Tambolero (1993/2015)
12 tracks, 52 minutes (2015 version)
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Totó La Momposina is an icon of Colombian music, at home as well as abroad, and La Candela Viva – originally released in 1993 and re-mixed and remastered in 2015 as Tambolero – shows off exactly why she is so revered.
Before I heard this album, I hadn’t paid Latin music too much mind. I had some favourites, yes – I’ve talked about a few of them on this blog – but I usually thought of it as a pleasant diversion, a fun type of music in the moment, but rarely something I would hunt out to listen to specifically. Tambolero changed that for me. The depth of its roots was intoxicating, it feels like you can fall into Totó La Momposina’s music.
Totó’s is a traditional style that takes equal amounts from Spanish, African and Indigenous heritage, and that triumvirate of influences can be heard on every track to varying degrees. The pieces that knocked the breath out of me (and still do!) are the most stripped-back tracks, those featuring just Totó’s powerful voice leading an ensemble of drums and backing singers. ‘El Pescador’ is the perfect example. The rhythms of the drums and shakers could go back millennia in Africa or South America depending on which you pick up; the melody is mellow, sad and with a slight piquancy that could only come from Latin music; and then the group’s harmonies come in and they are utterly heartwrenching, building upon that sad melody in a way that reaches straight into the soul, using the same broad chords as heard throughout Amazonian and Andean music. ‘Gallinacito’ and ‘La Candela Viva’ are also wonderful songs in this same way. And then there are songs which are based around the kuisi or gaita paired flutes of the Indigenous Kogui people, and others that are based around cumbia and son but all have the same balance of influences to them.
Totó La Momposina’s music is saturated with the histories of three continents. When I listen to Tambolero, I hear thousands of years of culture from all over the world, all the different elements coalescing and doing their own thing before they are united in this very music. This album taught me to listen deeper and wider to Latin music, especially that of South America. Through Totó’s rootsy style, these pathways become clear and are illuminated – and with her beautiful voice echoing all the way.
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