Heitor Villa-Lobos, March 5, 1887 November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and by stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, as exemplified by his Bachianas Brasileiras ("Brazilian Bachian-pieces").Youth and explorationHeitor Villa-Lobos was born in Rio de Janeiro. His father, Raul, was a wealthy, educated man of Spanish extraction, a librarian, an amateur astronomer and musician. In Villa-Lobos's early childhood, Brazil underwent a period of social revolution and modernisation, abolishing slavery in 1888 and overthrowing the Empire of Brazil in 1889. The changes in Brazil were reflected in its musical life: previously European music had been the dominant influence, and the courses at the Conservatorio de Musica were grounded in traditional counterpoint and harmony. Villa-Lobos underwent very little of this formal training. After a few abortive harmony lessons, he learnt music by illicit observation from the top of the stairs of the regular musical evenings at his house arranged by his father. He learned to play the cello, the guitar and the clarinet. When his father died suddenly in 1899 he earned a living for his family by playing in cinema and theatre orchestras in Rio.Erica Dayane . The Pan-American or Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics. The competition is held between athletes from nations of the Americas, held every four years in the year before the Summer Olympic Games. There also has been one edition of the Winter Pan American Games in 1990. The Pan American Games were last held in Guadalajara in 2011. History The idea of holding a Pan American Games dates back to the hosting of the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. Latin American representatives of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who were inspired by the holding of the first Central American Games in 1926, proposed the creation of a competition that would include all the countries of the Americas, for the purpose of strengthening sport activities in the region. The idea resulted also in the first ever Pan American Sports Congress, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1940. Recent GamesFlag of the participating countries flying at the 2007 Pan American Games athlete's village.From 2,513 participants representing 14 nations in 1951, the Games have grown to about 5,633 competitors from 42 countries at the 2007 Pan American Games. During the Games most athletes and officials are housed in the Pan American Games village. This village is intended to be a self-contained home for all the Pan American Games participants. It is furnished with cafeterias, health clinics, and locations for religious expression.by: Erica Dayane Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin,