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The accordion
was invented in Austria in 1829, and was brought to Berne
in the 1830s. Johannes Drollinger, an Austrian immigrant found
the instrument too limited for his needs, so made himself
a modified version. His Langnauerli had one row of
keys. With his brother, Drollinger they began to manufacture
accordions, and their business flourished until WWI.
Robert
Iten made a completely new model accordion, which he called
"Schwizerorgeli", named after the district he lived
in. After a few minor adjustments, this instrument became
one of the main Swiss accordions used today. It consists of
a diatonic right handed keyboard and a chromatic left handed
keyboard.
Swiss
style music was popular until the 1940s when jazz arrived,
but was revived again at the beginning of the 1970s.
In French-speaking
Switzerland, one of the first artists to play the chromatic
accordion was Victor Gibelli (b 1872). He was one of the inventors
of the three rowed diatonic accordion, which allowed the instrument
more flexibility.
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