Mexico’s anti-narco Idol

Maya (centre), who won best performer, and the other contest winners, Gonzalez (right) and Siuro (second from right), during the finale of Mexico Sings, a government-run music contest at the Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris in Mexico City. — Luis Antonio Rojas/The New York Times

ONE winner sang a ballad fusing mariachi and hip-hop. Another belted out a song she wrote about a missed opportunity with a crush. A third wooed voters with a booming ode to Mexico.

Their stage looked much like a knockoff of Eurovision, American Idol or The Voice.