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Latin America

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Sources: Data from table are from an April 2005 report by the IMF and graphics data are from data by the World Bank from 2003 http://www.worldbank.org/data/quickreference/quickref.html . Data for Cuba is a 2004 estimate from the CIA World Factbook. GDP (PPP) per capita for Latin America was calculated using population data from List of countries by population

Cultural diversity

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The rich mosaic of Latin American cultural expressions are the product of many diverse influences, derived mainly from :
* Native cultures of the peoples that inhabitated the continents prior to the arrival of the Europeans.
* European cultures, brought mainly by the Spanish, the Portuguese and the French . This can be seen in any expression of the region's rich artictic traditions, including painting, literature and music, and in the realm of sciences and politics on which the main European colonial influences left a most enduring mark through their languages.
* African cultures, who were part of a long history of New World slavery. Peoples of African descent have influenced the ethno-scapes of Latin American and the Caribbean. This is manifest in the Caribbean through dances such as the bomba, the plena, the candombe, the cumbia, to mention but a few.

Painting

The development of Latin American painting stemmed originally from the styles brought along by Spanish, Portuguese and French Baroque Painters, which in turn were following the trends of the Italian Masters. This Eurocentrism of the Arts, in general, started to fade in early 20th century, when Latin-Americans began to acknowledge the uniqueness of their condition and started to follow their own path.

From the early 20th Century, the art of Latin America was greatly inspired by the Constructivist Movement. The Constructivist Movement was founded in Russia around 1915 by Vladimir Tatlin. The Movement quickly spread from Russia to Europe and then into Latin America. Joaquin Torres Garcia and Manuel Rendón have been credited with bringing the Constructivist Movement into Latin America from Europe.

Literature

Latin American literature gained its own identity, evolving from the strong European and, at a later stage, Anglo-American influences, and is very recognisable internationally, including renowned Nobel Prize winners.
The Colombian Gabriel García Márquez won the prize for his work, including the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. Others include João Guimarães Rosa in Brazil, with his book "Grande Sertão - Veredas", and older writers such as Machado de Assis and ( "Dom Casmurro" ).

Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda (in 1971) are known Chilean Nobel Prize winners.
The Argentine Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) is a solid and influential figure of Latin-American letters.

Other important Latin-American writers are:
* Juan Rulfo
* Jorge Amado
* Mario Benedetti
* Juan Bosch
* Alejo Carpentier
* Julio Cortázar
* Rubén Darío
* José Donoso
* Carlos Drummond de Andrade
* Eduardo Galeano
* Rómulo Gallegos
* Nicolás Guillén
* Vicente Huidobro
* Clarice Lispector
* René Marqués
* Amado Nervo
* Octavio Paz
* Petion Savain
* César Vallejo
* Mario Vargas Llosa
* Miguel Ángel Asturias

Music

One of the main characteristics of Latin American music is its diversity, from the lively rhythms of Central America and the Caribbean to the more austere sounds of southern South America. Another feature of Latin American music is its original blending of the variety of styles that arrived in The Americas and became influential, from the early Spanish and European Baroque to the different beats of the African rhythms.

Hispano-Caribbean music, such as salsa, merengue, bachata, etc. from Panama, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, are styles of music that have been strongly influenced by African rhythms and melodies.

Other main musical genres of Latin American include the Argentine and Uruguayan tango, the Colombian cumbia and vallenato, Mexican ranchera, Uruguayan Candombe and the various styles of music from Pre-Columbian traditions that are widespread in the Andean region. In Brazil, samba, American jazz, European classical music and choro combined into the bossa nova music. Recently the Haitian kompa has become increasingly popular.

The classical composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) worked on the recording of native musical traditions within his homeland of Brazil. The traditions of his homeland heavily influenced his classical works. Also notable is the much recent work of the Cuban Leo Brouwer and guitar work of the Venezuelan Antonio Lauro and the Paraguayan Agustín Barrios.

Arguably, the main contribution to music entered through folklore, where the true soul of the Latin American and Caribbean countries is expressed. Musicians such as Atahualpa Yupanqui, Violeta Parra, Victor Jara, Mercedes Sosa, Jorge Negrete, Caetano Veloso, and others gave magnificent examples of the heights that this soul can reach.

Latin pop, including many forms of rock, is popular in Latin America today (see Spanish language rock and roll).

More recently, Reggaeton, a blend of Latin rhythms with Hip hop music originated in Panama and Puerto Rico, is becoming more popular, in spite of the controversy sorrounding it's lyrics, dance steps and music videos.

Film

Latin American film is both rich and diverse. The 1950s and 1960s saw a movement towards Third Cinema, led by the Argentine filmmakers Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino.

Mexican movies from the Golden Era in the 1940's are the greatest examples of Latin American cinema, with a huge industry comparable to the Hollywood of those years. More recently movies such as Amores Perros (2000) and Y tu mamá también (2001) have been successful in creating universal stories about contemporary subjects, and were internationally recognised.

Argentine cinema was a big industry in the first half of the 20th century. After a series of military governments that shackled culture in general, the industry re-emerged after the 1976-1983 military dictatorship to produce the Academy Award winner The Official Story in 1985. The Argentine economic crisis affected the production of films in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but many Argentine movies produced during those years were internationally acclaimed, including Nueve reinas (2000), El abrazo partido (2004) and Roma (2004).

In Brazil, the Cinema Novo movement created a particular way of making movies with critical and intellectual screenplays, a clearer photography related to the light of the outdoors in a tropical landscape, and a political message.
The modern Brazilian film industry has become more profitable inside the country, and some of its productions have received prizes and recognition in Europe and the United States. Movies like Central do Brasil (1999) and Cidade de Deus (2003) have fans around the world, and its directors have taken part in American and European film projects.

Notes

External links

* Infrastructure Projects Database Latin America and the Caribbean
* The Council on Hemispheric Affairs An independent source of Latin American news and opinion
* Andean Community official webpage
* BBC - South America Creates Single Market
* Council on Hemispheric Affairs
* Latin Business Chronicle Weekly news on Latin American business and technology.
* Latin American Design
* Latin American Network Information Center
* Latin American News
* Latin American Studies
* Latin America Working Group
* Washington Office on Latin America
* Politics in Latin America
* Infolatam. Information and analysis of Latin America
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