About this lecture series
Lectures of Opportunity (LOOs) offer Naval War College (NWC) students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn more about national and international socio-political subjects that may be of relevance to the NWC community.
Synopsis
Jihadists have their nasheeds, and the Islamic State (IS) became popular for its nasheed compositions used in propaganda videos. Nasheeds are a cappella chants glorifying jihad. Similarly, drug cartels have bands that compose and sing Narco Corridos, or “drug ballads,” based on Mexican folk-music, which glorify cartel leaders as modern day “Robin Hood” figures, and announce executions of enemies. Both nasheeds and narco corridos have much in common.
This lecture comparatively analyzes the two musical genres in the context of terrorism and narco-terrorism, and how they affect their respective followers and devotees. The analysis also highlights how these musical genres popularize crime and violence and de-sensitize audiences to the extreme brutality that they praise and glorify in their songs. There are some contextual distinctions that separate the two genres as well. The use of social media in both contexts is an essential tool to popularize nasheeds and narco corridos. How have governments responded to these social and religious musical media? What are the implications of these for counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics strategies? These are some of the questions that this lecture addresses.