In recent years Simonsen has also regularly traveled to Rosario in Argentina to seek inspiration and delve deeper into the Latin American tango culture.

One result of this is building up the tango orchestra Tangueros del norte, established by Simonsen in 2003, with students from Trondheim Municipal Music School.

Simonsen otherwise has given its name to all the ensembles he has been the initiator or co-creator of Tango Conertino (initiated by Sveinung Lillebjerka, Ørnulf Lillebjerka and Kåre Simonsen), Quinteto Nidaros, Trio Troika, Cholo Tango Duet / Trio and Tangueros Del Norte.

Norsk tipping and Norwegian culture school advice "Drømmestipendet" is awarded to students of Simonsen five times including Tangueros del norte.

In 1994 he toured with Arja Saijonmaa in Finland, Sweden and Norway, in 2010 with the Swedish singer Lena Jinnegren [2] with the tango concept Glow.