Analysis Of The Song Contrabando Y Traicio

The song “Contrabando Y Traición” is credited for popularizing the narcocorrido sub- genre, and features a uniquely cinematic style of lyrical story-telling uncommon for its time, combined with a catchy yet simplistic song structure that could be appreciated by audiences of all backgrounds. Narcocorridos themselves are a style of traditional Spanish corrido that focus on commemorative figures, events and people related to the drug-trafficking trade that was growing in the 1930's, sharing many similarities to the epic lyrical ballads that were the corridos themselves, and giving them a more contemporary spin. Los Tigres Del Norte's most popular songs consist mostly of corridos that focus on love, life, the harshness of reality and the struggle

Part of the reason why audiences could easily enjoy and appreciate the song and its story. The song itself is played in duple meter, bearing similarities to the western musical style of Polka. Throughout the song, the percussion drum set and bajo sexto are the more prevalent instruments, keeping the beat and playing an underlying harmony respectively that ties the song together and moves the song along. The accordion itself doesn't come up as often in the song, only being played in between the the verse's last line, and between verses themselves. Even when it's being played, the accordion only plays two small motifs of notes, with one motif played in the mid-verse pauses (0:30 to 0:37, 1:08 to 1:15) etc.) having a melodic contour trending down, and another played just once between the first B verse and the third A verse (1:57 to 2:03) having a melodic contour trending up. In this sense, the bajo sexto is the main instrument of the song, providing the song with its harmony which the accordion echoes with its short motif (0:27 to 0:30 for the bajo sexto and 0:31 to 0:37 for the