More than singers: Biography, Gender and Agency in the Voices of Four Women Singer-songwriters in Contemporary Portugal

This dissertation addresses the relationship between gender, music, poetic creation and performance in contemporary Portugal. It focuses on the lives and work of four women singer-songwriters who represent different generations, artistic profiles and music stylistic options. Though the singer-songwriters portrayed in this dissertation are commonly referred to - in the media, by musical agents and listeners - only as singers, they see themselves primarily as authors and composers. I analyze how their agency is expressed through their authorial and metaphorical voices, shaping listeners’ subjectivities and mediating personal beliefs and social/political concerns. Through the articulation and analyses of their music, poetry, biography, performance and the discourses that revolve around them, I attempt to show how gender affects all aspects of music making. Since patriarchal gender ideologies are deeply ingrained in the music industry as in society in general, these four case studies demonstrate how gender asymmetries can stimulate and shape music making, performance and its reception.