Sons de Carrilhoes

Sons de Carrilhões (Sounds of bells) always brings a smile to my face. The Maxixe was a dance style that originated and developed in Rio de Janeiro at much the same time as Tango was taking hold in Argentina, at the turn of the 20th century. Rhythmically, there seem to be two written variants of this piece, one where the semi-quavers of the accompaniment are placed evenly and one where they are syncopated. I find the syncopation more satisfying. Providing a timeline for Guimarães’ work is not easy but this piece seems to have been composed in the early 1920s.