<strong>Narco Corridos (Narco Music)</strong> -Mexico's forbidden songs at Schema : more than ethnic

"Can a musical genre be considered so dangerous as to be banned from the radio? Yes, according to the authorities in some parts of Mexico who have forced radio stations to take action in an attempt to stamp out the culture of "narco corridos", which they accuse of glamorising drug trafficking and gangsterism." (BBC).

Sound familiar? Narco-music (narcomusica or narco corridos) is often compared to gangsta rap. Yup, that's "narco" as in "narcotics," and narco-music is indeed associated with the subculture of Mexico's drug traffickers or narcocultura (narco culture). It's nothing like salsa, which the mainsteam media thinks the boom in Latin music is driven by. With roots in Mexican ranchera (country) music of accordion- and brass-based nortena ballads, narco-music may lament or describe the world of the drug trade. Now global audiences (even the Grammy's has recognized narco-music) are getting hip to what the young Spanish-speaking audiences have danced to all along. Narco music has even made its way into mainstream media in Episode 512 of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation...

And like the debate about gangster rap, although young listeners find a sense of empowerment through narco music, opponents of Mexican heritage worry that narco-music merely spreads the stereotype of the Mexican as criminal. It's said that "the first thing a drug runner would do after a successful run was to hire someone to write a corrido about it"...

(Read "Los Gallos Valientes: Examining Violence in Mexican Popular Music" by Helena Simonett @ www.sibetrans.com).

More:

* Popular narco-music include: Los Tigres del Norte, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Banda El Recodo, Chalino Sanchez (the "Tupac of Narco Corridos"), Los Pajaritos Del Sur, Jenni Rivera, Pedro Rivera, Luis y Julian, El Canelo, Grupo Exterminador, and Banda El Limon.

* Blending hip hop with nortena music, Lupillo Rivera’s Despreciado (Despised) was listed by the Billboard magazine as the 5th best-selling Latin music album in 2001. Yes, the Mexican government has tried to repress narco-music for its supposed glorification of the drug world, leading Los Tigres del Norte to release an entire album filled with songs about drug trafficking called Corridos prohibidos (Forbidden Corridos).

* Listen to a stream of LA-based corrido radio station, KBUE , La Que Buena

* Elijah Wald’s book Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas, is a full-length exploration of the contemporary Mexican corrido, one of the most popular music styles in the Latino market, both in the US and points south. While the Anglo media pretends that the boom in Latin music sales is driven by salsa, most US Latin sales are of Mexican music, and a large proportion of these are drug trafficking ballads, played in polka or waltz rhythms by accordion combos or full brass bands. www.elijahwald.com/corrido.

* Read BBC article "Mexico's forbidden songs" by Chris Summers and Dominic Bailey news.bbc.co.uk/

* Listen to Connie Watson of CBC's documentary about narco music www.cbc.ca/dispatches/.

* Some of the drug lords and lyrics about their exploits:

About Ramon Arellano Felix, who was shot dead by Sinaloan state police. He headed the Tijuana Cartel, the most brutal of the drug-trafficking organizations, which once even killed a cardinal in the Catholic Church.
NARCO CORRIDOS LYRICS (by Los Tucanes de Tijuana) about him:
"20 years in the business,
Not everyone could tolerate that
.... though his voice was not powerful,
It made everybody tremble."

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, wanted in the US under a $5 million reward, "El Chapo" disappeared from Mexico's toughest prison just weeks after President Vicente Fox was elected and promised to crack down on corruption and crime.
LYRICS (By Los Tucanes de Tijuana )about him:
"He crossed a giant bridge,
on his way to Culiacán.
The people of Sinaloa,
took note of the first goal of
Mr. Vicente Fox."

Schema Magazine

Narco Corridos (Narco Music) -Mexico's forbidden songs

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