Nydia Rojas (born 1980, Whittier, California), daughter of Arturo and Olivia Rojas, is an American singer of Mexican/Cuban/Yaqui Indian heritage and a celebrated prodigy on the mariachi circuit. Nydia Rojas lends her musical talent and stylistic finesse to a genre steeped in tradition. As a vocalist who also plays numerous musical instruments, she continues to embrace her adored roots, inspiring young audiences around the country. As an advocate for music education, she is committed to serving as a role model for many generations to come, as she has focused much of her career to this relentless passion of hers.
In todays U.S. Latin music market, few mariachi singers have been able to reach wide audiences. The music is hard to sell outside of the fanatics of the genre. Nydia Rojas, however, broke those boundaries when she released her debut album at only 16 years old and started setting the pace for mariachi music in the U.S. Nydia gained plenty of praise as she performed all throughout the country and her music was heard in many different lands, helping her gain fans from Mexico to Germany to Japan. She was invited to perform for President Clinton during his inauguration, and later that year, she was declared a mariachi sensation by USA Today.
In the next five years another three solo albums followed. During this time, her performances played to packed audiences of up to 18,000 fans. Months shy of her 21st birthday, Nydia's third album, Si Me Conocieras, was nominated for a Latin Grammy award alongside such established artists as Vicente Fernández, Alejandro Fernández, and Pepe Aguilar. This nomination, amongst a male-dominated genre, further established her as an outstanding performer in her field. Soon afterwards, she went on national tour with the legendary superstar, Juan Gabriel. This tour gave her the blessed opportunity to work closely with Gabriel who expressed much admiration for her talent and shortly thereafter led to her fourth album, Nydia, which for the first time took more of a mainstream Latin pop direction while still displaying all of Nydia's fine musical skills. Juan Gabriel sang two duets with Nydia on this album and named her one of the best interpreters of his music from her generation. During the recording of this album, Nydia's life took a tragic turn of events as her father unexpectedly passed away. Although she was able to complete her recordings, soon afterwards she committed to a break from her musical career in order to convert this experience into a positive one. And now she has recently emerged from her temporary hiatus to represent, once again, her beloved genre and her first love:
MARIACHI
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