‘Narcocorridos’: why Mexico is banning ‘drug ballads’

Mexican music is facing a crackdown. Local authorities are banning public performances of narcocorridos, popular ballads that romanticise drug cartels.

As the country wrestles with the “effects of organized crime” and “pressure from the Trump administration to crack down on cartels”, politicians are keen to show they don’t condone songs that glorify criminal activities, said The New York Times.

Corridos about local bandits have been popular since the “early 20th century”, said the Financial Times but, since the 1970s, a hugely successful subgenre – narcocorridos – has celebrated drug runners and ”become a key element of propaganda for cartels”.

Heavy fines, even prison time

At a time when they are “more popular than ever” in Mexico, narcocorridos are “increasingly under attack”, said the Los Angeles Times. “A new generation that came of age during the ongoing drug war has embraced songs that recount and often glamorize both the spoils and perils of organized crime.”

Although there is, as yet, no nationwide law prohibiting narcocorridos, around “a third of Mexico’s states and many of its cities have enacted some kind of ban” on their performance. These mostly take the form of heavy fines, but can also trigger a prison sentence.

When Aguascalientes state “banned songs inciting violence” earlier this year, the well-known band Grupo Firme announced that they would not play narcocorridos any more, said The New York Times.

But fan reactions to artists abiding by state rules have, ironically, led to violence. When Luis R Conriquez – who has over 23 million monthly listeners on Spotify – said on stage that he was joining the “cause of zero corridos”, he was “booed” by the audience, who then “threw punches” at each other and “caused significant damage to the venue”, said Billboard.

Upsetting US authorities

Ignoring the crackdown has already had consequences, said The Times. When the band Los Alegres del Barranco sang a song “dedicated to El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco cartel”, and projected his face “onto a giant screen behind them”, they were not only charged with “promoting crime” by the local attorney general, they also found their American visas revoked, forcing them to “cancel dozens of shows in the US”.

There are increasing signs that, even where there are no local narcocorrido bans in place, bands are starting to “self-censor”, fearing that “upsetting US authorities” could affect their ability to tour”, said CNN.

“The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists,” said US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau on X. “I’m a firm believer in freedom of expression but that doesn’t mean that expression should be free of consequences.”

The bans and the visa-revoking may be having the opposite effect to the one intended, however: figures show that Los Alegres del Barranco have “gained over 2 million new listens on streaming services”, said CNN. It seems a genre “that has long romanticised outlaws, outcasts and underdogs” still has an “enduring modern appeal”.