Quantcast

Call for Feature Essays About Any Aspect of Popular Culture, Present or Past

Music
cover art

Toto La Momposina

La Bodega

(Astar Artes; US: 10 Nov 2009; UK: 10 Nov 2009)

Listening to “Tembanddumba”, a song in which Totó la Momposina lets her voice stoop thrillingly and then snatches it up again like a dropped hankie, reminds that Mercedes Sosa died not long ago. Sosa was an Argentine, and Momposina is Colombian, but both have championed the folk music of their respective countries and have possessed strong voices. Their voices are not brutal but provide the steady power that could pierce a wall. If you wanted a boil-it-down nickname for the Afro-Indian music Momposina likes to sing, you could call it drum ‘n’ flute. The flute ( kuisi) is husky. The drumming is vivid stuff: rapid, rumbling, and stormy. She loves cumbia and mixes things around a little, keeping the flavor local. The violins are perhaps a step too far in the direction of cosmopolitan smoothness, contrasting uneasily with the indigenous instruments. Though it lacks the the rougher style 2002’s Pacantó, La Bodega proves la Momposina is one of those rare musicians who would have to work at being anything less than good.

Rating:

Tagged as: colombian | indigenous
Comments
Now on PopMatters
Unicycle Loves You: Failure (Capsule Reviews) [Fri, 1:00 am]
Bill Hicks: The Essential Collection (Reviews) [Fri, 1:00 am]
Sharon Lewis & Texas Fire: The Real Deal (Capsule Reviews) [Fri, 1:00 am]
Mod Film Noir: 'Brighton Rock' (Reviews) [Fri, 1:00 am]
Gross Magic: Teen Jamz (Capsule Reviews) [Fri, 1:00 am]
Glee Karaoke Revolution Volume 3 (Reviews) [Fri, 1:00 am]
  1. 'Nebraska': Bruce Springsteen's 'Heart of Darkness' (Columns)
  2. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 1: From 13Ghosts to Friendly Fires (Features)
  3. Counterbalance No. 66: Carole King’s 'Tapestry' (Sound Affects)
  4. The Best Games of 2011 (Features)
  5. Not-So-Central Casting: Kevin Smith and the Birth of the Reality Podcast (Features)
  6. The 10 Greatest Movie Spies Ever (Short Ends and Leader)
  7. The 10 Greatest Shakespeare Film Adaptations of All Time (Short Ends and Leader)
  8. 'Amy' Is a Horror Game That Is Broken in All the Right Ways (Moving Pixels)
  9. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 2: From the Go! Team to the Phoenix Foundation (Features)
  10. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 3: From Real Estate to Youth Lagoon (Features)
  11. Lana Del Rey: Born to Die (Reviews)
  12. The Future Is a Faded Song: Douglas Rushkoff on the Groundbreaking "ADD" (Features)
  13. Get Off of My Cloud!: 'Collecting' Music in the Digital Age (Features)
  14. The Top 15 Madonna Singles of All Time (Sound Affects)
  15. Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas (Reviews)
  16. Google and the Production of Curiosity (Marginal Utility)
  17. Carole E. Barrowman’s Authorial Journey to Hollow Earth (Features)
  18. Tower Songs: Townes Van Zandt (Columns)
  19. Black Bananas: Rad Times Xpress IV (Reviews)
  20. The Gay Ole Countryside (Columns)
  21. Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks (Reviews)
  22. Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom (Reviews)
  23. “Don’t Let Me Fall”: Hip-Hop in the Age of Austerity (Features)
  24. Counterbalance No. 67: John Coltrane’s 'A Love Supreme' (Sound Affects)
  25. 'Namath': Broadway Joe Looks Back (Reviews)
  26. A Tale of How Great Journalism Became Revisionist History: Grambling State U Football (Columns)
  27. Chairlift: Something (Reviews)
  28. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - "Heart Attack" (Cosmic Kids Remix) (PopMatters Premiere) (Mixed Media)
  29. The 10 Best John Coltrane Solos (Sound Affects)
  30. A Look to the Past, An Insight Into the Present: The Use of Gender in 'Mad Men' (Features)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.