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Luiz Gonzaga
Biography
It is rare that someone who functions nominally as a folklorist or music historian becomes a celebrated performer, but one significant exception to this rule is the great Luiz Gonzaga. Colorfully attired (his most famous fashion accessory being his tasseled hat), and naked without his accordion, Gonzaga was a living, breathing representative of northeast Brazils' culture and music. Imagine if noted American musicologist Alan Lomax was as celebrated for his performing as he was for his cataloging and collecting and you get the picture. Gonzaga was indeed an archivist, but rather than spending his time in recording and cataloguing his findings for use in libraries, he became an oral historian, traveling throughout Brazil performing the indigenous music (and variations thereof) of his northeastern birthplace.

Born in the tiny farming town of Caicara in 1912, Gonzaga had little formal education as the hard life of farming put him in the fields at the age of seven. As a child Gonzaga was captivated by the stories of the Brazilian bandit/accordion player Lampiao (who died at the age of 36 in 1934). In Brazilian folklore, especially amongst those living in the northeast, Lampiao is sort of Robin Hood figure, an outlaw who served the poor and dispossessed, robbing from the rich and (mostly) giving to the poor farmers.
Selected Discography