‘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”