María Diaz

Nagua, which has been so fertile in producing accordionists, boasts among its folkloric merits the emergence of Blanca María Díaz Martínez, another audacious woman who has made a career as an accordionist. Born on September 26, 1968, in the El Guayabo section of Nagua, she is the daughter of Pablo Díaz and Dolores Martínez -Lola-, according to information provided by the artist’s office in Santiago. As a child, without anyone suggesting it or her parents opposing it, she felt inspired to learn to play like her father, Pablo, and her brother Adolfo, who also played the accordion. Music came easily to the girl, and she quickly formed a group of children, with her brother Alejandro on the güira and her cousin Kennedy on the tambora. The youthful band leader would appear before the public carrying an accordion that seemed larger than herself, and she quickly acquired the grace and skill necessary. She was already a young woman when she emigrated to New York. There, she began her artistic career, guided by Juan Robles -Purito-, a renowned tambora artist, whom María was married to for several years and with whom she had two children.