Importance Score: 75 / 100 🔴
Military Corridos Emerge in Mexico Amidst Narco-Music Controversy
MEXICO CITY — At a Mexican military installation, Captain Eduardo Barrón trades his rifle for a microphone to perform, backed by a dozen uniformed soldiers wielding trumpets and accordions. Barrón is part of a movement creating military corridos, a style of Mexican music aimed at countering the pervasive narco corridos and promoting positive values while celebrating the armed forces.
The Sound of Patriotism: Military Corridos Rise
The corrido rhythm resonates deeply across Mexico, a nation of 130 million people. Captain Barrón, however, offers a lyrical departure from the songs dominating airwaves throughout the country.
“I still recall the day I enlisted,” he sings passionately. “This aspiration my soul yearned for, and should I be reborn, a soldier I’d be once more.”
Performing as “Eddy Barrón,” the captain began distributing music videos and tracks on Spotify last year, collaborating with the Mexican military. His compositions laud the virtues of the army, pay tribute to supportive families, and memorialize fallen comrades.
Contrasting Narco Corridos: A Musical Battleground
These patriotic tunes stand in sharp contrast to the contentious narco corridos, a subgenre that has ignited controversy by glorifying cartel leaders as rebellious figures defying the established order. This musical landscape has become a battleground in Mexico’s cultural sphere.
Faced with the challenge of music that often glorifies cartel violence, local administrations across Mexico have increasingly prohibited performances and initiated criminal investigations targeting bands and musicians. The President of Mexico has also voiced intentions to diminish the appeal of narco corridos while championing alternative, less violent musical expressions.
A Different Approach: Building Positive Musical Momentum
Captain Barrón, age 33, is adopting a different strategy. Eschewing censorship, he aims to leverage the existing popularity of corridos by creating military-themed songs. This initiative seeks to inject the genre with socially acceptable themes and inspire younger generations to consider military service.
“Narco culture is fashionable, and they romanticize it… but reality paints a different picture,” Barrón explained. “We are contributing by encouraging young individuals to join this movement of positive music.”
Barrón’s military ballads are part of a broader government initiative spearheaded by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, advocating for state promotion of corridos focused on themes of “love, heartbreak, and peace.”
Sheinbaum even unveiled a government-sponsored Mexican music competition in Durango, a northern state, designed to spotlight music explicitly avoiding the “glorification of violence, drugs, and discrimination against women.”
“This will fundamentally reshape Mexican music,” she asserted.
Skepticism and the Roots of Corridos
However, within a subculture historically defined by resistance and the articulation of harsh realities faced by marginalized communities, governmental involvement in the genre has been received with doubt, particularly regarding officially promoted narratives.
“I don’t believe utilizing corridos to incorporate diverse narratives is inherently negative,” stated José Manuel Valenzuela, a sociologist from Tijuana specializing in the genre. “Numerous songs already celebrate peace and love. The issue is that these are not the songs achieving mainstream success… because we are currently experiencing an era of aggrieved youth.”
Born in the 19th century, corridos originated with classical band instruments and the accordion, influenced by German and Polish migration to Mexico. In a time of widespread illiteracy, they functioned as vital tools for disseminating oral histories.
The ballads gained significant traction during the Mexican Revolution, serving to propagate accounts of war heroes and battlefield triumphs.
Barrón emphasizes that he did not invent military corridos but is merely reviving a historical tradition.
“Corridos originated from the revolution, and we are mirroring the actions of those soldiers and revolutionaries, albeit in a contemporary context, but the objective remains consistent,” he stated.
Evolution of a Genre: From Revolution to Cartels
The genre has transformed across generations, evolving from songs about tequila smuggling during the Prohibition era (“corridos tequileros”) to grappling with escalating cartel violence in Mexico through narco corridos.
“All significant societal issues are expressed via corridos,” Valenzuela noted. “It’s a metaphor for articulating our lived experiences.”
Barrón recounted his teenage years playing guitar with his father’s regional Mexican music band and composing his own music. He continued playing guitar on deployments after joining the army at age 20.
In 2021, he began composing songs inspired by his military service and performing with a military band named “FX Band,” after a type of military firearm. However, this music remained unreleased to the public.
Around 2023, the genre experienced a surge in popularity when artists such as Peso Pluma, Fuerza Regida, and Natanael Cano fused the traditional style with trap music, creating “corridos tumbados.” That same year, Peso Pluma surpassed Taylor Swift as YouTube’s most streamed artist.
A year later, the Mexican army opted to release Barrón’s music under his stage name.
Visuals and Viral Reach
His music videos, amassing tens of thousands of views on platforms like YouTube, feature imagery of heavy weaponry, the Mexican flag, barbed wire, and Barrón performing in camouflage, infrared goggles positioned above his helmet.
Initially conceived to entertain troops and encourage military enlistment among young Mexicans, Barrón’s songs acquired a new significance amid the renewed controversy surrounding the corridos phenomenon.
Narco Corrido Controversy Intensifies
The musical form has long faced criticism for romanticizing cartel violence, but recent years have marked a critical turning point.
Mexican states have enforced performance bans, and prominent artists have reportedly received death threats, often allegedly from rival cartels whose leaders are depicted in their songs. Such threats have compelled musicians to cancel performances due to concerns about potential violence.
The controversy heightened last week when an image of notorious cartel leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera was projected onto a large screen during a performance by Los Alegres del Barranco at a Jalisco music festival. This incident, shortly after Oseguera’s cartel was linked to a ranch under investigation as a training ground and body disposal site in Jalisco, sent shockwaves throughout Mexico.
The performance elicited widespread condemnation. Two Mexican states announced criminal investigations, concerts were cancelled, and the U.S. government revoked the visas of band members.
This event also signaled a stronger stance from Sheinbaum, who demanded an investigation into the concert, adding, “Violence and criminal organizations cannot be justified.”
Reclaiming Mexican Music: A Path Forward
Barrón, who opposes banning corridos, believes the solution lies in continuing to perform in military attire, hoping to reclaim the Mexican music of his upbringing from negative stereotypes. He sees military corridos as a crucial tool in this cultural shift.
He indicated that the army plans to release new songs in the coming months.
“Regrettably, we’ve been burdened by this perception of corridos as negative music,” he lamented. “A more effective approach is to reclaim the genre and adopt a different trajectory to redirect the dialogue.”