Pubdate: Mon, 28 Dec 2009
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 7A
Copyright: 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Chris Hawley, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Mexico

MEXICO'S DRUG BALLADS HIT SOUR NOTE WITH GOVERNMENT

Experts Worry the Music Romanticizes Leaders of Cartels, Desensitizes
Fans and Undermines the Fight Against Crime

MEXICO CITY -- When the song The Farm hit Mexico's airwaves this fall,
it quickly became a sensation in a country increasingly frustrated by
a 3-year-old war against drug cartels.

In seven stanzas stuffed with symbolism, the song tells the story of a
fierce dog, perhaps representing drug traffickers, that causes no
trouble until a fox -- the Mexican president -- provokes it,
unleashing a wave of bloodshed. The music ends with a plea to tie up
the dog.

The song by Los Tigres del Norte, along with "drug ballads" by other
musicians and the investigation of a Grammy-winning singer for
possible drug ties, has stirred a debate over the role of popular
music as Mexico, helped by some $830 million so far in U.S. aid, tries
to break the cartels. About 13,000 people have died in drug-related
violence since the crackdown began in 2006.

Drug ballads, known as narcocorridos in Spanish, have long been a part
of Mexico's norteno music, which is driven by accordions and a
polka-like beat. As the body count climbs, though, some experts worry
that such hits are undermining the government's efforts.

"It's possible that this kind of music desensitizes Mexicans to what's
going on," says Ruben Tinajero Medina, a musicologist at the
University of Chihuahua.

The controversy over the music echoes similar debates over "cop
killer" rap music in the United States during the height of the crack
cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s.

Greg Etter, a professor of criminal justice at the University of
Central Missouri who has studied narcocorridos, likens the most
explicit of them to neo-Nazi death metal and says they could fuel a
backlash against authorities.

"Music is a motivator," Etter says. "Depending on how it is received,
it can be very dangerous."

In Mexican dance halls and record shops, smuggler music is hot:
Sixteen Drug Ballads, by singer Larry Hernandez, is one of the
best-selling albums of the year. Another new album, El Tigrillo Palma,
recounts the exploits of fugitive kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman in
songs such as The Power of Chapo. El Compa Chuy is nominated for a
Grammy for an album featuring smuggler ballads, El Nino de Oro.

"It's a way of describing what our people are going through, the
suffering of the Mexican people," says Jorge Hernandez, lead singer of
Los Tigres del Norte.

Singing about drug traffickers also carries risks. Since 2006, at
least 10 norteno musicians have been killed in apparent hits by drug
gangs, and on Dec. 11, police detained three bands, including
Grammy-winning singer Ramon Ayala, during a shootout at a Christmas
party attended by alleged members of the Beltran Leyva gang.

Ayala was released on Wednesday but remains under investigation for
possible organized crime offenses, the office of Mexico's attorney
general says.

Arturo Beltran Leyva, the leader of the drug gang, was killed Dec. 17
in a shootout with authorities.

In the past year, no song has created more controversy than The Farm
(La Granja in Spanish). The song is inspired by Animal Farm, George
Orwell's 1945 allegorical book assailing communism.

The song is written to make it onto radio stations that normally would
not air narcocorridos, says Juan Carlos Ramirez-Pimienta, a Mexican
music expert at San Diego State University.

Listeners pore over the lyrics and the song's video, looking for
meaning in the animal characters and decoding them on fan websites.

Many seem easy to interpret: The fox is former president Vicente Fox,
who began purging the federal police of corrupt elements and
extradited dozens of drug kingpins to the United States during his
2000-06 term.

The crash of a "sparrow hawk" refers to the mysterious crash of a
Learjet carrying Mexico's Interior minister on Nov. 4, 2008.

Open to interpretation: Does the dog represent drug traffickers or the
Mexican police? And is the finale urging Mexicans to unite against
drug traffickers or let them be? The band won't say.

"Everybody can interpret it as they want," Hernandez says. "We're just
storytellers."

In October, the organizers of the Lunas Entertainment Awards asked the
band not to play the song during the awards show at the
government-owned National Auditorium. Los Tigres boycotted the show in
protest. At a news conference, they accused the Mexican Interior
Ministry of pressuring the Lunas organizers and some radio stations to
keep the song off the air.

The Interior Ministry issued a written statement denying the
accusation.

The Farm reflects a recent change in the themes of narcocorridos,
Ramirez-Pimienta says.

Before the latest crackdown on cartels, such songs focused on cars,
women, clothes and other luxuries enjoyed by Mexican drug traffickers
- -- "party corridos," Ramirez-Pimienta calls them.

"Now we're seeing a return to the 'epic' corrido, with more emphasis
on the battles involved," Ramirez-Pimienta says.

Other songs romanticize newly emerging cartel leaders. A new Los
Tigres del Norte song, Queen of Queens, likens alleged trafficker
Sandra Avila Beltran to Cleopatra and the Queen of Sheba.

"Two beauties of the ages, but nothing compared to Sandra," the song
says.

Fans deny that music is undermining the fight against
crime.

"People take it too seriously," says Elizabeth Monroig, a member of
the Boss of Bosses, a Los Tigres del Norte fan club in suburban Mexico
City.

"Yes, these groups talk about things that are going on in the country,
but they also sing about love and other things. It's just music."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake