It's like the Beatles being banned from returning to Liverpool, the Red Hot Chili Peppers being yanked from stages in Los Angeles, or Jay-Z's music
stopped in a source of his inspiration, New York. Since last November, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, one of the most recognizable bands in the Mexican
norteņo regional genre, are banned from playing in their hometown and namesake, the border city of Tijuana.
The ban is a result of a 2008 concert in which the band's lead singer sent his regards from the stage to the city's most notorious and wanted men, "El
Teo and his compadre, El Muletas." The city's get-tough police chief, Julian Leyzaola, was outraged.
Leyzaola pulled the plug on shows by Los Tucanes as they prepared to perform at the city's storied Agua Caliente racetrack in November. Leyzaola said
the band's polka-driven narcocorrido songs glorify drug lords and their exploits and are therefore inappropriate to play in a city that has suffered
soaring drug-related violence in recent years. The band, with millions of record sales and a fan base as broad as the international border, hasn't
been allowed to play in Tijuana since.
In an interview with Richard Marosi of The Times as they prepared for a show in San Diego (as close to Tijuana as they can currently get), Los Tucanes
said they don't intend to glorify narco bosses but instead merely write songs about the realities around them.
"I'm not justifying them, or approving of what they do," singer Mario Quintero told Marosi. "The seņor [Leyzaola] shouldn't fault us for the corridos
as if we're responsible for the killing of his police."
Authorities in Mexico widely disapprove of norteņo bands that sing about the drug trade, banning their songs from radio airwaves and even threatening
jail time for narcocorrido producers (link in Spanish). The effort is especially vigilant in Tijuana, as Marosi reported in a story in 2008.
Last year, another iconic norteņo band, Los Tigres del Norte, was banned from performing a popular song titled "La Granja" at an awards ceremony in
Mexico City. The song's allegorical lyrics are critical of the government's strategy against the drug cartels. Los Tigres del Norte pulled out of the
show, inevitably boosting the song's profile among fans.
Narcocorrido singers walk a fine line between merely commenting on the larger-than-life figures in Mexico's drug war and singing their praises --
sometimes at their own risk. Several norteņo performers have been hunted down and killed, such as Valentin Elizalde and, in June, Sergio Vega. Some of
the most well-known narcocorridos describe news events in coded details, such as the song Los Tucanes de Tijuana released about Joaquin "El Chapo"
Guzman, Mexico's most wanted man.
Quintero said the shout-out by Los Tucanes to the then-at-large drug bosses (both El Teo and El Muletas have since been captured) was not an optional
thing. He told The Times that someone passed him a note requesting the kingpins be greeted from the stage.
"If they want a greeting and you don't honor it, they can hold it against you," Quintero said. "You know how I defend myself? By being agreeable."
With hits such as "La Chona" and "El Centenario," Los Tucanes de Tijuana are such icons in pop culture that they've even played at the most hallowed
site in Mexico, the Zocalo square in Mexico City. Check out this YouTube video of the band performing the romantic "Mundo de Amor" before thousands on
the plaza. Here's another Zocalo performance, the song "Los Helados."
After the ban, the band posted a public statement on their MySpace decrying the police chief's decision as censorship: "In general narcocorridos, not
only ours but those of all groups who interpret them, reflect a reality in which we have NO participation. We don't share in it nor defend it. They
are about facts in public knowledge, involving news and persons that are a part of everyday reality."Woooosh - 8-17-2010 at 07:51 AM
usually the rival cartel takes care of this problem before it gets to this point...Bajahowodd - 8-17-2010 at 03:18 PM
Art. Artists. And sensitive times. Maybe if dismembered bodies weren't found all over the border region, what the band did (does) would not have
ignited the reaction from the cops. Geez. Look what's happening about a proposed Islamic Cultural Center in lower Manhattan.k-rico - 8-17-2010 at 03:25 PM
I'd be happy if they banned all norteņo "music". But that's just me (and I bet every other gringo). Out-of tune, off-key Mexican musicians playing a
loud, distorted polka bass line, what could be worse?Bajahowodd - 8-17-2010 at 03:28 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by k-rico
I'd be happy if they banned all norteņo "music". But that's just me (and I bet every other gringo). Out-of tune, off-key Mexican musicians playing a
loud, distorted polka bass line, what could be worse?
Lawrence Welk?
However, have you ever heard the work of Flaco Jimenez?Bajahowodd - 8-17-2010 at 03:30 PM
Interesting to note that they received a star on the Las Vegas walk of fame.
durrelllrobert - 8-18-2010 at 10:20 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by k-rico
Out-of tune, off-key...... loud, distorted polka bass line, what could be worse?
Frankie Yankovich, or Wierd Al Yankovich Paula - 8-18-2010 at 06:57 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by k-rico
I'd be happy if they banned all norteņo "music". But that's just me (and I bet every other gringo). Out-of tune, off-key Mexican musicians playing a
loud, distorted polka bass line, what could be worse?
Actually, I LOVE norteņo. And it isn't all off-key, and some of those guys can sing beautifully. It is music with a big heart.
Last fall (or the one before?) Los Tucanes were the big closing act at the Loreto foundation festival. The town was divided, half the people would
have nothing to do with the "narco music" and the half that were down in the plaza loved it.
The band ROCKED, the guys were handsome, smiling, and very charming, and the message of the songs was softened by my less than fluent ear for the
language. The songs are classic corrida, and like the musicians say, they are just singing about what's happening.
But I do think their lives would be less complicated if they stuck to stories of drinking and unrequited loveDENNIS - 8-18-2010 at 07:16 PM
Thanks, Dennis-- that's an interesting link. I may have to get the book, and look into the arhoolie link to older corrido music. Some of the old
norteņo is just sublime.
