From Grit to Glory: Exploring the Spectrum of Mexico's Music
We're going to briefly circle back to Breaking Bad, "Season 2, Episode 7." The series opens with a performance by Los Coates de Sinaloa singing "The Ballad of Heisenberg," which glorifies the crimes of the soon-to-be late Heisenberg. The song tells a story of violence, power, and death. Performed with a positive, playful energy, the tune represents its origins with natural instruments, including an accordion, bajo sexto, and bass. The chord progression presents itself in a Latin-style beat, at times seemingly alternating between a waltz-like (3/4), transforming into a compound duple (6/8) time signature, producing an intricately rapid rhythm. The vocals are sung in dual octaves forming a homophonic texture, accentuating the sound of the bajo sexto. "The Ballad of Heisenberg" portrays the cultural melody of Mexico’s original music, yet this Western produced tune is an example of narcocorridos. Narcocorridos is a form of Mexican music that idolizes drug lords and cartels. The compositions represent drug traffickers and tell stories honoring them. Narcocorridos gained in popularity, yet has come at a deadly cost for some performers.
Bajo Sexto
Los Tigres del Norte, veterans of narcocorridos, performed for decades from the 1980s to 2009, when their group was banned from continuing their musical legacy featuring crime and violence. Their grand performance of "Contrabando Y Traición (En Vivo)" was written by Ángel González in 1972 and is shown below. The corrido represents the popularity and demand for underground music. The tempo runs wild at 216 BPM, with a continuous, steady rhythm that nicely elicits the instrumentals and vocals. Similar to Los Coates de Sinaloa’s “The Ballad of Heisenberg”, the chords are upbeat and harmonious, a commonality in Latin songs. The melody is performed in two chords, B♭and E♭, and alternately reaches a B♭7, then, for a brief moment, touches an F chord. This integration dominates the exotic authenticity of Mexican music.
Several attempts were made by the Mexican government to ban narcocorridos due to their exploitation of extreme criminal behavior, encouraging high criminal activity resulting in mortal consequences. Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, made an effort to encourage a new generation of music by introducing México Canta (Mexico Sings). México Canta was a nationwide competition that invited a barrage of new Mexican performers to produce and perform their own music. The competition prohibited any compositions that contained lyrics glorifying crime, drugs, or violence. The winner of México Canta was Sergio Maya, crowned on October 5th. He performed Quiero Soñar straight from el corazón. Quiero Soñar is accompanied by a plethora of instruments including bajo sexto, guitars, and violins, in Mariachi form. Maya's vocals are strong, precise, and he extends the articulation of vibrato seamlessly. The melody includes repetition and contrast throughout the chorus of Quiero Soñar showcasing his spirit and pride for his country.
Although the Mexican drug war continues in its attempt to maintain its dominance over the Mexican nation, the citizens are slowly taking a stand. There looks to be no end in site leaving the citizens vulnerable and terrified. México Canta is only but a baby step toward liberating Mexican citizens from the grip of the cartel. Another remnant of the chaos is the outwardly hateful violent efforts that are occurring toward our Mexican American citizens within our homeland. "United We Stand" should always serve as a significant phrase for all Americans to uphold.
Beautifully quoted by the infamous Martin Luther King Jr, "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Works Cited
Negro y Azul (The Heisenberg Song) Breaking Bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ykOTpzuZN0. YouTube.
Cano, Natalia. “SERGIO MAYA WINS BINATIONAL MEXICO CANTA COMPETITION WITH PATRIOTIC MARIACHI SONG.” Billboard, https://www.billboard.com/music/latin/mexico-canta-sergio-maya-winner-mariachi-1236082507/#:~:text=Sergio%20Maya%20sings%20at%20the,in%20the%20best%20composition%20category.
“Contrabando y Traición.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrabando_y_traición#:~:text=According%20to%20its%20author%2C%20Ángel,also%20about%20love%20and%20loyalty.
Duval, Quentin, et al. Mexico’s “Narcocorridos”, Songs Glorifying Drug Cartels, Create Controversy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZaG7vlnwbE. YouTube.
Graham, Thomas. “The Mexican Singers Who Glorify the Narcos but Live in Fear for Their Lives.” The Sunday Times, https://www.thetimes.com/world/latin-america/article/mexico-narcocorridos-ernesto-barajas-drug-cartels-trump-8c9kjhmdm.
Maya, Sergio. “México Canta Sergio Maya (Finalista).” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2BdNsQ27yM.
“Negro y Azul - The Ballad of Heisenberg by Los Cuates de Sinaloa Chords and Melody.” TheoryTab, https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/view/los-cuates-de-sinaloa/negro-y-azul---the-ballad-of-heisenberg#:~:text=About%20The%20Key%20Of%20E♭%20Major%20*%20Genres:%20Latin.%20*%20Latin.
Oficial, Los Tigres Del Norte. Los Tigres Del Norte - Contrabando Y Traición (En Vivo). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFuVcltnCzc. YouTube.
Pachico, Elyssa. “The Top 5 Most Infamous Narco- Songs.” InSight Crime, https://insightcrime.org/news/analysis/the-top-5-most-infamous-narco-songs/.
I like how you related this style of music to a popular tv show and used that to describe the history and culture of the music. I also really enjoyed Breaking Bad and found they had many great examples of traditional Mexican music that was portrayed with accuracy in regards to the instruments used and style of music played. Can you go into further detail about the bajo sexto and the other instruments used? I would like to know how it is different from the guitar and what it sounds like.
ReplyDeleteWow, I was not expecting such a rich history in music. I never knew about narcocorridos or about underground music. I listened to it and since my Spanish is terrible, I completely forgot what the song was about and was just vibing.
ReplyDeleteI find it really interesting how you can really see how music shapes the culture and I find it rather inspiring that the government promoted people to write their own songs that promote healthier things than drugs.