Las Azaleas, Tucson’s all-female mariachi group, highlights music led by women

"Bésame Mucho" helped pave the way

May 1, 2026

By: Gloria Knott | Tucson Love Letter May 1, 2026

Pictured are Las Azaleas performing during the All Souls Procession final ceremony. Photo by Warren Van Ness

Long before Diana Olivares started a band of her own, she knew she wanted to highlight Latin music composed or popularized by women.

“I come from a mariachi background where there’s a lot of really incredible, amazing men like José Alfredo Jiménez and Vicente Fernández — all these men who really laid their stake in the mariachi genre,” Diana says. “But then I learned ‘Bésame Mucho’ was composed by a woman and I was like, ‘I love that song, the world all over loves that song.’ To learn it was composed by a woman — a girl actually, she was 15 or 16 when she wrote it — and she was Mexican? I thought, ‘She is me.’ If I didn’t know the origins of that song, who else doesn’t? How many women out there are composers and artists? How much of their music is out there and we don’t really know their backstory?”

In 2020, deep in the pandemic days, Diana was giving singing lessons through Zoom. When restrictions began to lift, she decided to get together with some of those singers to explore music in person.

She didn’t necessarily set out to start a band, but a band is what happened anyway.

“I keep calling it like my little pandemic project. As a musician in town when the pandemic hit, gigs were canceled left and right. I was getting booked more for classical singing gigs and I hadn’t done mariachi in a few years,” Diana says. “I had a long history with mariachi music before that and I really missed it. I always wondered if I were to start my own thing, how would I organize things and run things? I had lots of time to think about what I would do and how I would do it.”

What happened as a result of those jam sessions is Las Azaleas, an all-female mariachi group. The band now includes Diana along with Azul Navarrete-Valera, Isabel Verdugo, Yvette Lanz and Rebecca Leon.

Las Azaleas began in 2020. Photo by Chris Summit

“I didn’t set out for this to be a woman-led project like that but it started taking shape to be that as I realized all the people I was calling to jam with me were girls,” Diana says.

Together, the five musicians play all sorts of music but especially Latin tunes led in some form by women. 

“The majority of the songs we decided to learn and perform come from a place of, ‘Ooh, who else do we want to shine a spotlight on? Which woman’s music should we share with Tucson?’” Diana says.

This year, Las Azaleas is also experimenting with original music. They’ve composed some songs in the past, but haven’t ever written their own lyrics.

“It’s about what we want to communicate — whether it sees the light of day or not,” Diana says. “A lot of mariachi is about heartbreak and there’s a place for that, so it might be that we come up with something just about heartbreak or maybe we do something different. But we’ll try to be intentional about it.”

Pictured is Azul Navarrete-Valera singing at the Fox Theatre. Photo by Christian B Meza

Mariachi groups were historically led by men, but that’s seen a shift. In Tucson specifically, it’s more common to find groups that blend men and women rather than all-male mariachis. 

But Las Azaleas is one of the first — if not the first — all-female mariachi in Tucson. (And the name quite literally came to Diana in a dream. “I wasn’t a particular fan of azaleas but now I am, obviously,” she says.)

“We’re inspired by what we see,” Diana says. “Las Azaleas (being women-led) is a little novel still. I just hope that at some point, it won’t be as novel. I hope that it won’t be, ‘Oh it’s all girls’ but will (instead be) ‘Oh, it’s a great band.’ It’s novel to the adults around us who aren’t used to it, but to kids who show up, all they see is a cool band.”

Pictured are Las Azaleas during a Selena sing-along “Como la Flor” show. Photo by Christian B Meza

Diana has been part of Tucson’s mariachi community for more than two decades, beginning late in high school. This was her 20th year being an instructor at the Tucson International Mariachi Conference and she was part of Mariachi Sonido de México for 10 years.

“All of that helped me learn. I observed how prior directors of mine ran their groups and handled clients and musicians. I learned the style of mariachi, how to approach mariachi, what it means to be a mariachi musician,” Diana says. “I am vocally trained — I learned from wonderful wonderful teachers both at the University of Arizona and outside of the University of Arizona, and because of my experiences on stage through operas and classical singing. So when it comes down to me starting (Las Azaleas), I’m doing it from what I’m learned, from what I’ve observed others do and what I’m changing to fit my own style.”

