{{Short description|Music genre in Yugoslavia}} [[File:Jedan dan zhivota pamphlet cover.jpg|thumb|Cover of a Yugoslav pamphlet promoting the local release of the 1950 film ''Un día de vida'', which was known as ''Jedan dan života'' in Yugoslavia. Depicted are stars Roberto Cañedo and Columba Domínguez.]] '''Yu-Mex''' (a portmanteau of "Yugoslav" and "Mexican") was a style of popular music in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which incorporated elements of traditional Mexican music (such as mariachi and ranchera).<ref>{{cite web |author=Čulić |first=Ilko |date=16 July 2012 |title=YU-Mex fenomen: Zbog njih je sombrero bio glavni hit... |url=http://www.24sata.hr/express/yu-mex-fenomen-zbog-njih-je-sombrero-bio-glavni-hit-274242 |access-date=4 May 2014 |website=24 Sata |publisher= |language=hr}}</ref> The style was mostly popular during the 1950s and 1960s when a string of Yugoslav singers began performing traditional Mexican songs.<ref>{{cite web |date=14 October 2008 |title=Zaboravljeni junaci sombrero ere |url=https://www.nezavisne.com/kultura/muzika/Zaboravljeni-junaci-sombrero-ere/30562 |access-date=4 May 2014 |work=BETA |publisher=Nezavisne novine |language=bs}}</ref>
== History == In the immediate post-war period, Yugoslavia did not have much of a film industry and the majority of films were imported from the Soviet Union. Following the Tito–Stalin split of 1948, Soviet films were no longer shown in the country. At the same time, due to ideological differences, Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito did not want his country to import American films. As a result, he turned to importing Mexican films. The fact that many Mexican films of the "Golden Age" glorified the Mexican Revolution and depicted ordinary Mexicans rising up against the oppressive Mexican state made Mexican films "revolutionary" enough to be shown in Yugoslavia. Many parallels were drawn between the struggle waged by the Yugoslav Partisans in World War II and the guerrillas who fought in the Mexican Revolution.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=McKee Irwin |first=Robert |date=2010 |title=Mexican Golden Age Cinema in Tito's Yugoslavia |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/389454 |journal=The Global South |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=151–166 |via=Project MUSE}}</ref>
The first Mexican film to premiere in Yugoslavia was the 1950 drama ''Un día de vida'' (''One Day of Life'', ''Jedan dan života''), which became a huge hit when it appeared in Yugoslav theaters in 1952.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Topalović |first=Manja |title=YuMex Craze: How Mexican Film Won Over Yugoslavia |url=https://sigedon.com/yu-mex-craze-how-mexican-film-won-over-yugoslavia/ |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=Sigedon Books & Antiques}}</ref> The plot of ''Un día de vida'', which dealt with the execution of a rebel during the Mexican Revolution, brought many Yugoslav audiences to tears, as they saw a parallel with their own experiences in World War II.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 February 2019 |title=El fenómeno Yu-Mex: Cuando Yugoslavia se inundó de mariachis y rancheras |url=http://elcriticiclo.blogspot.com/2019/02/el-fenomeno-yu-mex-cuando-yugoslavia-se.html |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=El Criticiclo |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Muniz |first=Alvaro Amador |date=3 April 2022 |title=Yugoslavia's secret weapon against Soviet influence: YuMex culture |url=https://yucatanmagazine.com/yugoslavia-yumex-culture/ |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=Yucatán Magazine}}</ref>
Other, less political Mexican films, such as comedies and romances, also became popular. It was common for many young Yugoslavs to imitate the styles of Mexican film stars, who were seen as embodying everything that was "cool".{{sfn|McKee Irwin|2010|p=160}} Because many of the films shown in Yugoslavia in the 1950s–1960s were Mexican, everything Mexican became very popular in Yugoslavia and many musicians started to don sombreros to perform Mexican music, either singing in Serbo-Croatian or in the original Spanish.{{sfn|McKee Irwin|2010|p=160-161}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Osegueda |first=Rodrigo |title=Yu-Mex, cuando la música mexicana enamoró la Ex Yugoslavia |url=https://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/yu-mex-cuando-la-musica-mexicana-enamoro-la-ex-yugoslavia.html |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=México Desconocido |language=es}}</ref> The interest slowly faded after the 1970s.
