Art

The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many endeavors (or artforms) united by their employment of the human creative impulse. The term implies a broader range of disciplines than "art", which in modern usage usually refers only to the visual arts. The other major constituents of the arts are the literary arts, more often called literature – including poetry, novels and short stories, among others – and the performing arts, among themmusic, dance, magic, theatre, opera and film. Literary arts and creative writing are actually interchangeable terms. These divisions are by no means absolute as there are artforms which combine a visual element with performance  and the written word . This list is by no means comprehensive, but only meant to introduce the concept of the arts.

Theater in Colombia was introduced during the Spanish colonization in 1550 through zarzuela companies. Colombian theater in Colombia is currently supported by the Ministry of Culture and a number of private and state owned organizations. Among the most important organizations are the National Association of Scenic Directors, Performing Arts Workers Associations, Antioquia Storytellers Association, Colombian Association of Critique and Theater Research ,Puppeteers Associations ,Colombian Corporation of Theater among others

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Gold Museum

The Gold Museum (Museo del Oro), the most important in the world, preserves the heritage and Colombian culture. It was declared National Monument. It displays 34.000 golden pieces and 20.000 stones, ceramics, textiles; all of them belonged to Calima, Muisca, Timbaya, Tolima and Malagana cultures. Most of them are exhibited in The Bank of Republic located in front of Santander Park.

The museum has two exhibition rooms: In the first floor there are archaeology and anthropology exhibitions. In the second floor, the exhibitions are classified in archaeological regions; there are objects like necklaces, bracelets, masks, etc. In the third floor, people can observe golden objects plenty of symbolism.

Street Art of Bogota

 In many cities, ugly scribbles of graffiti are a sign of decay and neglect. This isn’t true in Bogota, where dozens of colorful “street artists” are repainting the city in creative ways

The street artists of Bogota all have serious day jobs. They are college professors, graphic designers and authors. They don’t alway work under the cover of night- many have permission by the owners to use a building as their canvas.  Some of their designs are political, some are funny and some are just beautiful:

 

Many of the graffiti artists in Bogota are well known for their distinct style and subject matter, such as Pez, who always paints big smiling bird-type creatures

Music 

Many of the graffiti artists in Bogota are well known for their distinct style and subject matter, such as Pez, who always paints big smiling bird-type creatures

Like any capital Bogota attracts the best musicians of the country and this is the place to be to make it to make it in the music industry. Being musicians ourselves  and having lived in the music capital of the world "Londres", we find it extremely exciting to be in a city with so much flourishing talent. Please check our music page where we will share with you our discoveries, include the tracks we like, and show videos to demonstrate the diversity of Colombian music.

There are many clubs with live bands in town usually performing a very eclectic mix of styles including the good old salsa & Vallenato standards...

Usually happening in the park Bolivar featuring different styles of music (Rock al Parque, Jazz al Parque, Salsa al Parque…)

The music of Colombia is an expression of the Colombian culture, which contains diverse music genres, traditional and moderns according with the features of each geographic region; although it is frequent to find different musical styles in the same region. The diversity in musical expressions found in Colombia can be seen as the result of a mixture of African, native Indigenous, European (especially Spanish) influences, as well as more modern American and Caribbean musical forms, Cuban, and Jamaican.

In a globalised world, many musicians are fusing traditional music with other styles (usually styles from the popular music genres). While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it is no longer traditional music since it is not entirely based on local culture, being influenced by the music that it has been fused with. As a result traditional music tends to be found in a pre-commercial setting. While traditional music continues to evolve today, but generally as a continuation of the music from a pre-globalised culture.

Styles like vallenato and porro were especially influential. When the waltz became popular in the 19th century, a Colombian version called pasillo was created.