Mexico's 'Narco State' Gets a Cultural Boost from New, More Gory Pop Ballads Matt Frassica - Studio 360
go to original December 1, 2014

Members of a band record a narcocorrido in downtown Culiacan, Mexico. (Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

Protests have erupted across Mexico in the last month after the probable massacre of 43 students by a drug gang affiliated with police. Yet, hit songs in Mexico have long glorified the drug cartels and are getting ever more graphic.

(This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview.)

The protests have been powered by rage over the way drug cartels have infiltrated every level of government and, indeed, every aspect of life in Mexico. Cartels are even a powerful force in Mexican pop music.

Songs known as narcocorridos, which relate tales of drug kingpins and smugglers, have been popular for decades. One song called "Contrabando y Traicion," or "Contraband and Betrayal," was such a hit for Los Tigres del Norte in 1973 that many Mexicans still believe its main character is a real person.

Like gangster movies in the US, narcocorridos often tread a fine line between judging and glorifying their subjects. “There’s a little bit of the underdog, the outlaw rebel” quality in the figure of the narco, says Carolina Miranda, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times.

But over time, like the gangster movies, narcocorridos have changed. The latest embrace graphic violence.

Read the rest at Public Radio International

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