If you asked Diana a decade ago what her favorite part about playing music is, her answer might have been different than it is now. The answer has changed over the years, but now her favorite thing is the connection she has with her fellow bandmates.

“We come together and make some noise and that noise works with one another and we get to share that with an audience. That’s amazing,” Diana says. “It seems to have an impact on our audiences and that’s cool because we don’t set out to do that. My favorite part is the connection and how this is something I’m doing with friends.”

Pictured are Las Azaleas performing during KXCI’s Baila el Pueblo. Photo by Chris Summit

Diana’s favorites

Here are three musicians Diana is inspired by:

• Linda Ronstadt — “I’m a huge fan of Linda Ronstadt and all she did in the world of mariachi. She really made it popular and mainstream in America because mariachi is niche. It’s not a super popular genre. It is in Tucson. Thankfully, there’s a big love for mariachi here, but it’s not generally this major genre in the U.S. or the world. Linda Ronstadt being from Tucson and the music she selected and the arrangements, she really did mariachi so so well.”

• Natalia Lafourcade — “She has not released mariachi tunes but there’s a lot of music especially on her Musas albums that lend themselves to some really beautiful Veracruz-style mariachi-adjacent songs. Love her songwriting, love her singing, love the way she communicates her storytelling, love everything about her.”

• Eydie Gormé — “This one is a little random. She’s a major American pop star from decades past but she had a big crossover moment. I love her voice, I love her singing and her approach.”

For current artists, Diana is loving RAYE.

Arizona Illustrated - Episode 907

Las Azaleas is a women-led mariachi group that highlights the voices and talent of female musicians. Founded in 2020 by Diana Olivares, they perform for both public and private events, with unforgettable vocals and instrumentation.

Producer: Liz Scherffius

Videographer: Jandro Davalos, Nate Huffman

Editor: Jandro Davalos

Las Azaleas - 2021 ALL SOULS PROCESSION

Las Azaleas are the musical guests for this year’s Finale Ceremony-

Formed by Diana Olivares in the summer of 2020, Las Azaleas was born out of a necessity to express and share in music during a time when most music events and ensembles were cancelled. In discovering that one of the world’s most famous boleros “Besame Mucho” was composed by a Mexican woman, Diana decided to embark on a mission to share the works of pioneering women in Latin music, both composers and artists alike, with the general public through Las Azaleas performances. Their sound is influenced by mariachi, trio, and bolero music, and the repertoire performed is selected to help further acknowledgment of incredible Latina artists of the past and present.

“In choosing the music for this year’s ceremony, I continue to find that regardless of the melody or lyric chosen to perform, a tune means nothing without the human voice to drive its expression and our hearts to fuel its interpretation. As an all-Latina group heavily influenced by the mariachi genre, this year’s music will take the folk tunes and stories we’ve grown up honoring throughout our lives and make the music our offering via our instruments, voices, and hearts.
In preparing for the ceremony, I find Las Azaleas navigating grief, celebration, and reverence together and am struck at the realization that what is shared through an intimate rehearsal process amongst our group, can and will be amplified so that an entire community shares in this magic together. We unify. We collectively take our grief and all of the emotions that come with this experience and share in our sorrow together. Beautifully acknowledging one another’s loss no matter the specifics or each other’s background. We understand the emptiness caused by the hollow parts in our hearts and in coming together, through the magic of All Soul’s Day, we celebrate. We celebrate our past, our loved ones and each other, and continue on this beautiful road called vida. Las Azaleas is honored and humbled to share in this experience with you.
Con mucho amor,
Diana Olivares”

For more information CLICK HERE.

This all-female Tucson music group is highlighting the work of Latina artists and inspiring local girls

Las Azaleas focuses on a different female artist each month producing videos, blogs, podcasts and a newsletter

Oct 1, 2020 Updated Oct 30, 2020

By: Veronica M. Cruz | This Is TucsonOct 1, 2020 Updated Oct 30, 2020

Tucson mariachi and opera singer, musician and vocal instructor, Diana Olivares doesn't like to wallow.

