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Summary: The Musical Power Of Narcocorridos

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Flor Reyes
December 1, 2014
John Feodorov
Fair 201A Popular Music and Society

The Musical Power of Narcocorridos
The musical genre "Corridos" has been popular in Mexico for more than a hundred years. Certain musical groups like "Los Tigeres Del Norte" have helped construct a connection between Narcos (drug dealers) and Corridos which give life to a new branch in this musical category. This new branch, "Narcocorridos" has become one of the most dangerous musical influences in Mexico, and parts of the United States within the past 30 years. Throughout its existence Narcocorridos has affected the communities both negatively and positively through power, labor, and the daily struggles of people in North America. Many see Narcocorridos …show more content…

During the 1970’s Quinteron founded the Guadalajara Cartel. After kidnaping and killing a drug enforcement agent in 1985 he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. During his prison time Quintero created a criminal empire that not only was beneficial to the people in Guadalajara, but was also a way for Quintero to invest in his fortune while he was behind bars. “Rafael Caro Quintero has used a network of family members and front persons to invest his fortune into ostensibly legitimate companies and real estate projects in the city of Guadalajara” (U.S Department of the Treasury). Although Quintero’s main intension was not all for the community, a part of his investment provided help for the people of Guadalajara as a whole, but especially those who were unemployed. For this reason many believe that some narcos, like Quintero, are good people regardless of the violence they create.
One of the first influences of Narcocorridos was an artists who was famous for his success with corridos and one of the first few narcocorridos created in that era. “Rosalino "Chalino" Sánchez set the ground work for contemporary Narcocorridos” (Delanty). In the 1980's Rosalino (who was an immigrant from Mexico) was living in Los Angeles California. There he began writing and selling his music, throughout Mexico and parts of the United Sates. After …show more content…

He is well known for becoming one of the biggest and richest drug lords in the world. In 1993 Guzman was captured and deported to Mexico where he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking. “As the Mexican Drug War continued to escalate over the past decade, the cult of El Chapo only grew larger and larger” (Delanty). Since then Sinaloa has become the leading drug trafficking city in Mexico as well as the center of narcocorridos. In 2001 Guzman managed to bribe his way out of prion becoming the most wanted man in Mexico and the U.S. “Rumors about possible sightings of the drug lord spread like wildfire and a canon of songs were written about his whereabouts and escapades” (Delanty). For instances, Los Canelos de Durango who are well known for their narcocorriods wrote a song as a tribute to “El Chapo”. The corrido “El Señor de la Montaña” (The man of the mountain) spoke about the protection he had from the authorities and his

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