Try explaining to a teenager that the television station MTV used to have these things called "music videos" on it and you are in for an interesting afternoon. In journalism school, the heavy impact of MTV and its original videos on the media industry as a whole is now part of the course. The groundbreaking station changed the approach to video production all the way up to the top news formats and its influence is still seen today. However, today music video seems to have all but totally moved online. On the bright side, that makes it available to all, everyday.

You can learn a lot about the culture of another place in the world simply by watching its popular music videos. Not only the music and the artist involved; but the background landscapes, architecture, styling and simple mannerisms are all on display. Even the production quality itself says something about the place it was created in. Incidentally, music has always been a great tool for learning another language as well.

We start off in Guadalajara, Mexico where Electronica is huge right now.

Moving further south we come to Guatemala. Singer Ricardo Arjona stands at 6 feet 4 inches, which makes him unusually tall in a country where even the men tend to hover only slightly over the 5-foot mark. This is probably the main reason he also holds the Guatemalan national record for most points scored in a basketball game. This video features the iconic Volkswagon Beetle which still serves as a trustworthy taxi in Guatemala City (and is still in widespread use throughout Latin America). The public transportation in Latin America is to be greatly envied..

We don't hear too much about Honduras in the news anymore, basically because they're not shooting down there any more. But Honduras did suffer a constitutional crisis recently in the news with its government not being recognized by many nations for a while. Nonetheless, its currency seemed to stabilize in 2008 and the port of Cortes now serves as one of a group of advanced scanning stations for security threats before cargo ships sail on to American ports. In Alexandra's "I Imagine You," we get a slight glimpse of the lush Central American foliage available "right in the backyard" to these inhabitants of a rainforest nation.

In Latin American music, beginning with the Tejano and Norteno bands just south of the American border, the independently-produced music market is actually something more economically powerful than the American "Indie Rock" genre could even dream of. As you travel to some of the smaller countries in our hemisphere, you might see some great disparities in the production budgets for film projects. Nonetheless, the local stars play their songs and videos to audiences on shelf space right alongside the international superstars. In this video, the Nicaraguan group STOP takes advantage of the country's natural beauty for this performance of their hit, "A Fuego Lento." (to burn slowly)

While Latin America is known for rythm and bling in its music, there is still a strong core of classically trained musicians wherever you go. Editus is a neo-classical ensemble hailing from Costa Rica, a country more famous for its beach lifestyle and tropical tourism. Editus has gained international notoriety and an audience from a wide spectrum of listeners. Equally as eclectic is the film work that is put into their - rather bizarre - music videos. Enjoy.

Since you cannot reach South America through Panama by land (because of the Darien Gap, the world's most dangerous piece of real estate), we're going to take a little boat tour to Guyana, a country unfortunately most remembered for a very tragic event involving an American religious cult. English is this country's most spoken language, followed by Hindi. Immigrants from India as well as the descendents of freed black slaves are large parts of the population here, and the fusion of the two cultures along with caribbean traditions has produced a genre known as "Chutney-Soca." The popularity of this music style also crosses the waters to the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

As we travel east into Venezuela, we are once again crossing back into the influence of colonial Spain (and the former stomping grounds of Simon Bolivar, South America's revered "liberator"). Venezuela flies onto our radar screen every so often thanks to the late, politically colorful Hugo Chavez. Venezuela's heritage, art, and culture have been heavily influenced by the Caribbean culture as well. These elements extend to its historic buildings, architecture, art, landscape, boundaries, and monuments. And while Los Amigos Invisibles is obviously a foray into modern music, the caribbean influence is unmistakable.

Heading further west, we land in Colombia, home to the internationally famous Shakira. But since you folks are probably quite familiar with her, we're going to take a look at a performer by the name of Juanes. It seems a while back that the Colombian government launched a raid against a FARC base that was actually inside Ecuador's borders. Venezuela and Ecuador protested against an unrepentent Colombia and all three countries began massing soldiers at their borders. Well, Juanes decided to throw a concert right on the border-crossing bridge between Colombia and Venezuela. A monstrously massive crowd showed up for the show that totally dwarfed the military assets on both sides of the border. News reports later said the concert did seem to shame the governments into easing tensions.

The ancient ruins of Machu Picchu shrouded in its pristine mountainous perch is probably the iconic image of Peru. But the country also has a very vibrant urban side as well. It was on the streets of Lima that Gian Marco grew up. He also spent some early adult years in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Marco's success with three grammy nominations as well as a side career of composing music for other artists such as Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan and Mandy Moore, make Marco the most successful Peruvian singer/songwriter of the modern era. Here he performs "Lamento."

Bolivia has garnered a bit of attention for itself in the last few years with one president ousted, and later the election of Evo Morales, a former coca farmer and that nation's first indigenous president. Kalamarka is a very popular group in Latin America that bases its pop sound on the ancient flutes of the Aymara Indians.

Brazil - what can we say? Brazil is known for its Rio de Janeiro, carnaval and of course the upcoming olympics. But this young folk singer made a name for herself by being one of a handful of artists that launched their own careers over the internet. Within two years of logging onto a MySpace page, Mallu Magalhães was making music videos and entering the mainstream music market. In this video she recalls the romantic iconography of yesteryear in this Portuguese-speaking emerging superpower.

Now to the country that's making a lot of headlines this year: Uruguay. One of the unique distinctions of this country is its resolve in investing in the digital age. In Uruguay, every child receives a laptop computer from the school for free. Montevideo is becoming a software hub for the southern hemisphere, working closely with computer companies in India. For film enthusiast Federico Alvarez, the access to digital technology was a true boon. Using the latest home computer software, Alvarez created a four-minute science fiction movie trailer and put it on YouTube. Days later Hollywood called offering the aspiring producer a $30 million deal. The whole project had cost him a whopping $300. After the viral hit, Alvarez spliced together a music video version for his friends, the local Montevideo rock band Snake, and the result is what we see here.