Carlo Simonelli

Carlo Simonelli was born on 22 September 1938 in Chur, the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden. His father was a building craftsman from Langwies. He trained as an electrician, and in 1955, during his apprenticeship, he rented an accordion and taught himself to play by ear, devoting himself from the age of 17 to improvised playing on the accordion and the Schwyzerörgeli. With his older brother Sepp Simonelli and the clarinettist Arno Caflisch he formed the Ländlerkapelle Gebrüder Simonelli, which became an important source of income for the family. In 1957 he bought his own instrument.

After the family band, Carlo and Sepp Simonelli led the Ländlerkapelle Seestern. Carlo settled in Celerina in the Upper Engadine, where he also worked as a ski instructor, and after a number of musical stations he founded the Engadiner Ländlerfründa there in 1969, with Sepp on double bass and Arno Caflisch on clarinet.

The Engadiner Ländlerfründa soon became one of the best known bands in Graubünden folk music and stood for the characteristic Graubünden style. They played with musicians such as the clarinettist Domenic Janett, and from 1985 Carlo's son Gian Carlo Simonelli joined the core line-up on clarinet. Over almost six decades the band gave countless concerts, touring many European countries, travelling to South America and visiting the Far East three times. From 1972 they released around 15 long-playing records and other recordings.

The band were regular guests on the folk music programmes of the Swiss broadcaster SRF and also appeared on German television, including Hansi Hinterseer's Am grünen Inn in 2009 and the ARD programme Kein schöner Land.

As a composer Simonelli wrote around 30 folk melodies. His best known pieces include Am Dorffäscht z Celerina, Uf dr Corviglia and the schottische Im Felsaschuss. In 2012 the government of Graubünden awarded him a recognition prize of 20,000 Swiss francs for his life's work as accordionist, composer and bandleader.

Simonelli made his home in Celerina in the Upper Engadine for most of his life. Music was a family affair: he played for decades alongside his brother Sepp, who died in 2014, and his son Gian Carlo joined the Engadiner Ländlerfründa as clarinettist in 1985 and continued the family tradition.

Carlo Simonelli died on the evening of Wednesday 11 November 2026, aged 88. His death was confirmed to the Swiss newspaper Blick by his son Gian Carlo, who said that his father's unbounded joy in playing had been infectious, and was also reported by the Romansh broadcaster RTR. The cause of death has not been made public. The news was reported in Switzerland and Germany on 14 November, and fans and fellow musicians paid tribute online.

Simonelli is remembered as one of the defining personalities of Swiss folk music and as the musician who, with the Engadiner Ländlerfründa, made the Graubünden Ländler style known at home and abroad. His compositions, above all Im Felsaschuss, remain in the repertoire of many Ländler bands, and the band he founded continued through his son Gian Carlo.