She likes to find solutions. 

"During this pandemic when I had all of my gigs canceled, and so many musicians can relate, I was really down," she says. "I wanted to do something about it and I knew that I always wanted to start my own group. I was also very sure that there needed to be a message behind this new project and a clear direction that was positive and that could contribute and inspire the community, and that's when the wheels started turning." 

Her vision was to bring together other talented and dedicated local female musicians to learn about and showcase the music of historic and contemporary female Latin artists and composers, some of whom may not have received the same level of exposure as their male counterparts. 

It didn't take long for her to recruit four other women: Yasmine Durazo, Dominique Mesa, Andrea Gallegos and Azul Navarrete-Valera to start the group, Las Azaleas, which was established in May. 

Olivares says the idea for the group was inspired by her own lack of knowledge about just how influential women have been in composing iconic pieces of music like the popular Mexican bolero "Besame Mucho." Written in 1941 by Consuelo Velázquez, it's a song that has been translated into several languages, and performed over the last several decades by everyone from The Beatles to Andrea Bocelli. 

"I think the entire world knows that song and I didn't realize it was composed by a woman in Mexico, I had no idea," Olivares says. "As a mariachi musician ... I knew all these male interpreters and composers of music, but there were few women that really reached such a high status where they were known worldwide, so that really opened my eyes when I started realizing that lot of my favorite pieces were composed by women." 

Las Azaleas focuses on a different female artist each month by learning songs from her repertoire, filming a video of their interpretation of one of the songs and researching her life and work for the group's blog, podcast and newsletter. 

"We're doing our small part in helping expose their careers and helping expose their music through our performances," Olivares says. 

Members of the group all share the work of researching and writing about the artists. 

Yasmine Durazo, who sings and plays violin in Las Azaleas, researched the group's first monthly spotlight on Maria Teresa Lara, the much lesser known but also talented sister of renowned Mexican composer and singer Agustin Lara, whose career spanned many decades between the 1920s and 1960s.

While Durazo was very aware of Agustín Lara and his work, she says she had never heard of Maria Teresa Lara and was surprised to learn some of Agustín's well known songs were actually written by his sister. 

"Some of her songs were actually marketed under his name, whether it be just because he was more popular or because he was a man, at that time the men were considered more popular composers," Durazo says. 

Other artists Las Azaleas have spotlighted so far include Grammy-nominated vocalist Nydia Rojas and internationally known crossover artist Eydie Gormé, known as both an American pop star and the queen of boleros throughout her career from the 50s-70s. 

Olivares keeps a master list of all the artists Las Azaleas will feature that's comprised of musicians and composers that have inspired the group's members throughout their own journeys as musicians.

October's featured artist will be Linda Ronstadt and other names on the list include Selena, Natalia Lafourcade and María Grever. 

Olivares says she hopes the group will not only help spotlight the careers and contributions of pioneering women artists, but also inspire and empower young female musicans to form their own groups.

Like the other members of Las Azaleas, Olivares began playing music at a young age and has several years experience as a professional mariachi, opera and jazz performer. She says that with the exception of Mariachi Sonido de Mexico, under the direction of fellow Azalea Andrea Gallegos, there are very few groups in town — especially that perform mariachi or Mexican music — that are female led. 

"I want the little girls to see females playing music, playing music together and leading their own groups, being directors of their own groups," she says. "I really want girls to go out there and form their own groups if there's not a group out there for them to join. I want girls to form their own bands if there's not a band out there that needs their instrument. There's a lot of male directors in town and I want girls to know they can go out there and lead as well."

Band member Durazo, who is now in college and has been playing music since middle school says Las Azaleas, is the first group she's been in that's all female, and female led.  

"I feel like Las Azaleas is my safe space, we're very supportive of each other. This is the first group I've played with where we don't argue at all during practice. we're always on the same page," she says. "Diana is an extremely good leader, she knows exactly what she wants and she'll tell you that you're playing something wrong in the most polite way ... She listens to our input as well, I think that's what also makes her great is that she also makes sure we have some input ... and it's a collaboration."