Long before the Spanish conquest, music played an important part in Salvadoran life. Archaeologists have found various kinds of musical instruments – whistles with several tones, pipes with as many as six finger holes, and drums of wood or clay called huehuetle, originally covered with deerskin. The marimba, a wooden xylophone, also has a long history and is still played.
Traditional songs include religious music, songs for festival days, and themes of rural life. Folk songs sometimes make fun of the rich and powerful. Modern popular music has its roots in Spanish, Cuban and Mexican music. Salvadoran bands frequently play a bouncy style called cubmia.

Salvadoran Cumbia is a staple in Salvadoran music. Groups such as Orquesta San Vicente who sing (Soy Salvadoreño), the Bravo group who sing (Sabrosa Cumbia) and the Hermanos Flores group who sing (Mi País) are three well known cumbia music groups in El Salvador. As well, hip-hop and reggaeton groups have a growing influence on the music scene, embracing the story telling ethos of Salvadoran literature.
Some Salvadoran musicians make a name for themselves in the United States. Brothers Victor and Johnny Lopez are a Spanish language rap duo called Crooked Stilo. Born in El Salvador, the brothers live in Los Angeles. Blending hip-hop with Latin rhythms, they released their third album, Retrosalo, in 2005.

Traditional dance is a blend of Spanish and indigenous influences. This music includes religious songs (mostly Roman Catholic) used to celebrate Christmas and other holidays, especially feast days of the saints with Tubular bells Chimes. Satirical and rural lyrical themes are common and played with Xylophone.

On festival days, people in colorful costumes act out tales in song and dance. Decorated wooden masks represent stock characters, such as a fool with a monkey face.

Popular styles in modern El Salvador include Salvadoran Cumbia, Salvadoran hip hop, Rock and Native Mesoamerican Indigenous music which historically have had a long and large significance and impact on modern El Salvador music styles.
Like its writers and poets, El Salvador’s musicians have an independent streak. Classical composers such as Victor Manuel López Guzmán (1922-1993) incorporated pre-Colombian rhythms into his string compositions, conjuring visions of the national landscape.
Salvadoran composers have been numerous. In 1860 José Escolástico Andrino became the country’s first composer. He wrote church music, symphonies, and one opera. He also formed the first symphonic orchestra. The twentieth-century composers Wenceslao García and María Mendoza de Baratta both emphasize Indian themes. Two composers both born in 1968 – Carlos Mendizabal and Carlos Colon Quintana – are promising in the twenty-first century.
Classical music has long had a home in El Salvador. In 1875, the Philharmonic Society of El Salvador was founded, replaced in 1910 by the National Orchestral Society and later the National Symphonic Orchestra, founded by Paul Muller in 1922. El Salvador’s fine National Symphonic Orchestra enjoys funding from both government and private sources. Under the baton of distinguished directors, the orchestra is a credit to the cultural life of the country. The first Salvadoran conductor, Alejandro Muñoz Ciudad Real (1902-1991) organized public performances, giving everyone a taste of the arts.

Today the El Salvador Opera is on a mission to be recognized as the premier destination in Central America for live theater, variety shows, and opera. It develops artistic talent, works with local children, and produces professional performances.

Folk art and painting

Salvadorans are famous for their lively folk art, especially ceramics. Brightly painted clay objects often use native and peasant symbols. A specialty is sorpresas (surprises) – little painted figures under a walnut-sized clay shell. Wood carvers create masks, Spanish riders, religious items, and traditional peasant dolls.

Painting is the most important modern art in El Salvador, with a long history of excellence. A Salvadoran national school of painting developed in the early twentieth century. Notable painters of this school were Juan Francisco Cisneros and Miguel Ortíz Villacorta. His experimental art displays the same interest in the inner life that his stories do. He experimented with “automatic” painting, for instance, letting his hand paint without interference from his conscious mind.

Notable among modern painters is José Mejía Vide. He depicts the lives of ordinary people and the villages of his home country. The paintings of Noé Canjura are full of social and religious themes, such as his painting Índian Christ. The vibrant and colorful art of Fernando Llort is rooted in folk traditions. In the 1970s, Llort founded an art center at La Palma, Chalatenango. With his support, the artisans of La Palma have become well known.