Corin Curschellas

Corin Curschellas (Romansh pronunciation: [ˈkɔrin kurˈʃeːlɐs]; born 2 July 1956) is a Swiss singer-songwriter, vocalist (jazz, folk music, world music, chanson), free improvisation, actress (theatre, film, musical), voice actress in (radio drama and audio books) as well as voice instructress. Curschellas was born in 1956 in Chur (Graubünden, Switzerland where she grew up. She attended the local state school in Chur, Kantonsschule Chur, and completed her studies in 1977 with a Primary Teacher's Certificate.

From 1977 to 1983 she studied theatre and theatre pedagogy at the Zurich University of the Arts as well as three semesters of Music Sciences at the University of Zurich.

From 1983 until 1989 Curschellas lived in Berlin, followed by two years in Basel. A grant she received enabled her to move to Paris in 1991, where she ended up living until 2000, with a two-year break she spent in New York City from 1995 to 1997. Between 2000 and 2005 she alternated between Paris and Zürich.

I have always lived in worlds foreign to me, but the poems and songs enabled me to connect with my home […] I certainly was homesick. In Berlin I read copious volumes on the Romansh culture. Before that it had hardly interested me, but there I really wanted to get to know it. I met so many people who spoke of their origins that I wanted to find or establish my identity

The song "Senza patria", "Homeless" in English, stems from this rather eventful period in her life.

Since 2005 the artist has lived in Zürich and in the Surselvan Rueun about 30 kilometers outside of Chur. In Rueun she lives together with her life partner, the sculptor Linard Nicolay, in the house that belonged to her grandparents and where she used to spend her childhood holidays.Corin Curschellas' actual mother tongue is the Swiss German dialect. Although from her father she learnt to speak near-perfect Surselvan, she does not herself write any Graubünden Romansh songs. However, she does sing the lyrics and songs of Romansh writers in full Romansh Idiom, including Graubünden Rumansh.Speaking of her increased connection to her Romansh roots and her return to Rueun, Corin Curschellas says:

Jeu sundel en ina fasa dalla veta nua ch’igl ei sco sche mellis dutgs vegnessen ensemen per sbuccar ella mar. Ei vegn tut pli ruasseivel, ferm e curaschus, pli clar e concentrau.