She was forced to flee the country as a refugee and settled in France, where she joined a musical collective. "I sang in the streets, in restaurants, on street corners, in markets, in the Métro, everywhere," she later recalled. She subsequently joined the cultural delegation accompanying Gabriel García Márquez during his Nobel Prize ceremony in 1982, and her recording career commenced the following year with her debut album Cantadora. However, it was through her partnership with Peter Gabriel's Real World Records that she achieved broader international recognition, beginning with the 1993 release La Candela Viva. Her musical output drew from the rich traditions of the Colombian Caribbean, synthesizing African and Indigenous influences through sub-styles including chandé, mapalé, fandango, puya, and bullerengue. Colombian President Gustavo Petro paid tribute, describing her as "a luminary of Colombian Caribbean art and culture."