TOTO LA MOMPOSINA
LA BODEGA (Astar Artes 44 1548 821767)

Totó is back. She even came through town during the summer and I would have gladly paid to see her but she did a free concert at Stern Grove and I refuse to go there after enduring the driving/parking/obnoxious crowd scene one too many times. So I have to imagine her show, and this new album is guaranteed to make you feel you have been whisked to a warm bodega in some little coastal Colombian town. Totó is well-known internationally as a folklorist who has preserved the traditions of her country, including African and native rhythms as well as imported Spanish ones that melded into the cumbia, bullerenge, and other dances. You even hear the Paul Simon/Peruvian pan-pipes on "Margarita." The set is familiar (showing continuity with her other discs): she is in fine voice and her band are tight. Her band, Los Tambores, owe a lot to Batata, their original drummer, who grew up in Palenque de San Basilio, a town founded by escaped slaves who had their own language. The legendary Batata (a.k.a. Paulino Salgado, who died in 2004) brought his drumming to her Tambores and introduced her to the bass marimbula, a cousin of the African thumb-piano. Los Tambores incorporate a lot of African ritual drumming into their sound, and you will even hear invocations to Shango, as in the pulsing "Tembandumba." Twenty years ago Totó moved to Europe and made a splash at WOMAD, followed by an album on Peter Gabriel's RealWorld label. Since then she has only put out albums intermittently, on ASPIC, World Village, Indigo, and other small European labels. So you have to find them where you can. Astar Artes is a UK-based label specializing in Colombian and Cuban music. On "Duena de los Jardines" her versatile band show what they can do: It's an all-out jamb-kicker, but they rein it in too soon. Guitar and tiple lead the way in "Fiesta Vieja," while the brass punctuates the refrain. At 40 minutes, this disc will leave you wanting more.