Mexico sings out against the drug cartels — but popular culture isn't listening

A government TV talent show has proven far too wholesome to make a dent in the country’s love of crime ballads.

- Thomas Graham reports

Musicians across Mexico donned stetsons in rowdy arenas last weekend to sing narcocorridos: ballads about the criminal underworld and the drug cartels that run it.

At the same time in Mexico City, in a grand theatre with cherubs painted on the ceiling, eight young acts sang their hearts out in the finale of Mexico Sings - the new television talent show that the government hopes will steer the country’s music towards more wholesome themes.

“This shows that in Mexico you don’t need to glorify crime and violence,” said Sergio Maya, who scooped the prize for best performance, "but to sing with love and hope for the Mexico we all want to build." But whether the show's winners will really draw crowds away from the controversial but enduringly popular narcocorridos is far from clear.

The Mexican tradition of corridos dates back more than a century, when such ballads recounted the exploits of folk heroes and revolutionaries to the rhythm of guitars, accordions and trumpets. The modern sub-genre of narcocorridos does the same but for cartel bosses-who in some cases pay for the songs themselves.

Today, many of Mexico's biggest musicians - including global superstars such as Peso Pluma - have a lucrative sideline in narcocorridos, which they play to packed arenas not just at home but also in the US.