Mexico’s drugs wars as well as bloody drug cartels are echoed in a controversial folk music genre commonly known as narco corridos or simply as drug ballads. They tell the stories allied to shootouts, drug lords, betrayals including daring criminal operations. Narco corridos are not a new style in Mexican music, in fact, they have been around for years, and they are popular among the old and the young. This genre has evolved to be modern fugitive music that fuses the emotional responses of antique ballads with the tense gravel of mobster rap. From global idols to rural artists documenting their neighborhood current events in the regions subjugated by guerilla war, narco corridos provides the songwriters in their homes with unique but artistic superiority, investigating the heartland of the infamous Mexican drug trafficking as well as publicizing municipal midpoints such as Los Angeles, in addition to Mexico City.
In essence, the corrido genre is legendary for its hard-bitten lyrics of drug traffickers plus gunfights, and moreover functions as a genus of musical tabloid, singing of regime dishonesty, the lives of émigrés in the United States, in addition to the scuffles of the Zapatista insurgency in Chiapas. Although principally anonymous to English speakers, narco corridos top the leading Latin charts and govern radio playlists equally in the United States as well as points south. Examining diverse recent studies, the authors present in-depth examinations at the songwriters who have changed groups like the trendy Tigres del Norte into permanent celebrities, as well as the upcoming artists who are hauling the narco corrido into the 21st. In proving for the poetry as well as social demonstration at the back the ornate lyrics of in...
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...l Narcotraficante: Narcocorridos & The Construction of a Cultural Persona on the U.S.-Mexican Border. Austin: University of Texas Press.
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For centuries, music has been defined by history, time, and place. To address this statement, Tom Zè, an influential songwriter during the Tropicália Movement, produced the revolutionary “Fabrication Defect” to challenge oppression as a result from the poor political and social conditions. On the other hand, David Ramsey discusses, in mixtape vignettes, the role of music to survive in New Orleans’ violent setting. Furthermore, “The Land where the Blues Began”, by Alan Lomax, is a film and perfect example to understand under what musical conditions profound ways of communication are made to stand the hard work of cotton plantations. As a result, music plays a crucial role in the sources’ cultures and its creation relies on particular conditions such as the social
In his essay "Selena’s Good Buy: Texas Mexicans, History, and Selena Meet Transnational Capitalism,” Coronado (2001) argues that Selena embodies displaced desires that need to be situated in their historical content. By looking at how Texans and marketers reacted to Selena’s death, Coronado was able to show us how Selena’s death can be looked at form a psychoanalytic lens. The working class’ obsession with Selena can be seen as a fetish of sorts. A fetish is caused by trauma and can be applied socially to a irritable social construct. In other words, Selena could be a social fetish; the Latinx working class abruptly lost someone who was representing them in mainstream media, leading to the trauma. In this theory, Selena is no longer seen as a person who contributed hugely to the rise of colored people in mainstream media, but as
I grew up in a Mexican family listening to corridos, which are a type of song, since at every party, every celebration, and every occasion, that’s what the family would play. As I became more aware and conscious, I began to realize what these songs were actually saying. These corridos were telling a life story, ranging from life issues such as poverty, hard times, immigration, social and political problems, and/or life in general. A prominent and recurring theme that I saw developing throughout was immigration. Many of these songs, were expressing strong feelings that many Mexican immigrants, including my parents and other family members were feeling regarding they’re citizenship status, how they were being discriminated against, and ultimately how they were feeling.
The border region has seen “rapid transformation in a short span of time, changing from a cattle ranching and mining area that attracted U.S., Mexican and European capitalists…to the center of a lucrative vice and pleasure-based tourist industry, to a region that …attracted an extraordinary amount of international capital to its manufacturing and services sector”. (Ganster/Lorey 2) Events and years such as the implementation of the railroad, the years before the Mexican Revolution, the land reform in 1936 and 1937, the implementation of the maquiladora program and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has had a significant impact on the U.S. Mexican Borderlands.
Martinez, Oscar. Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1994), 232.
