DIANA GAMEROS
DIANA GAMEROS
Deeply versatile in expression, Diana hypnotizes with solo voice and guitar, brings audiences to their feet with her brass and bass trio, and soars like a bird with symphony orchestras. Singing mostly in Spanish, she creates authentic, inspiring music at the borderlands between cultures, languages, and genres.
Diana has caught the attention of national media as well as acclaimed musicians who’ve been drawn to her singular music and intrigued by her life story. From the age of 13, Gameros has resided in the United States, and for much of that time, she was an undocumented immigrant.
Diana is a singer, guitarist, pianist, composer, songwriter, music instructor and social justice activist, based in San Francisco, California. She was born and raised in Ciudad Juárez, México and immigrated to the United States as a teenager to study music in Michigan. Over the last decade in the Bay Area she has released two albums of original songs written in Spanish and English, and Mexican classic songs. In 2014 Diana received the Emerging Leader Award by the Chicana/Latina Foundation. In 2015 she was named one of YBCA’s 100: creative minds, makers, and pioneers that are asking the questions and making the provocations that will shape the future of American culture. NPR Music gave Diana an honorable mention to Arrullo in best Latin albums of the year in 2017. Diana was named one of SF Magazine’s 100 Artists: Artists Putting The East Bay On The Map, in 2018.
Diana has been highlighted often by NPR's Tiny Desk Concert contest series, and a documentary film about her was released by KQED in 2020. Her music often tells stories of family, migration, identity, and home, and has led her to perform with prominent performers such as Joan Baez, Natalia Lafourcade, McArthur Genius Award winner Taylor Mac and the San Francisco Symphony, among many other artist from all over the world. Diana's voice and music have appeared on numerous films, documentaries and, most recently, on the television series Mayans MC soundtrack and Netflix's Madre Sólo Hay Dos series. Her songs and story have been featured on Billboard, Mother Jones, NPR’s Weekend Edition, and PRI's The World, to name a few.I n May 2018, Diana joined the acclaimed Mexican superstar and Latin Grammy winner, Natalia Lafourcade, on her US West Coast tour.
PRESS REVIEWS
“Diana Gameros’ steady fingerpicking and elegantly simple melody create a calm within the storm, a safe place for big questions and long-ailing wounds that transcend any news cycle. Her voice has a remarkable expressive range. She’s at once strong and breathy — in an instant, wounded and boldly searching.“ — NPR
“If difficult times call for extraordinary voices, Berkeley singer-songwriter and guitarist Gameros is the woman for the hour. The Mexican-born trovista draws on her long experience without papers to explore the plight of border crossers of all stripes, bringing luminous humanity to a topic defined by searing heat rather than light. Her latest release, Arrullo (2017), is a beautifully textured acoustic session of Mexican classic songs and an artistic triumph for these ethnophobic times.” — San Francisco Magazine
“A dazzling female on the rise”. — Mother Jones Magazine
"Diana Gameros has the rare quality as a vocalist of bringing forth a sound which we hear but cannot express. Like Lila Downs, Lhasa, Mercedes Sosa, she digs deep." — Joanna Manqueros KPFA
PAST SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
Diana has performed at SFJAZZ Center, Davies Symphony Hall with the San Francisco Symphony, Paramount Theater with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, Boettcher Concert Hall with the Colorado Symphony, Fox Theater with Magik*Magik Orchestra, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Consulate of Mexico, Hope and Healing Series at Herbst Theater, Bohemian Nights Festival with Los Dreamers (lead by Raul Pacheco from Ozomatli and Shawn King from Devotchka), former US vice president Joe Biden fundraiser event, Ballroom Marfa’s Art Basel event, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, and most recently, she performed at Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center for the Arts and Lincoln Center's Atrium.
PARTICIPATION WITH OTHER ARTISTS
Diana has open for docens of recognized artists, including Bebel Gilberto, La Santa Cecilia, Gaby Moreno, Ximena Sariñana, Las Cafeteras, Torreblanca, Tank and the Bangas, David Aguilar, among others, and sang alongside McArthur Genius Award recipient Taylor Mac, and with multi-Latin Grammy winner Natalia Lafourcade on her 2018 MUSAS West Coast Tour.
MUSIC FOR FILMS
Diana's voice and musical compositions have been featured on multiple independent films and documentaries. Most recently her song "Libre Y Serena"appeared on Netflix's Madre Sólo Hay Dos series, and she sang three songs, including the theme song for the second season, for the FX television series MAYANS MC soundtrack.
AWARDS and HONORABLE MENTIONS
Emerging Leader Award by the Chicana/Latina Foundation
(2014)
YBCA 100 Artist: creative minds, makers, and pioneers that are asking the questions and making the provocations that will shape the future of American culture.
(2015)
Diana's album "Arrullo" receives honorable mention from NPR's Top Latin Albums Of the Year (2017)
Named one of SF Magazine’s 100 Artists: Artists Putting The East Bay On The Map
(2018)
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
Diana’s music and projects have been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition and All Songs Considered, Billboard Magazine, Mother Jones, Boing Boing, San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Magazine, SF Weekly, OC Weekly, 48 Hills, Refinery 29, PRI’s The World, PBS’s News Hour, BammTv and many others.
ARRULLO
In November 2017, Diana released Arrullo a new album of traditional Mexican songs that she arranged and directed to pay homage to her heritage and homeland. Recorded at renowned Women’s Audio Mission Studio, it features the Magik*Magik string quartet, Patrick Wolff and Diana’s mother, Altagracia Estupiñan.
ALBUM REVIEW by NPR:
On 'Arrullo,' Diana Gameros Delivers On Her Promise
TRACK PREMIERE by BILLBOARD:
Diana Gameros Sends a Message to Her Family In Mexico With 'Despierta': Premiere
