Totó la Momposina in Paris: a Colombian refugee becomes a star

Today, Totó la Momposina is regarded as one of the most important artists in Colombian music, but it was only through time spent outside of her home country as a performer in Europe during the 1980s and 90s that she earned her legendary status in Colombia.

Totó spent her young adult life travelling from village to village in her native region researching the local rhythms and dances, and studying the art of the female singer— the cantadora. Gradually, her voice and performance technique matured, and she formed her own group in 1968, honouring these musical traditions she had absorbed in the rural communities in her stage performances.

In June 1979, Totó and three of her musicians, including her longtime collaborator and friend Batata, suddenly found themselves in Paris, with nowhere to sleep, no money, and not a word of French. The singer had received a tip-off that she was on a blacklist due to her left wing connections in Bogotá and beyond, and if she remained in the country, her life was in danger. She fled the country, seeking refuge in France.

A mutual friend introduced Totó to a group of actors and musicians of the Collectif de la Rue Dunois, in the thirteenth arrondissement, who took her and the musicians under their wing. For a while they slept in the theatre, where Totó remembers using her mink scarf as a duvet. Places to lodge were soon found, and for Totó this meant a flat which belonged to Collective member Gérard lo Monaco. The apartment overlooked the Jardins de Tuileries, where Totó fondly remembers doing her morning exercises.

The Collectif de la Rue Dunois, led by Philippe Duval, Laurent Berman and Anne Quesemand, was made up of street performers, mime artists and musicians, and it wasn’t long before Totó and her musicians began to take part in their regular soirees.

Once the immediate danger had passed, Totó was able to return to Colombia. But she continued to travel abroad regularly with her band and came through Paris whenever the opportunity arose. At a festival performance in 1980 she met Bolivian musician producer Carlos Arguedas, who invited Totó to record. The following year, she and a band of five entered the Studio de la Comédie des Champs-Elysées, where she recorded her debut album. According to Carlos, it was the first disc of Latin percussion to be released in Europe.

In 1982, Totó settled in Paris for several years in order to concentrate on her career. First staying with Carlos and his wife Claire Lambea in their flat in Rue Leon Frot, she then moved into a flat opposite the Stalingrad metro station and signed up for a course at the Sorbonne. Supported by a concert agent and the album, performance invitations began to come in from all over Europe. Parallel to these developments, like many debuting artists, Totó had to work hard to survive and busking on the street or in the Metro was a useful option.

One day in the Flea Market a man gave her a fifty franc note, a considerable sum for a street performer, and told her he hoped the next time he saw her she would be on stage— where she belonged. Totó recounts this story now in giggles. The same man appeared at one of her shows in France in the 1990s and reintroduced himself, delighted she had made it to the big stage.