From the Editorial

La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, May 20, 2026, p. 7

Colombian culture is in mourning for the death of the singer Totó at the age of 85 the Momposinawho shared the richness and mysticism of the folklore of the Colombian Caribbean throughout the world.

The artist, whose name was Sonia Bazanta Vides, died in Celaya, Mexico, due to a myocardial infarction last Sunday, according to a statement shared yesterday by her family through social networks.

“Totó was a woman who, with her voice and extraordinary dedication, took the culture and memory of the Colombian people to the corners of the world,” the message read.

In the publication, it was also reported that on May 27, her body will be transferred to Bogotá, where tribute will be paid to her in the National Capitol with the Totó Drums, the legendary group that accompanied the interpreter.

Originally from Talaigua, Colombia, she passionately defended Colombian culture through music and dance, the indigenous rhythms of the region where she was born, among which cumbia, Mapalé and Bullerengue stand out, a summary of the heritage of African and indigenous cultures.

Since she was little, her talent was noticeable in the family group where she began a musical career that would lead her to international recognition after performing songs like The fisherman and My name is cumbia.

The artist complemented her natural gift with studies on music history, show organization, choreography and rhythm at the Sorbonne University in France.

She also made various international tours through Europe, Asia, North America and Latin America, but one of her presentations stands out, one of the most memorable, for the public and herself, at the Nobel Prize in Literature ceremony with Gabriel García Márquez in 1982.

The singer received several distinctions, including the Nuestra Tierra Award, as best folkloric artist and person of the decade in Culture in 2007.

The Colombian Ministry of Culture awarded her the Life and Work Award in 2011 and, two years later, she was awarded the Grammy for Musical Excellence awarded by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

It was last publicly performed at the 2022 Cordillera Festival, held in Bogotá. He collaborated with dozens of artists such as Lila Downs, Pablo Milanés, Carlos Vives and the group Calle 13, with whom he recorded the song Latin America.

The interpreters “tell the sensations”

“My grandfather, on my father’s side, led a band and played the clarinet. My great-grandfather, my mother’s grandfather, the mandola; my father, the drum. In my mother’s family, several play instruments, like bagpipes. I am not inventing anything. I have them as a point of reference in my ancestral music. I am only showing a range of the different music that we have, and how they can be presented on stage, with honor and gallantry,” he shared with this medium in 2010, prior to its presentation at Lunario.

The singers “tell the sensations,” he stated. When singing, “there is a complicity on a percussive level that makes the drums and oneself reach ecstasy.”

Totó recorded the popular song My name is cumbiaby Mario Gareña. “He composed it as if he were watching a cumbia dancer and he was participating in that act,” the singer said on that occasion.

He also explained that it was important to take singing lessons. “One comes with a gift, I have the gift of singing; I went to the conservatory. In a first audition they told me that the music of identity did not need technique. I told them I am not here to change my style, but to teach me the technique to protect my voice,” he added.

In that same year, Totó the Momposina offered a concert at the Alhondiga de Granaditas, Guanajuato, within the activities of the Cervantino Festival, where to the beating of drums, the matriarch of traditional Colombian music gave her love and heart to the public, by performing I woke up againby José Alfredo Jiménez.

“Long live Colombia! Long live the music of America! Long live Mexico! and long live the music of identity!” shouted the singer in the Alhóndiga, while the audience danced and chanted her songs.

On social networks, different of his compatriots regretted his death, highlighting that of the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who expressed his regret for the death.

“Totó has died the Momposinamy family and exalt of Colombian Caribbean art and culture. May he fly high to the stars,” he wrote on his X account.

Also the Minister of Cultures, Arts and Knowledge, Yannai Kadamani Fonrodona, expressed her condolences.

“The song of the Magdalena River will flow, the voice that gave life to the drum. Totó was and will be eternally,” he commented on social networks.

The writer and former minister Juan David Correa also mourned his death. “Sonia Bazanta will continue to be the deep voice of our cultures. Her departure is painful, but her song accompanies us and lulls us to sleep,” said the author.