(Astar Arts)

La Momposina is swinging towards her 70s in style, creating some of the most irresistible dance music to come out of Colombia in years. For La Bodega she uses the port warehouse as metaphor for the constant mixing of Colombian with European traditions.

Her fruity voice leads a sensational young band (many of them family) of resonating tambur drums, various guitars and exuberant brass riffs. Peter Gabriel and WOMAD picked up on her early on, Gabriel Garcia Marquez took her to Stockholm when he won his Nobel Prize, and in 2006 WOMEX gave her a Lifetime Achievement Award. All of which propels Totó ever onwards but never detracts from the spectral beauty of her music.