NARCOCORRIDOS
NARCOCORRIDOS
Narcocorridos are a theme in the corridos section
that has its background in the traficking of drugs and contraband. Many popular
songs are griten about the traficking of drugs and sybolism andd figurative
language is used to send a subliminal message. The problem is that the lyrics
of Narcocorridos are strong, dealing with drugs, alcohol, and guns. Interpreters
and authors of this type of music find these songs to be normal, just as any
other song, because they have to do with real life, day to day, issues, even
though they may not relate to them personally. Just as any other genre of music,
Narcocorridos have an audience that is for and an audience that is against.
The audience that is for Narcocorridos says that they are culture driven songs
of their native “pueblo”.
A Narcocorrido is a type of song or music that
often tells a story usually about drugs, alcohol and violence. . During the
Mexican Revolution, the Narcocorrido served as a form of oral history for those
campesinos that were illiterate and couldn’t attend school or read a book.
It all started more than a century ago when
German immigrants invaded Culiacan Sinaloa, Mexico to work in breweries. With
them, came the polka-like music they were accustomed to in their own land.
Narcocorridos have their origin in the time of the Mexican Revolution. They
tell the adventures and deeds of leaders back in the day. In the beginning of
the decade of 1970, there was a new flowing current of music derived with the
song Contrabando y Traición. This song, with which Los Tigres Del Norte
rose to the top, talks about a couple of smugglers that go on a long trip with
the tires of their car full of marihuana.
For this project we used three songs by different
artists that dealt with the narcocorrido theme. Narcocorridos have the same
charactersitics of corridos but have morphed with new themes that are more realistic
of society and the problems that the reality brings. "Pacas de a Kilo"
by Los Tigres del Norte talks about being praised as a narcotraficante and it
being respected, "Mis Tres Animales" by Los Tucanes de Tijuana talks
about drug smuggling into the U.S. and how well they sell in America, and the
third, "Marisco" by Beto Quintanilla y su banda was written for a
notorious drug dealer by the name of Juan Garcia Abrego. Abrego ran a drug cartel
throughout Mexico and the United States and was caught by the FBI in 1996. A
lot of figurative language is used in these Narcocorridos which is based on
Mexcian culture and vocabulary.