by Rocio Zamora Arzola
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- Some Spanish-language DJs have a reputation for raciness. Now the songs they play are catching up, as radio stations respond to listeners’ requests by playing narcocorridos — songs about drug dealers and their exploits.
- Bluntly spelling out drug usage and violence, songs like “El Corrido del Katch,” a tune about getting high and making money, and “El Baleado” (The Shooting Victim), are making the top 20 in regional Mexican airplay charts (Reuters.com 10.4.09).
- What’s breaking down radio programmers previous reluctance to play these hardcore tunes, sung to a jaunty polka beat? A younger generation of listeners, many from Mexico, demanding the visceral thrill of songs celebrating drug culture.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
- Latino listeners are flexing greater power when it comes to choosing what they want to hear.
- The appeal of songs that leave little to the imagination may lie in their shock value. But then again, it’s probably better to blast out a narcocorrido than dodge actual bullets.
RESOURCES
- “El Baleado” (The Shooting Victim by Larry Hernandez on YouTube.com
- “El Corrido Del Katch” by El Compa Chuy on YouTube.com
