Back in 1993, the Colombian singer Totó La Momposina introduced the Afro-Indian traditional music of her country’s Caribbean coastal region to a global audience with her classic album La Candela Viva. She celebrates her 75th birthday by returning to Womad next month, and as a taster, here’s a recreation and reimagining of that record, produced by John Hollis, who worked on many of the original recordings. He searched out the master tapes, and discovered unreleased songs and different versions of many tracks, which have now been remixed with new backing choruses added by Totó’s granddaughters. The result is a fresh, attacking set that provides a reminder of her powerful, compelling voice. For many dance songs she is accompanied merely by hand percussion and backing vocals, but then she adds in traditional flutes, or guitar for a lilting ballad. Let’s hope she will still be on such impressive form at Womad.
