Aura Matilde Díaz Martínez (1924-2002), better known by her artist name Matilde Díaz, was a Colombian performer of porros and boleros. She became the first woman to be a lead singer for a Colombian orchestra.
Her professional career in music began as a child when she formed a duo with her sister Elvira, which achieved notoriety when the family moved to Bogotá and performed in musical programmes on Radio Mundial, La Voz de Bogotá, La Voz de la Víctor, Radio Nacional and the Municipal Theatre, supported by musicians such as the maestro Wiston Miranda, singing bambucos and pasillos.
Matilde continued her career on her own and in 1944, when she won a talent contest, she caught the attention of maestro Lucho Bermúdez, who hired her to join his orchestra, the first woman to assume that position in the country. In 1945 she traveled to Buenos Aires and there they recorded an album, thus beginning an outstanding international career that lasted two decades.
Matilde Díaz formally retired from professional artistic life in 1964. She died of cancer on 8 March 2002.
