Postcard from Singer/Song Writer Diana Gameros
In SFGC’s Postcard series, our guest artists, collaborators, and faculty take us behind the scenes and share an intimate look into their thoughts about music, life, and art-making.
This postcard features composer singer/song writer Diana Gameros, guest artist for our Esperanza del Futuro concert on December 15th at Davies Symphony Hall. Don't miss your chance to see this amazing collaboration.
Diana Gameros, Singer/Song Writer
Diana is a singer, guitarist, pianist, composer, songwriter, music instructor, lead teaching artist with the Lullaby Project and core band member of the Immigrant Orchestra. 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 is currently a lead and teaching artist in San Francisco, for the Lullaby Project, a project of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute which pairs new and expecting parents and caregivers with professional artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies, supporting parental health, aiding childhood development, and strengthening the bond between parent and child.
Diana belongs to the Movement Immigrant Orchestra - a vibrant ensemble featuring musicians from 10 different countries ready to take audiences on a one-of-a-kind musical journey across cultures and continents. This ensemble is part of the broader Movement project, a multi-platform storytelling initiative that centers the voices, stories and songs of immigrant, migrant and refugee musicians, claiming public space for these artists to sing and speak their stories with complexity and nuance. Since 2020, Movement’s radio stories have been featured in nationally syndicated public radio broadcast on PRX’s The World, regularly airing to 2.5 million listeners.
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 has composed original scores for documentaries, including Las Muralistas, commissioned by SFMOMA. 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. She has performed at venues such as the SFJAZZ Center, Davies Symphony Hall, The Guggenheim Museum in NY, Boettcher Concert Hall, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Consulate of Mexico, and Kennedy Center for the Arts and Lincoln Center's Atrium. In May 2018, Diana joined the acclaimed Mexican superstar and Latin Grammy winner, Natalia Lafourcade, on her US West Coast tour.
Diana received the 2023 Music Award Grant from the Gerbode Foundation to record a new album at Women’s Audio Mission studio in San Francisco to be released in November 2025.
You’re a lead teaching artist with the Lullaby Project, a project of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute which pairs new and expecting parents and caregivers with professional artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies. What’s a moment with a family that changed how you think about music as care?
I worked on a lullaby called Siempre Contigo (Always with You), with a pregnant mother. Months later, when we had a group gathering and she had her healthy baby in her arms, she shared that when she delivered her baby she had major complications that ultimately led her to have a near death experience. In the moment right before she lost consciousness she felt she was going to die and her baby would not grow up with a mother, and would never hear her voice. Then she remembered there was a recording we made of her lullaby, with her words and her own voice speaking words to her child in the recording. She shared that in that moment, when she could have felt a deep sadness over the thought that her child would become an orphan, she felt an immense sense of peace and comfort knowing she was leaving a little piece of herself through this song.
What’s one pre-performance ritual that keeps you grounded—and one rehearsal habit that helps you listen more deeply?
Before a performance or before I begin a new composition, I take a few minutes before each performance to close my eyes and breathe deeply as a form of prayer. I call on the spirit of my wise and joyful ancestors and ask them to lead me, to help me remember and connect with my Big Why.
I apply the same ritual when I’m rehearsing. Connecting with my Big Why helps me stay grounded, and if I’m grounded I become more present to listen deeply.
If you could send our choristers a “postcard” from a place that inspires you—Ciudad Juárez, the Bay, or somewhere in between—what would it say?
(I would send a postcard from outer space. The realm where the stars live has been inspiring me a lot, lately.)
Dear choristers,
I’m visiting outer space, the homeland of the stars. I took a walk with the Light (all of that which is luminous and loving) and she gave a message I now want to pass on to you:
“Remember you are not separate from me. If, in one breath, you remember that you are light itself, all shadows will dissolve. For darkness has no power of its own —it is only light unrecognized. Turn inward, see the glow of your Being and recognize the light in you and in one another. The whole world will begin to sing and shimmer again!”
You’ve collaborated across genres (from Natalia Lafourcade to the San Francisco Symphony). What’s one collaboration lesson our singers can use in their own ensembles?
Gift your true voice to the collaboration and remain open to learn from and be moved by the gift of your collaborator.
What is a two-line mantra for young singers finding their voice and their story.
“I connect with the glow of my Big Why, trusting the light within me. May I sing with joy, humility, and love as my voice extends like a light beam, to serve something greater than myself.”