Totó La Momposina, Colombian Folk Music Icon, Dies at 85

Sonia Bazanta Vides, known worldwide as Totó La Momposina, died in Celaya, Mexico, after a period of palliative care. Family members announced that she passed “surrounded by her family” and that the cause of death was a myocardial infarction. Other reports describe her final months as dominated by neurocognitive health complications, including aphasia. The exact date of death is reported as either Sunday May 17 or Tuesday May 19, 2026.

Billboard

Born in August 1940 in Talaigua Nuevo, Bolívar, Totó grew up in a multigenerational musical family—her grandfather led a band, her father was a percussionist, and her mother sang and danced. She began performing publicly at age six and later formed her own ensemble, Sus Tambores, in the late 1960s. Studies at the National University of Colombia, the Sorbonne in Paris, and institutions in Cuba deepened her knowledge of Afro-Indigenous rhythms such as cumbia, bullerengue, mapalé, porro, and chalupa.

Totó La Momposina, the Voice That Carried Colombian Caribbean Soul to the World, Dead at 85

Totó’s 1993 album La Candela Viva, released on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, introduced Colombian Caribbean folk to global audiences. The record featured the celebrated track “Cururá” and earned critical acclaim. She later received a Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Latin Album (2014) and won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2011 Latin Grammy Awards for “Latinoamérica.” The Latin Recording Academy honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, and she was awarded France’s Order of Arts and Letters.

Rolling Stone

Totó served as a cultural ambassador, bringing the rhythms of the Magdalena River to stages from Stockholm to New York. Her recordings have been sampled by artists such as Jay-Z, Major Lazer, and J Balvin, linking traditional Colombian sounds with contemporary pop and hip-hop. Scholars credit her for preserving oral traditions of cantadoras and for framing folk performance as a communal, rather than purely commercial, practice.

Latin Times

The Colombian Ministry of Culture posted an X tribute describing her as “the eternal maestro who traveled the world to the rhythm of cumbias, porros, mapalés, and bullerengues.” President Gustavo Petro wrote on X, “May she soar high to the stars.” The family’s Instagram announcement confirmed her death, identified the cause as myocardial infarction, and highlighted her role in “carrying the culture and memory of the Colombian people to the far corners of the world.” In a Blu Radio interview, her son—identified as Marcio Vinicio in some sources and Marco Vinicio in others—said she “died in peace.”

Totó La Momposina, the Voice That Carried Colombia’s Caribbean Soul to the World, Dies at 85

Children Marco Vinicio, Angélica María, and Euridice Salomé shared a heartfelt Instagram message praising her “extraordinary dedication” and “joy, light, wisdom, talent, generosity.” Fans, musicians, and cultural institutions across Latin America posted tributes, emphasizing her status as a guardian of Caribbean heritage.

Totó La Momposina, the Voice That Carried Colombia’s Caribbean Soul to the World, Dies at 85

• Date of death: May 17 (family Instagram) vs. May 19 (Ministry of Culture, other outlets).

Billboard

• Cause of death: Myocardial infarction (family statement) vs. neurocognitive complications (several news reports).

Billboard

• Son’s name: Marcio Vinicio (Blu Radio) vs. Marco Vinicio (family Instagram, Ministry post).

Totó La Momposina, the Voice That Carried Colombia’s Caribbean Soul to the World, Dies at 85

These discrepancies remain unresolved in the public record.

Totó La Momposina, the Voice That Carried Colombian Caribbean Soul to the World, Dead at 85

• “Today we bid farewell to the eternal Totó … To the eternal maestro who traveled the world to the rhythm of cumbias, porros, mapalés, and bullerengues born in the heart of our land,” — Ministry of Culture, X post

Billboard

• “Totó was 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.” — Totó La Momposina’s children, Instagram

Billboard

• “She died in peace,” — Marcio Vinicio, Blu Radio interview

Latin Times

• “Toto la Momposina, my dear friend and a luminary of Colombian Caribbean art and culture, has passed away. May she soar high to the stars.” — President Gustavo Petro, X post

Billboard

Her remains will be transferred from Mexico to Colombia on May 27, when a public tribute is scheduled at the Capitolio Nacional in Bogotá, featuring performances by the Tambores de Totó and attendance by cultural officials and family members.

Totó La Momposina, the Voice That Carried Colombian Caribbean Soul to the World, Dead at 85