“A band in prayer make good music”
— Pierre Dunker
bio
Pierre Dunker is a composer and bass player from the island of Curaçao in the Caribbean. He grew up in a musical family: His father, brothers and uncles were all guitar players. Growing up at home he was surrounded by the sounds of popular Caribbean, Brazilian and American pop music of the Seventies and Eighties.
At 9 he picked up the cuatro and the guitar. At the age of 15 he began to play the electric bass. His interest in jazz music afforded him the opportunity to play with many local jazz artists and at the age of 27, Pierre picked up the upright bass. For 10 years he played among others with Gary Levy, a saxophonist from Brooklyn, New York at Hooks Hut in Curaçao, where he was able to further hone his musical skills. During this time Pierre began to draw the attention of numerous artists abroad.
Among others, he has worked with Dave Valentin (USA), Avishai Cohen (Israël/USA), Timucin Sahin (USA/Turkey), Hüsnü Şenlendirici (Turkey), Izaline Calister (NL/Curacao), Denise Jannah (Netherlands), Amina Figarova (USA), Israel Gonzalez (Cuba), Pernell Saturnino (Curaçao and USA), Miles Peña (USA), Michiel Borstlap (Netherlands), Gary Weill (Venezuela) and many more.
He now resides in the Netherlands working locally as well in the rest of Europe on different musical projects, including his very own quartet.
