Sonia Bazanta Vides – Totó la Momposina

Tropicalistas every where! as announced in other social media networks this week i would like to come to you with another great record i found in france. I have a special reason why i choose these compilation for the vol.24 of our vinyl of the week. The queen of Afro-Colombian music i.e. cumbia is coming to Berlin this summer imageand the first concert have already a date, the 19.07.15 in the YAAM Beach (here the invitation). For me another much important reason and i am not alone with that, exactly like me Totó has nothing left for the newfangled electronic cumbia DJs and remixes with her music. She is the great diva of the traditional cumbia and is determined to save the authentic cumbia sounds from Afro-Colombia from extinction. Such techno DJ´s particularly one from Berlin did few remixes with Totó´s music, ironically in Europe this kind of plunder is called creativity and if Totó got anything from those business is to doubt. Unfortunately from the musical point of view these practice is nothing else as music colonialism, also who can´t create something new take it from some where else specially from the countries localized in the tropics.

Apart from that let´s go into the record “Totó La Momposina Y Sus Tambores – Colombie – Musique de la côte Atlantique” that by the way you can hear at youtube under the link at the end of this page.

Totó la Momposina recorded her first production in France in 1983 and subsequently spent time traveling in Europe and studying at the University of La Sorbonne in Paris and later at other institutions in Santiago de Cuba and Havana. She exemplifies the living tradition of Afro-Colombian folk music, having carefully studied and performed her native song and dance for several decades. Toto’s work has come to be recognized internationally; in 1982 the group was part of the Colombian delegation attending Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Nobel Prize winning ceremony in Stockholm.

Colombia’s indigenous music is a heavily rhythmic hybrid of African, native South American, and Afro-cuba influences. In this compilation from year 1984 produced and edited in France we have a great selection with traditional songs performed by Totó  accompanied by musicians who both make and play traditional instruments. The group play the folk music in the Atlantic coastal region of Colombia from where they originate. A region in South-America where the Afro Diaspora have same strong influence like in Brazil without to forget the indigenous rhythms. In the Brazilian amazon region we have some rhythms that could be compared to the cumbia because of the common roots coming from Africa with the indigenous mixture, one of them is the Carimbó represented by many artists specially Pinduca the one that already came to Berlin in the former Tempodrom Summer festival in year 2000 represented here in this blog with a Vinyl of the Week Vol.21.

Totó la Momposina, for me particularly she is the great exponent artist in South-America for the heritage of the diaspora music and could´t be missing in the Tropical Diaspora repertoire. Particularly in the Porro song “Aguacero de Mayo” we can experience the whole diversity of rhythms and colors such music can have. I am sure after hear these  record full of joy and traditions is hard to understand how newfangled electronic producers and DJs can destroy this music putting that in infinity loops of primitive and boring beats.

Totó was born in the northern Colombian town of Talaigua Nuevo near Mompox in the Bolívar Department. She is in the fourth generation of her family to be involved with music, and her children are following in the tradition. In the song “Soledad – Cumbia Sentada” we can read how deep this music is rooted in the history and traditions in the Afro-Colombian diaspora, here a excerpt of the full lyric in the end of the page.

…”traced in the sand
memories of yesterday
some died of grief
other hunger and thirst
some fled to the mountain
to be able protects
They killed all the men
children and his wife”…

From the official site here a brief history of Totó.

“A magnificent singer and dancer, Totó La Momposina has earned respect and admiration in many parts of the world for the power and spontaneity of her performance. Drawing on the music and dance of the Colombian Caribbean, her work is informed and inspired by a rich cultural mix that combines elements from African, Native Indian and Spanish traditions. This an expression of a culture that has its origins in Africa (via the slaves brought to work in the Americas), Spain (through the influence of the invading colonists) and South America (from the indigenous Indian population)

On stage Totó ’s dynamic repertoire is accompanied by a range of traditional drums, gaitas, brass, tiple, bass, guitar, percussion and chorus. She presents rhythms such as the cumbia, bullerenge, chalupa, garabato and mapale from Colombia’s Caribbean coast alongside the キューバn son, guaracha, rumba and bolero son that arrived in Colombia via the village of San Basilio de Palenque.”

Garra

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Toto La Momposina – La Mar de Musicas (Cartagena)

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3hyE43ALbQ

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Totó la Momposina interview at Arte.

http://tracks.arte.tv/de/toto-la-momposina-viva-columbia

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Toto La Momposina y sus Tambores – Colombie (full album)

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQTFYePJOgQ

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 Credits: Design – Josette Mimran     Flute [De Millo] – Aurelio Fernandez     Percussion [Bombo] – Julio Renteria     Percussion [Marimba, Guache] – Nicolas Rodriguez (2)     Percussion [Tambor Hembra] – Marco Vinicio Oyaga     Percussion [Tambor Macho, Maracas] – Gilberto Martinez     Photography By – Javier Burgos     Vocals – Toto La Momposina*

Tracklist

A1 Aguacero De Mayo (Porro) 3:11
A2 Tres Golpes (Tambora) 3:20
A3 Soledad (Cumbia Sentada) 3:37
A4 Mananitas De Diciembre (Son Corrido) 3:52
A5 El Tigre (Chandé) 2:12
A6 Mojana (Afro-Colombian) 3:08
B1 Puya Puyará (Puya) 3:43
B2 Rosa (Son De Chalupa) 3:43
B3 La Verdolaga (Bullerengue) 4:09
B4 Son De Farotas (Danse De Carnaval) 4:29
B5 El Piano De Dolores (Bullerengue) 3:16

 

Soledad – Toto la momposina

Cumbia
oye mi cumbiarincon de amor
de magdalena
quema del sol
esta es mi tierraeres tu
rincon de amor
bella region
esta es mi historia
esta eres tu
mi magdalena
esta eres tu
mi magdalenaViejo pueblo haracata
pedacito de colombia
tierra donde yo naci
entre rumores de cumbia
a quererte yo aprendi
entre rumoresRemontados en la arena
los recuerdos de un ayer
unos murieron de pena
otros de hambre y de sed
unos huyeron al monte
pa poderse proteje
mataron todos los hombres
los hijos y a su mujerya veran
ya murieron
vive su vida
vive cien años de soledad
vive cien años de soledadviejo pueblo haracata
pedacito de colombia
tierra donde yo naci
entre rumores de cumbia
a quererte yo aprendi
entre rumoresremontados en la arena
los recuerdos de un ayer
unos murieron de pena
otros de hambre y de sed
unos huyeron al monte
pa poderse proteje
mataron todos los hombres
los hijos y su mujer