Mexican opera tackles the myth of ‘Camelia la Tejana’

By Daniel Hernandez, Los Angeles Times

In the world of narcocorridos — Mexican folk songs that recount the exploits of drug traffickers and criminals — few are better known that “Contrabando y traicion,“ one of the earliest such tunes that was popularized by the trailblazing Los Tigres del Norte in the early 1970s.

“Contraband and Betrayal” tells the story of Camelia la Tejana, a woman who smuggles drugs into theUnited States then shoots and kills her lover in a jealous rage. (Here’s an early video of the song onYouTube.)

The myth of this narcocorrido figure is the subject of “Unicamente la verdad,“ or “Only the Truth,” an experimental new opera that debuted this week at the Festival de Mexico in Mexico City.

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