I have many favorites, but I tend to lean toward the classics, including classical music. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien años de soledad) by Gabriel García Márquez left a lasting impression on me. In Brazil, the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos still amazes me, even when compared to some of Europe’s most renowned composers. But my question is broader than that. It can be popular culture too, something on Spotify, in a bookstore, an art gallery, anything at all.
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Music, since music and guitar are one of my main hobbies
I’d pick either Gustavo Cerati or Os Mutantes
Diego Rivera, at a time Europe was blowing up the art scene here’s comes this Mexican painting brown ppl and his weird wife Frida (I like his work more) . I took a class I had nothing to do with, I was in an art class in Madrid Spain and the teacher was making a comparison of a painting to Diego calling him great and after weeks of solely white artists it was kinda moving to here about Latino art and history. Was never into art ever but that class got me hooked.
Favorite form of art is probably music and the best for me is Astor Piazolla.
That said, literature would probably be a tie between Garcia Marquez, Neruda and Borges
Art obviously Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. HM to Botero.
It’s a measure of Gabo’s greatness how many brazilians have him as favorite writer despite the many giant geniuses from brazilian literature.
I firmly believe that, for example, Machado de Assis would be up there for contention for greatest novelist ever had he written in english but when I read One Hundred Years of Solitude at 15 I was like “WTF, HOW IS THIS COLOMBIAN GUY WRITING ABOUT MY FAMILY AND MY HOMETOWN IN NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL?!?!?!”
He really managed to capture the Soul of Latin America in a bottle and released on top of blank book, there’s no other rational explanation. 😅
Brazilian literature is very underated. Since our language is kinda isolated in a broader context, it is very much little unknown outside the lusophone world. Guys like Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Machado de Assis, Guimarães Rosa and the fantastic Clarice Lispector, are world level writers that are no worse than Camus, Hemingway, among others.
Literature. Latin America invented magic realism which is, in my opinion, the best fictional genre to ever exist, deeply connected to our history of opression and dictatorships. And the biggest name obviously is Garcia Marquez, Cien Años de Soledad is the best novel ever written.
Wow so many:
Frankie Ruiz, Sergio Mendes, Valentin Elizalde, etc.
I love all kinds of Latin music ❤️
Film.
My favorite from Latin America? Perhaps Guillermo Del Toro.
• Favorite form of art: rock music
• Area that best represents it to me: the UK
95% of music and bands I love the most, come from the UK. I just noticed this a few years ago.
My favorite form of art is definitely music, and the genre that represents Latin America the best is salsa since it’s a mix of European, native and African musical roots.
Willie Colon is amazing as a composer, artist and singer for many decades. Whether starting out as a performer with Hector Lavoe, then being the main producer of arguably the best salsa album – Comedia by Hector Lavoe- and achieving timeless hits as a solo artist in the 80s and 90s. His versatility and impact across multiple decades make him my favorite salsa artist.
Unfortunately he has fallen into the ultra conservative views, but in a way that can also be representative of Latin America as well
Music: Carlos Santana.
Realismo mágico. Cortázar, Borges, Gabriel García Márquez y Juan Rulfo.
Tango y Bossa Nova. Piazzola, Tom Jobim y Joao Gilberto.
Poetry. Neruda, Huidobro, Octavio Paz y César Vallejo.
Canto popular. Mercedes Sosa, Caetano y Violeta Parra.
Artes plásticas. Diego Rivera, Botero y Matta.
Cine. González Iñárritu.
Todo lo demás. Maradona.