Mexican music in Chile

It is thought that Mexican music obtained its popularity, even in remote areas of Chile, by radio stations and Mexican movies.[3] The first Chilean interpreters of Mexican music appeared in the 1940s,[5] and by the time of Jorge Negrete's visit to Chile in 1946 Los Queretaros and many other ensembles specializing in Mexican music were triving.[6] Musicologist Laura Jordán González comments that "music listening practises in Chile have extensively shown a preference for foreign music, which has been explained by some authors as a result of successive nonprotectionist policies".[6]

Radio stations specializing in Mexican music are common in Chile may play music from as early as six o'clock in the morning because that's the time farmers begin work.[5] Typically, airing of Mexican music in these radio stations goes on well into midnight.[5] In the 1950s and 1960s non-specialized radio stations such as Radio Yungay and Radio Agricultura created spaces dedicated to Mexican music.[5] According to lifelong Mexican music collector Fernando Méndez popularity of Mexican music was helped by paralells in Chilean and Mexican culture such as equivalence of the Charro with the Huaso.[5]

[Chile and Mexico were in the 1940s] nations with similar agricultures, in both countries people worked from sunrise to sunset, and there was a taste for horses

Spanish original: [En la década de 1940, Chile y México] eran naciones con agriculturas similares, en los países se trabajaba de sol a sol, y había un gusto por los caballos

— Fernando Méndez[5]

Already in the 1970s the popularity of the corrido was considered to be on par with the local cueca.[3] As it happened in many aspects of Chilean society Mexican music became politicized in the 1970s.[5] Jorge Inostroza, a prominent radio host and promoter of Mexican music, allienated much of his audience by his public support of the Pinochet dictatoship.[5] The military dictatorship sought to isolate Chilean radio listerners from the outside World by changing radio frequency to middle wavelenghts.[5] This together with the shutdown of radio stations sympathetic the former Allende administration impacted Mexican music in Chile.[5] The installment of the dictatorship coincided with the closing record shop selling Mexican music.[5] However Chilean exiles in Spain and Mexico supplied their relatives in Chile with records of Mexican music.[5] A scarcity of Mexican music records is thought to have contributed to the creation of local recording company Sol de América and pirate cassette brand Cumbre y Cuatro both of which catered to Mexican music enthusiasts.[5] Elements of the Chilean military distrusted Mexican music, leading even to cases where the music was denounced as "communist".[5] Militaries dislike of Mexican music may be rooted in the Allende administration's close links with Mexico, the "Mexican revolutionary discourse" and the over-all low prestige of Mexican music in Chile.[5] The dictatorship did never supressed Mexican music as a whole as distinctions were made between different currents, some of which were actually promoted.[5]

Among the Chilean upper class Mexican music has gained more acceptanse since the 2000s. In part, this trend is explained by the popularity of the musical talent show Rojo Fama contra Fama of TVN which aired for the first time in 2002.[5] María José Quintanilla in particular gained acclaim in the program by singing ranchera songs.[5]

• 2008 reportage on Mexican music in Chile, TVN official channel.