Silvia de Alba

Silvia de Alba was born in La Barca Jalisco in a very musical family. Her father had a great voice and her mother, Lina de Alba, was a professional singer in a duet named "Las Abajeñas". She appeared in the broadcasting studios with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán in the 40th. and toured several times through Europe and the US.
Las Abajeñas (Catalina and Victoria) made only a few recordings with Narciso Martinez, who was Ideal Records' 
"house musician". Martinez backed up many singers and was also a very popular and succesful accordionist on his own
Two recordings dating from 1948 were released on the CD : Tejano Roots, The Women. Arhoolie CD 343.

Silvia sucked the music in with her mother's milk and formed a duet with her sister at an early age, named "Las Hermanas de Alba". The duet was succesful right away, with a very authentic ranchero-style, due to tv-programmes like Noches Tapatías', 'Así es mi Tierra' en 'Mano a Mano Ranchero', where they got the chance to work with great Mexican composers, like Agustín Lara, Rubén Fuentes, Chucho Monge, José Alfredo Jiménez and Pepe Guízar.

They travelled to the US, Italy en Spain and recorded several discs at the Musart Company, among which an LP with Mariachi Vargas, conducted by Ruben Fuentes.

The duet ceased to exist, unfortunatly just as they started achieving internationally succes, when Silvia married to a talented Mexican politician who knew to gain important posts, like governor to the State of Hidalgo and Minister of agriculture in the cabinet of president López Portillo.
Silvia worked beside her husband and devoted her live to voluntary work at international level. Momentarily she presides a foundation of voluntaries , the Asociación Gilberto Hidalgo.

Despite of her political activities, she always stayed involved with the Mexican music. Together with her longtime friend Maria de Lourdes, whom she learned to know at the end of the 50th. during the recordings of 'Noches Tapatías', she worked in the Grupo Impulsor de la Música Representativa de México. Until this day she keeps on promoting Mexican music, through organizing concerts through different institutes and foundations in Mexico, and recently in Argentina and the Netherlands, accompanied by Carolina de Holanda and de guitarist Pedro Crespo.

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