“Nice sombrero! Which part of Mexico are you from?” “Vojvodina”
During the Second World War, there were shortages everywhere, from various foods to precious metals, the global production of goods had stagnated and everyone saw the consequences. But, for a small minority, the scarcity brought opportunity. The country of Mexico used the opportunity to grow its economy and industrialise as it sought to replace the manufactured goods that it previously imported.
Due to a shortage in film-making materials, the US, Spain, Italy, France and Argentina, only had the resources to make movies focused on war, which left a gap for the versatile Mexican cinema industry to fill, which led to its dominance in the markets of Latin America. This dominance is what truly catalysed the “Golden Age of Mexican Cinema”, which began in 1936 and peaked in 1956.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (the ranch being wartime Yugoslavia), the communist Yugoslav Partisans were engaging in serious guerilla warfare against the Axis powers, hoping to free themselves from the Nazi hold. Their fighting spirit, guerilla tactics, and collaboration with the Allies meant that they eventually succeeded in banishing the Wehrmacht.
The Partisans themselves were never a part of the official Yugoslav army and were formed to rebel against Nazi control, but when they won Yugoslavia its freedom, their leader Josip Broz Tito abolished the Yugoslav monarchy and declared the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to be the new communist state of Yugoslavia. At the time in Europe, Stalin had influence over all the communist states because he chose their leaders, but Tito was different. He was never chosen, it was his army that liberated Yugoslavia, not Stalin’s (with a few exceptions), and because of this, Stalin couldn’t control him like the others. This birthed a feud between the two, which was never resolved.
Because of the feud, and the fact that the newly communist Yugoslavia couldn’t really engage with the vehemently capitalist USA, Tito introduced a “non-alignment” policy which meant that he would not take sides in the Cold War. It was this policy which led to the banning of Soviet films and ‘capitalist’ movies from Hollywood. Cinemas had to look for alternatives to import, and they found these alternatives in the “Golden Age of Mexican Cinema”. Tito especially liked this because a lot of Mexican films glamorized the Mexican Revolution, he believed that audiences would enjoy the parallels between these films and their experiences in the revolution against the Nazis in the Second World War.
The first Mexican film that premiered in Yugoslavia came in 1952, it was a 1950 drama about the execution of a rebel in the Mexican Revolution, and it was called “Un día de vida”. The film was an instant success for the reasons that Tito picked it. Viewers were brought to tears as they recalled their time in the war and compared it to the film.
Not all the films were related to war, as previously mentioned, the Mexican industry was versatile and made popular comedies and romances which also came to be beloved in Yugoslavia. Much like when leather jackets were popularised by Hollywood, charros and sombreros were popularised by Mexico. Soon, many young Yugoslav artists donned Mexican clothing to try and be “cool”. Bands started to sing mariachi music whilst wearing all sorts of Mexican apparel. They would often sing in their own languages but some would sing in Spanish too. Here is a link to a picture of a Serbian man called Ljubomir Milić, who was part of a Yu-Mex band called Trio Paloma. Slavko Perović was one of the biggest Yu-Mex singers out there, selling more than a million copies to a country of just sixteen million people.
By the end of the 60s, the genre was in a quick decline, being replaced by rock and pop. Many older people still remember the genre with lots of nostalgia; younger people have never even heard of it. However, I’ve heard of it, so now you have too. There exist many Yu-Mex songs on the internet today but I’ll be honest, there are much better things to spend your time listening to. But who knows, maybe when you’re doing your next impression of a Yugoslavian communist, you can start speaking Spanish for the sake of historical accuracy.
Fun fact: There is a statue of Tito in Mexico City, Mexico.
Carlos Welford 
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