Latin America denotes a region in the Americas where the people speak languages derived from Latin (also called romance languages). The region consists of countries to the south of the United States that speak Spanish, Portuguese, Quenchua, Mayan, Guarani, French, Aymara and Nahuati languages. Latin America has a rich cultural diversity with diverse art and music.
The place has varied cultural habits with various groups having unique customs as well as cultural practices. Some Latin American countries like Columbia have three groups of culture classified according to their geographical location. These groups are the interior, the countryside and the coastal regions. These regional cultures come together for a common objective in undertaking various common activities. The diverse forms of art and music play an important role in Latin America’s economic and political life.
Latin America’s art developed from the traditional art of individual countries constituting this region. The main forms of art in ancient times included visual art, literature, music, traditional dance, and Latin American cuisine. These forms have undergone transformations to form new forms of art including traditional dance, films, theatre and modern literature. The traditional Latin American art has roots in diverse indigenous cultures, which developed artistic disciplines as they were influenced by religion.
This work is known as the pre-Columbian art. During the colonial period, a mixture of the European and Christian influences led to the growth of the Latin-American art. Thiamin artistic movements in Latin America are the Constructivist movement and the Muralism movement. Such movements enabled the Latin Americans to produce high quality paintings, which command high prices in the market.
Just like literature, the Latin American music has also undergone various transformations from the traditional music through the colonial times up to the modern music. The different countries of Latin America have their unique music styles. The examples of these include tango in Argentina, caporales in Bolivia, samba and Bossa nova in Brazil and the Caribbean music of Colombia among others.
Art and music play a major role in the political and economic life of the Latin American people. In pre-colonial times, the people of Latin America used art and music as an entertainment tool as well as for economic purposes. In postcolonial period, the level of art and music from Latin America had grown to an extent that it fetched a lot of money for the Latin American countries both locally and internationally.
For example, in Columbia, the post independence’s artwork especially literature was based on political thoughts and movements. Many politicians in presenting their political ideas to the people use music, just like literature. Such occasions like political rallies also bring together people with various artistic talents like poets, writers, musicians and many others.
In conclusion, Latin America has a rich culture, which brings about diversity in art and music. The people use music and art to present various ideas and knowledge to the society.
Music and art are also generally connected to the people’s political life as they use them to present their political ideas and messages to the people. The art and music is also important for the Latin Americans’ economic life. Latin America has produced many worldwide known musicians and literary work writers. Some of these works enable the individuals as well as their countries to gain economically.