Who Performs Narcocorridos?

Narcocorridos are usually performed by Norteño bands. The Norteño band is an accordion-based ensemble that developed in the northern part of Mexico. Most performers come from the Northern states of Sinaloa, Sonora, and Durango. These states are where most of the narcos are born.

Most Norteño bands perform in concerts dressed in Norteño suits and cowboy hats. The picture to the left shows the type of suit that the bands use when performing. The people attending the concerts usually always wear cowboy hats as well.  A Performance is "...an expressive activity that requires participation heightens our enjoyment of an experience and invites response" (Sims, Stephens, 2011).

This is precisely what happens in Norteño concerts as people are invited to sing along with the banda, dance, and react to every Narcocorrido they sing. The results are memorable performances by the "bandas" which are the bands that play the style of music for Narcocorridos.

There are two types of narcocorridos which are the commercial corridos and private corridos (Simonett, 2001). Commercial corridors are those that are available to the public, which the famous Norteño bands like Los Tigres del Norte perform. The private corridos are those commissioned by Narcos. The private corridos are usually written by local bandas, and if the Narco is wealthy, they can commission a famous band to write their corrido (Simonett, 2001). Los Tucanes de Tijuana are famous for writing private corridos for narcos such as Ramon Arellano Felix. In the Narco world, having a corrido written about you and by a famous band can bring a Narco a lot of prestige and power within the Narcos (Simonett, 2001). This can be compared to getting an Oscar as an actor. Getting an Oscar means that you are at the highest point in an actor's career. Similarly, having a corrido written about you as a Narco means that your exploits have gained you enough recognition, fame, and respect to merit a corrido.

Perhaps the most famous corrido singer was Chalino Sanchez. He is described as "a swaggering, charismatic crooner with an off-key voice (Campbell, 2014). Sanchez dresses in the Cowboy narco-look and even engaged in a gunfight in one of his concerts. He was assassinated in 1992 in Sinaloa after one of his concerts. The most famous Norteño bands include Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Los Tigres del Norte, and Banda MS. Another famous corrido singer was Valentin Elizalde, who was murdered after one of his concerts in the prime of his career (Campbell, 2014). 

There is a risk in being a Narcocorrido performer. Some bands or singers are associated with particular cartels. When these bands or singers perform in enemy territory, they can be killed because of their allegiance to a cartel by an enemy cartel (Quiñonez, 2001).

Valentin Elizalde was killed after leaving one of his concerts. The SUV he was traveling in was shot on by various vehicles. (Tobar, 2012).