About Gibraltar

Dirkjan graduated as an improvising percussionist at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory and the School of the Arts of Arnhem. After that he started combining jazz with world music. Dirkjan has played with numerous jazz and other groups, such as: The Deep River Quartet, The Patrick Sedoc Trio, Dextet (with David Kweksilber), Shades of Sound (Latin Jazz), The Akki Haak Band, Matthew in Boston (Funky Organ Grooves), All That Jazz and Soul (Hammond Quartet), Kuifje in Afrika (Traditional Malinke Music), The Jewish Music Band, The Benonies (Italian Film Music), Sobre Manera, The Amstel Big Band, Paolo Passionata, The Sun Prophets, Tipico Tampoco/Parece Picante and Soweto and Soul.

As a double bass player Pieter was trained at the Amsterdam Conservatory. His big musical appetite brought him to orchestras such as the Dutch Ballet Orchestra and the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, and to artists like Tania Kross, Elvis Costello and the Rosenberg Trio. In the theatre world he accompanied Marijke Boon, Lenette van Dongen, Loes Luca, René Groothof and others. He was a steady foundation of groups like the World Orchestra, Cobla La Principal d'Amsterdam and Quinteto Bailongo. Pieter also contributed to the start of a popschool in Kosovo, via Musicians Without Borders.

Erman, child of professional musicians, studied music theory and composition at the İstanbul Üniversitesi. Before that, he was already playing keys and singing for years in professional bands in Istanbul. In September 2023 he started studying jazz piano at the Conservatory of Utrecht, the city where he lives. Since his move to the Netherlands, he has been playing and singing in all kinds of formations and settings, in Holland, Belgium, Germany and Turkey. In the meantime he is also active as a composer and arranger.

With his oboe Joris visited teachers such as Eduard Wesly (ex-Calefax). He got saxophone lessons from Paul Stocker, Marc Scholten and others. With his tenora – made by Pau Orriols near Barcelona – he knocked at the door of Catalan tenorists like Jordi Molina, Jaume Vilà and Ferran Miàs. He was a member of different orchestras and ensembles, such as Cobla La Principal d'Amsterdam, of which he was the artistic and administrative leader during some ten years and with which he made well received CDs and got awards like the Creu de Sant Jordi.