There is one universal language: the language of music. Music has a special quality and ability to bridge both social and cultural divides. A proposed theory by Dr. Gray, Founder and Director of National Musical Arts’ BioMusic Program; describes music has been around longer than human-beings have. Music is the one thing human beings from various backgrounds can relate to. Every living creature would agree. Music is heard everywhere not just among humans, but in nature as well, through the twitting of birds, winds blowing, the soft sound of raindrops against a windowpane, the ocean waves moving back and forth and the hum of the ocean rushing in a sea shell. There is no escaping it; music lives in and surrounds us steadily. While there are countless songs which confer social or cultural consciousness, this paper will analyze and address the dynamics of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes”, video. Stylistically, the paper will examine the artist point of view, the unique use of lyrical analysis and sound description in relation to its historical, social, political and/or cultural context. This essay will also trace the lyrical analysis and sound description of song and discuss how the elements (visually, sonically, and lyrically) interplay with the theme of immigration and/or violence.
Mexico is a country rich in tradition, history and culture. Unfortunately, Mexico has not been talked about for any of those descriptions I mentioned above lately. Mexico has become a country full of death and violence. The Mexican government has been fighting a war with drug traffickers since December 2006. At the same time, drug cartels have fought each other for control of territory. More than 60,000 people have been killed (CNN). Despite the “war” launched at these multi-billion dollar organized crime groups, Mexico has not been able to stop its slide as a failed state. Almost every day there seems to be either dead bodies lying on the ground, a school closed due to vandalism, disappeared people, or bullet-riddled houses and cars. Sadly, there is not much the citizens of Mexico can do to ask for justice and change to the mess they are living in right now. So who is to blame for all of this? The Mexican drug cartels have completely taken over Mexico. They have become powerful through corruption and violence. The cartels use their power to intimidate and even murder anyone who tries to get in their way. They do not have a problem with decapitating heads in order to make a statement. The drug cartels also use their money to gain power. Given the amount of money they have, the cartels have millions of dollars invested in keeping authorities off their business. They can be very effective in bribing government officials at all levels, from border patrol just patrolling the border to state and high ranking federal officials. Given the resources they have, they can reach out and kill government officials at all levels. Since government officials are faced with bribes and or certain death, even the most unbreakable are caut...
Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. “Mexico's gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in border towns where prostitution, drug use, bootlegging and extortion flourished” (Wagner). They keep themselves armed and ready with gun supplies shipped from the U.S, taking control of the drug trades. The violence is spilling so out of control that they overthrew the Mexican government.
The importance of these, is that it would bring the attention of the audience. The band performed about 13 songs in total. It was a mixture of Banda songs and Corridos. The band’s songs talked about a lover and the longing of a loved one. The audience reacted in a good way. They were dancing of the floor section and they were cheering on the band, others were singing along with the singers meanwhile, others were recording them on their cell phones.
"El Corrido Mexicano." El Corrido Mexicano La Cucaracha Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2013
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Corchado, Alfredo, Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter's Journey Through a Country's Descent into Darkness , 2013, Penguin Press
The author of Mexican Lives, Judith Adler Hellman, grapples with the United States’ economic relationship with their neighbors to the south, Mexico. It also considers, through many interviews, the affairs of one nation. It is a work held to high esteem by many critics, who view this work as an essential part in truly understanding and capturing Mexico’s history. In Mexican Lives, Hellman presents us with a cast from all walks of life. This enables a reader to get more than one perspective, which tends to be bias. It also gives a more inclusive view of the nation of Mexico as a whole. Dealing with rebel activity, free trade, assassinations and their transition into the modern age, it justly captures a Mexico in its true light.
Torres, Hector Avalos. 2007. Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers. U.S.: University of New Mexico press, 315-324.
“Soy América Latina. Un pueblo sin piernas pero que camina” (Latinoamerica). Calle 13 is a popular Latin music group known for their political and social stance portrayed in their music. Mostly known for their 2006 Grammy nominated song “Atrevete”, Calle 13 has skyrocketed in becoming one of the most influential music groups in the reggeaton genre. It is no secret that Latin America has become a part of the world that is looked down upon because of its poverty. Calle 13 fights against the social stigma of Latin America being an area people should feel sorry for. They define social justice through their music by making sure that L.A. isn’t being degraded by the rest of the world. The United States media has portrayed Calle 13 as the