Some of the well-known Yu-Mex performers of the era were Nikola Karović, Slavko Perović, Ljubomir Milić and his ensemble Paloma (aka Palomci, among them Rade Todosijević<ref>{{Cite web |last=Đurić |first=S. |date=7 February 2011 |title=Meksikanac na srpski način |url=https://arhiva.vesti-online.com/Scena/Soubiznis/115736/Meksikanac-na-srpski-nacin |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=Vesti Online |language=sr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=25 March 2010 |title=KVARTET PALOMA - Usamljeni decak - Diskos EDK-3042 |url=http://jugozvuk.blogspot.com/2010/03/kvartet-paloma-usamljeni-decak-diskos.html# |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=ZVUCI JUGOSLAVIJE - SOUNDS OF YUGOSLAVIA |language=sr}}</ref>), Miroslava Mrđa, Đorđe Masalović, Ana Milosavljević, Trio Tividi, Manjifiko, Nevenka Arsova, and others.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mazzini |first=Miha |title=YuMex or Yu-Mex: Mexican music in fifties Yugoslavia |url=https://www.mihamazzini.com/yu-mex/ |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=mihamazzini.com}}</ref> Other famous singers and musicians, such as Predrag Cune Gojković and Mišo Kovač, also performed Yu-Mex songs.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=11 May 2014 |title=V.A.- 101 Meksikanska 1951-2011 - Mexican Music From Yugoslavia - Musica Mexicana de Yugoslavia |url=http://lightingstrikes.blogspot.com/2014/05/va-101-meksikanska-1951-2011-mexican.html |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=Lightning Strikes : Music and Whatever Else}}</ref>
== In the media == Slovenian writer Miha Mazzini renewed the interest in Yu-Mex music after publishing his novel ''Paloma Negra'' in 2013. During the research for the novel, Mazzini recorded the stories told by protagonists and made a TV documentary ''YumMex - Yugoslav Mexico''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5696478/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_2|title = YuMex, Jugoslovanska Mehika|website = IMDb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mazzini |first=Miha |date=3 February 2022 |title=YuMex - Yugoslav Mexico |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL33I39nlV0 |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=Youtube}}</ref>
Croatia Records issues a 4CD compilation of Yu-Mex songs covering the period between 1951 and 2011 titled ''101 Meksikanska'' (101 Mexicana, 101 Canciones Mejicanas).<ref name=":1" />
In 2018, Mexican non-profit organization Stultifera Navis Institutom traveled the Balkans in order to make the project "Kamarones, Jugoslavia." According to their website: "Fed by what has been called ''yugostalgia'' or ''yugonostalgia'', 'Kamarones, Jugoslavia' rehearses the possibility of a trip to imaginary Yugoslavia through the geography of an allegorical Mexico."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018 |title=Kamarones, Jugoslavia |url=https://en.stultiferanavis.institute/kamarones-jugoslavija |access-date=6 November 2023 |website=Stultifera Navis Institutom}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|2}}
==Additional resources== *Ana Petrov. ''Jugoslovenska muzika bez Jugoslavije''. FMK, 2016. {{ISBN|978-86-87107-53-3}}. *Miha Manzzini. ''[https://www.mihamazzini.com/paloma-negra/ Paloma Negra]''. Open Books, 2014. {{ISBN|978-0692253656}}. *Miha Manzzini. ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL33I39nlV0 YuMex - Yugoslav Mexico]''. Gustav film, 2013.
Category:Music of Yugoslavia Category:Mexican folk songs Category:Mexican styles of music Category:Mexico–Yugoslavia relations