At a Mexican military base, Captain Eduardo Barron picks up not a rifle but a microphone. Swaying boot-to-boot, he belts out a song as the sounds of trumpets and accordions roar from a band of a dozen camouflage-clad soldiers.

The rhythmic style — known as a corrido — is recognisable to just about every soul in the Latin American nation of 130 million. But Barron’s lyrics diverge sharply from those blaring on speakers across Mexico. “I still remember the day I joined the military,” he crooned. “This is a dream my soul longed for, and if I were to live another life, I’d become a soldier again.”

Barron, who performs under the name “Eddy Barron,” began releasing music videos and songs on Spotify last year in coordination with the Mexican military. His lyrics extol the army’s virtues, celebrate proud parents and honour the fallen.

They stand in stark contrast to the controversial narco corridos, a subgenre that has sparked controversy as famed artists pay homage to cartel bosses, portraying them as rebels going against the system.

Faced with the challenge of addressing a musical style that depicts cartel violence, local governments across Mexico have increasingly banned performances and pursued criminal investigations of bands and musicians.

Mexico’s president even vowed to reduce the popularity of narco corridos while promoting other, less violent musical styles. But Barron, 33, is taking a different approach. Instead of censorship, he wants to build upon the momentum with his own military corridos, an effort to both infuse the genre with more socially acceptable lyrics and recruit young people to the military.

“Narco life is in style and they make it sound really pretty but the reality is different,” he said. “We’re playing our part to invite young people to join this movement of positive music.”

Barron’s military ballads are part of a wider government push spearheaded by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has proposed that the government promote corridos about “love, falling out of love and peace.”

She even announced a government-sponsored Mexican music competition in the northern state of Durango showcasing music that avoids “glorifying violence, drugs and discrimination against women.”

“It will completely change Mexican music,” she said.

But in a subculture long defined by resistance and putting words to the harsh realities facing the poor, the government’s initiatives around the genre have been met with scepticism about official attempts to promote family-friendly narratives.

“I don’t think using corridos as a way to incorporate other kinds of narratives, is a bad idea,” said Jose Manuel Valenzuela, a Tijuana sociologist who studies the genre. “There are a lot of songs that sing of peace and love. It’s just that those aren’t the ones that are turning out to be hits because we’re living in a moment of aggrieved youth.”

Corridos were born in the 19th century, their classical band instruments and the accordion rooted in German and Polish migration to Mexico. At a time of widespread illiteracy, they were used widely to pass on oral histories.

The ballads took off during the Mexican revolution, when they were used to share stories of war heroes and glory from the conflict. That is why Barron says he didn’t invent military corridos, but that he’s simply bringing them back.