Violinas presents the almost-lost traditions of violin making and playing in New Mexico. Instructor Peter White traces the history of these traditions back to the 1600s, when Jesuit priests brought violin making along the Rio Grande river basin to the indigenous peoples of the region. From chopping down tight-grained mountain pines in the Sandias to lessons in ethnomusicology, a handful of students from the University of New Mexico work to reinvigorate the original violin-making tradition of North America.