Mary Alfaro Velasco is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and music educator from Los Angeles, California. She performs diverse musical styles of the Americas including boleros, rancheras, and American roots music to celebrate the depths of female, queer and Latine identity. She has performed with various trío romántico groups and mariachi ensembles throughout the country, and leads Voz Bohemia, a trío romántico that aims to preserve the bolero tradition in its highest form.
Mary has recorded with Gaby Moreno, La Santa Cecilia, LA LOM, Mariachi Los Camperos, and José Luis Orozco. She has also accompanied on guitar and vocals artists including La Marisoul, Y La Bamba, Gaby Moreno, Alice Bag, and Martha Gonzalez.
Mary has composed and recorded music for professional film, theater, and television productions and has released singles from her first record, a collection of bolero covers to tell a story of gay girl love, loss and healing. She is currently arranging and writing songs for the next volume of recordings.
Alfaro Velasco received her B.A. in music and M.A. in Latin American studies from UCLA and has worked on projects to promote and preserve Latine musical traditions at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, and the UCLA Center for Oral History Research. She teaches two mariachi classes at Santa Monica College and is a teaching artist with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.
