Nicaraguans are very proud of the country's poets.
One of the most famous is Rubén Darío (1867-1916). He is
best known for writing in informal language and using unconventional literary
forms. Darío, whose real name was Felix Rubén García
Sarmiento, is often called the "Prince of Spanish-American literature."
In his honour, his birthplace in Nicaragua was renamed Darío. The
Rubén Darío National Theatre in Managua is also named for
him.
Granada is an important city in the history
of Nicaraguan literature. The "Vanguardia" poets of the 1920s and 1930s,
such as Joaquín Pasos and Pablo Antonio Cuadra, made their home
there. Joaquín Pasos wrote Canto de Guerra de las Cosas ("War
Song of Things"), a poem considered to be a masterpiece. The Palacio de
Cultura Joaquín Pasos honours him. Other popular Nicaraguan writers
include Azarías Pallais, Salomón de la Selva and Alfonso
Cortés. |
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In the countryside, music is still sometimes played
on traditional instruments such as maracas, which are made from
gourds and make a rattling sound, and chirimias (wind instruments
like clarinets). Folk and contemporary music are more popular in the cities
and towns. Reggae music is popular on the Caribbean coast, especially in
Bluefields, a largely English-speaking town. |
Did you know? |
"Everyone's
a poet in Nicaragua" - or almost everyone. You can find poets everywhere
from remote mountain villages to government offices in Managua. |
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The Solentiname Islands, located in the southern
part of Lake Nicaragua, are a haven for artists and craftspeople. They
are well-known for a colourful and unusual style of painting, called the
"Solentiname School." In the early 1970s, Ernesto Cardenal, priest, poet
and later Minister of Culture in the Sandinista government, visited the
islands and noticed a local resident drawing. He gave the man paper and
coloured pencils and encouraged him to continue. Later, the Nicaraguan
painter Roger Pérez de la Rocha visited the islands to teach the
local people painting techniques. By 1974, many residents were painting
pictures of daily life. These paintings have been displayed in galleries
in Managua, New York and Paris. |
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Did you know? |
Ernesto
Cardenal and Carlos Mejía Godoy composed the well-known Nicaraguan
Missa Campesina or Peasant Mass. This popular mass draws on the
ideas of liberation theology, which views religion in Latin America from
the perspective of the poor and the oppressed. |
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