Meet Giselle-Paris Aubrey, Tucson’s rising mariachi star.

TUCSON, Ariz. — At only 19 years of age, Giselle-Paris Aubrey, a second-generation Mexican American native to Tucson, has been making waves in music circles around the city and beyond, extending as far as Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Los Angeles, California.

Aubrey, who is a freshman at the University of Arizona majoring in business with a minor in music, has been playing mariachi music for nearly 14 years, partaking in a wide number of ensembles throughout her career thus far. She mentions that her musical journey started when she auditioned for Las Aguilitas de Davis, a mariachi group made up of students from grades 1-5 at Davis Bilingual Elementary School. There, she discovered her passion for the genre and began playing the violin as a result; the first of many steps that would lead her to perform before icons like Grammy Award-winning star Linda Ronstadt.

However, Aubrey’s most defining experience as a musician was her time playing for Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School, she says. “From freshman year to my senior year [of high school], I noticed a huge improvement on my violin-playing. I just feel like Aztlán really pushed me out of my comfort zone.” Beyond music, she says the experiences performing in this group transformed her life, quoting the need to become more responsible and balance her academic and musical careers as one of the greatest factors playing a role in this.

Mariachi Aztlán also provided Aubrey with the opportunity not only to showcase her talents, but to network and rub elbows with professionals in the industry, including artists, producers, and label representatives. Last summer, she attended the Mariachi Spectacular conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, featuring dozens of groups from all over the country including Mariachi Sol de México, one of the most popular ensembles in the entire Southwest and one she had the chance to workshop with.

More recently, Aubrey says she has been working with composers and songwriters from Tucson and Los Angeles. One of these projects, for which she intends to travel to L.A. sometime in May to begin production, will feature Tejano-style music akin to that of Selena, with an added country and mariachi twist to them. “[The composer] says there’s not a lot of people that sing Selena-style anymore, and they [the label] think the Latino community needs someone like that again – so they want that to be me! They think I have what it takes to do that.”

Giselle will be performing as Mariachi Vargas’ feature guest in their monumental return to the Tucson International Mariachi Conference this Saturday, April 22, which also happens to celebrate the ensemble’s 125th anniversary. She will be leading the opening act prior to the group’s concert, with Mariachi Nuevo Azteca supporting her as accompaniment.