Police in Mexico are searching for a band of 20 musicians and roadies who went missing after a gig. 
 
 Kombo Kolombia, who are Mexicans but play Colombian-style vallenato music, last played a private gig in Hidalgo, north Mexico, but have not been seen or answered their mobile phones since. 
 
 "They were not answering their mobile phones, but we just thought it was because they were in a remote place," said family member Jose Ruiz. 
 
 "We started to look for them, and we found their cars open and empty, and neither they nor their instruments were at the farm where they were scheduled to play." 
 
 Police confirmed that the band has not been seen or heard from since Thursday. 
 
 A number of musicians have been kidnapped and murdered by drug gangs in Mexico over the last few years. 
 
 In 2007 Sergio Gomez, singer in the band K-Pax, was kidnapped and strangled to death. 
 
 Hours after denying reports of his murder, Sergio Vega, known as El Shaka, was shot dead while driving his red Cadillac. 
 
 Most of those murdered were narcocorridos, who sing songs celebrating the lives of drug barons. 
 
 Among them is Diego Rivas, who was shot dead in 2011 after composing a song in praise of Joaquin Shorty Guzman, Mexico's most wanted drug baron. 
 
 The missing band play Colombian music, not usually linked to drug gangs, but local media report that the venue of the band's last gig does have links to drug violence. 
 
 Last year conductor and pianist Rodolfo Cazares, music director of the Bremerhaven City Theatre in Germany, was kidnapped while visiting relatives in Mexico. He has not been seen since. Fears are growing that he may have been murdered by a drug gang. 
 
 Last year more than 70,000 people died in drug-related violence in Mexico, prompting President Enrique Pena Nieto, who was sworn in last December, to set-up a new national police force to tackle organised crime. 
 
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 This article is copyrighted by IBTimes.co.uk, the business news leader ||||| Authorities in northern Mexico still have no leads after searching two days for 20 people with a Colombian-style band who went missing after a private performance at a bar, an official with the Nuevo Leon State Investigation Agency said Sunday. 
 
 The 20 people include 15 members of Kombo Kolombia and the band's crew. 
 
 People living near the bar in Hidalgo municipality north of Monterrey reported hearing gunshots about 4 a.m. Friday, following by the sound of vehicles speeding away, said the source with the state agency. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by the news media. 
 
 The officials added that gunfire is common in the area, and said investigators found spent bullets nearby. 
 
 Relatives filed an official report about their missing loved ones on Friday, after they lost cellular telephone contact with them following the Thursday night performance. When family members went to the bar to investigate, they found the band members' vehicles still parked outside. 
 
 For three years, Kombo Kolombia has played a Colombian style of music known as vallenato, which is popular in Nuevo Leon state. Most of the group's musicians were from the area, and have held large concerts in addition to bar performances. 
 
 Nuevo Leon state officials said one of those missing is a Colombian citizen with Mexican residency. 
 
 Members of other musical bands, usually groups that performed "narcocorridos" celebrating the exploits of drug traffickers, have been killed in Mexico in recent years. But Kombo Kolombia did not play that type of music and its lyrics did not deal with violence or drug trafficking.
– Members of a Colombian-style band who disappeared after a gig in northern Mexico last week have become the latest musicians to be kidnapped and murdered by drug gangs, authorities fear. The 16-man Kombo Kolombia band and four of its roadies were reported missing early Friday; investigators have now discovered at least eight bodies dumped in a well in the area, the AP reports. The band members were Mexican but played Colombian-style vallenato music, which is not normally associated with drug gangs, the International Business Times reports. After the band played a private show in a bar north of Monterrey last Thursday night, people reported hearing gunshots and vehicles speeding away. The band members' empty vehicles were found outside the bar.