Yu-Mex:
Yugoslavian Mexican Music of the 1950’s
At the beginning of the 1950s, Yugoslavia was a socialist country playing the odd Cold War game in between the two blocks. After Tito’s break up with Stalin in 1948, Soviet-style doctrines were denounced in favour of a locally-infused “alternative path to socialism”. With the Russians out of the picture, and the Americans yet to step in, the Yugoslav authorities were in search of alternative cultural models for the new socialist federation. (Un)surprisingly enough, these were found in Mexico.
Why Mexico? As Slovenian author Miha Mazzini argues, it was “far away, the chances of Mexican tanks appearing on Yugoslav borders were slight and, best of all, in Mexican films they always talked about revolution.” However, Mexican revolutionary style wasn’t emulated in cinema as much as in the booming Yugoslav music industry. Armed with sombreros and acoustic guitars, fake mariachi bands spread throughout the country and some of their 7” records from the 1950’s can still be found today on flea markets across ex-Yugoslavia.
Mazzini has compiled a precious list of obscure Yugoslav Mexican music, along with EP covers, lyrics translation and MP3’s. We bring you a selection of the most hilarious. Ay, caramba.