ABOUT
Hi, I'm Gisela.
I’m a Mexican-Canadian singer and recording artist, born in León, Guanajuato, and based in Calgary, Alberta.
Music has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, but becoming an artist has been a journey, one that has grown and changed alongside me.
I came to Canada in 2008, and living away from Mexico made me understand my roots in a completely different way. The things that once felt simply familiar, the music, the language, the traditions, the colours, the stories, the way we celebrate and even the way we miss the people we love, became things I wanted to preserve, share and carry with me.
That connection to Mexico is an important part of my music, but it doesn’t define its boundaries.
I love traditional Mexican music, but I also love jazz, Latin American music, contemporary sounds and collaboration. My recordings have explored different genres and musical languages because I’ve never felt that being an artist means having to fit into one box. What connects my work is not necessarily a genre, but the way I approach a song: I want to understand its story, make it my own and hopefully make someone feel something.
Over the years, I’ve recorded several albums, performed in intimate venues and on major stages, collaborated with wonderful musicians and had opportunities I’m deeply grateful for. My work has received recognition through the YYC Music Awards and BreakOut West, and I’ve had the privilege of performing at places and events such as the National Music Centre and the YYC Summer Jazz Festival, as well as sharing the stage with artists I grew up admiring.
But what matters most to me is what happens when the music reaches someone else.
I love performing for audiences of different backgrounds. Sometimes that means singing a traditional Mexican song for someone who immediately recognizes a piece of home. Other times, it means introducing that music to someone hearing it for the first time. And sometimes it means stepping completely outside Mexican music into jazz, Latin music or something contemporary.
That exchange is one of the things I love most about being an artist in Canada.
My latest album, Cariño Santo, brings many of these ideas together. It is a mariachi album created between Mexico and Canada, but underneath the arrangements are stories about family, love, loss, migration, friendship, identity and home. I produced and musically directed the project and had the opportunity to work with an incredible creative team in both countries, with the support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
At this point in my life, I think I understand my purpose as an artist much better than I did when I started.
I want to make music with intention.
I want to honour where I come from without being afraid to explore where I’m going.
I want to keep learning.
And I want the people who hear me, whether in a theatre, at a festival, at a community celebration or through a recording, to feel that they have been invited into a story.
Because for me, music has always been about connection.
Between people.
Between cultures.
Between generations.
And somewhere between Mexico and Canada, I found my own way of telling those stories.