What Miriam Makeba was to South Africa and Celia Cruz to Cuba, a kind of mother figure of national music so to speak, Toto La Momposina is to Colombia. Her music is a mixture of African and Latin influences with elements from Colombian indigenous culture. These influences are also reflected in the instruments used (the Colombian tiple, a twelve-stringed guitar that is clearly a legacy of the Spanish colonial past, the gaita or kuisi colombiana, a traditional flute made from a cactus stem and a typical indigenous instrument and of course the tambores or drums the slaves brought with them from Africa). 'La Bodega' is an instant classic in the genre and leaves no doubt Toto is one of the last leading ladies in Latin American music.