Parodistical and stylistic transpositions in the re-recording of brega songs

Abstract

This paper emerges from the attempt to better understand the phenomenon observed on certain stigmatized songs which, being re-released by more culturally prestiged coverers, begin to be observed as artistic statements of “good taste”. The research focuses on the re-releases of “brega” (tacky) songs, understanding this process of transposition as an intertextual phenomenon, reading it from the Discini’s postulates (2004). Nonetheless, the distinct sanctions which the re-releases receive are also products of a socio-historical process, one that Tatit (2004) translates in terms of “sorting” and “mixing”. The construction of the identity of a determined song, perceived as “brega”, is defined by a series of meaning effects which this text tries to demonstrate by analysing two “brega” songs which were re-recorded by singers in other styles: Odair José’s “Eu vou tirar você desse lugar” (1995) and the Los Hermanos’ versions (2002), and “Sozinho”, in the versions by Peninha (1997) and Caetano Veloso (1998).