Themes
MUSIC AND ART
The influence of Latin American art and music can be seen and heard around the world. From the fast-paced beat of the samba to the haunting melodies of the Andean panpipes, the music of Latin American reaches out to us all. Watch the video 'Music of Latin America' to see and hear a Canadian-Peruvian musician as he plays his collection of traditional Andean instruments. A troupe of young Canadian-Latin American dancers performs the traditional dances of Latin America in the video 'Latin American Dance'.
Read about some of the ancient instruments in our collection in the Featured Artifacts section, and then try your hand at making music using the sounds of these instruments in our 'Ancient Orchestra!' activity.
The visual arts have also had an important place in Latin American culture. The art of muralling is highlighted here with Featured Site topics on ancient murals, and a video on modern murals featuring noted artist, Nora Patrich. All of the mural images in our collection can be viewed by searching the Archival Images database (Subject - Murals).Try the Mural Madness activity to see if you can reconstruct an ancient mural than was damaged in an earthquake!