Mariachi is the most popular music found in Mexico especially during festivals and weddings. Mariachi is performed by men who travel in bands of three or more players. The players wear traditional clothing which consists of large sombreros (see picture above), special decorated suits and a type of colourful cravat. Generally, the group features a guitar player, a trumpet player and an individual who plays a large guitar called a guitarón. The music is lively and may or may not feature singing.

Salsa is a type of dance based out of the Caribbean. Most traditional salsa comes from Cuba or Puerto Rico and was brought to America in the 1960s when a large number of Puerto Ricans emigrated to New York. Salsa employs a lot of percussion instruments particularly the cencerro. Also included are the trumpet, trombone and guitar. Salsa dancing is very popular globally. Couples combine basic steps with a lot of hip movement and twists and turns.

The cueca is a dance with a long history in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and parts of Argentina. According to legend the dance emulates the mating dance of chickens! Couples dancing la cueca wear old-fashioned clothing. Women wear long dresses and men wear traditional ranchero type outfits. Rancheros are the men that work with cattle. The couple around each other waving white handkerchiefs which represent the feathers of the chicken. This dance is most popular in Chile where it is considered the national dance and is performed on festive days.

Neruda composed his first poems at age 10. Although his father was not supportive, he received encouragement from others and published his first work at the age of 13. It was an essay entitled Entusiasmo y perseverancia under his own name. It was not until the mid-1920s that Neruda began to use his pen name which was inspired by the Czech poet Jan Neruda.

At the age of 16, Neruda moved to Santiago to pursue further studies but found himself focusing more on poems that his French studies. At 18, Neruda published his collection titled Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. This collection is still popular today. Unfortunately, his success on the international level did not guarantee him money and he lived a life of poverty for many years. To enable himself to survive he took on government jobs in far-off posts such as Burma and India.

In his government post, Neruda moved to Spain just in time to experience the Spanish Civil War. These experiences converted Neruda into an ardent communist for the rest of his life. The majority of his works in the 1930s and 40s reflect his passion for this cause. Pablo Neruda was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971 two years before his death from prostate cancer.

Click here to find a link to some of Neruda’s love poems in both Spanish and English.