Description
Luiz Gonzaga has become one of the most important composers and interpreters of Brazilian popular music of his time. His voice, his clothing, his particular way of talking and his intonation made him become a great national symbol, a
representative of a regional identity. Luiz Gonzaga is considered one of the most active men who spread out culture, costumes and beliefs of the Brazilian Northeast,
and his songs try to portrait the socio-cultural and sociopolitical context of the Northeast. This very day, some researchers consider his songs as a genuine mar k
that also keeps alive cultural and folkloric roots of the region. After reading part of the literature on his work, we realized that there were few linguistic critical studies based upon Social Semiotics. This study investigates the way Luiz Gonzaga.s songs contribute to establish a Brazilian northeastern people identity. This approach
becomes relevant while it helps to improve the knowledge on the processes of construction of that identity, through a critical reading of the songs opposite to those discursive practices which tend to favor the creation of stereotypes related to Brazilian northeastern people, and so to the unification of a cultural identity in the region. We chose at random twenty songs by Luiz Gonzaga, which were analyzed
according to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and based upon the threedimensional model proposed by Norman Fairclough (2001). The categories for the analysis were: transitivity - according to Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), Ethos/Cultural identities, intertextuality and interdiscourse. In the songs, it.s possible to see a connection between cultural aspects of the region, nature and its regional elements, what confers meanings to the construction of a social reality. The drought, in those songs, appears as the only big problem in the Brazilian Northeast. Thus, Luiz Gonzaga represents the discursive practice of the society of that time and adheres to the discursive order that surrounds him. Then, he reinforces a
stereotyped point-of-view which reduces Brazilian northeastern people identity to those of who suffered with the drought. In addition, Luiz Gonzaga.s songs represent
the social order of the time he lived. His songs in a certain way incited the Government to send more and more supplies to help people in the region, an attitude that generated the Brazilian drought industry . Brazilian Northeastern people are represented as slaves and economically dependent on the Government, unable to perceive hegemonic struggles of the region and to combat them.
