Born in the Netherlands, Thierry Zipper discovered at an early age his attraction for rhythms and percussion. At age 16 he moved into a squat place, where he lived and played music with South African musicians. For more than 3 years they participated in ANC and some other anti apartheid movements with as a result the album "Bullets won't stop us now".
At age 19, already in Amsterdam, Thierry Zipper started taking timbales lesson with Stephanie Chapman. In the same period, during one of the "Wednesday night session" at "De Kroeg" in Amsterdam, Thierry met the internationally famous percussionist "Papin", member of the "Tropicana de Cuba" orchestra, they became friends and he learnd from "Papin" how to play the tumbadora, getting from that moment on hooked with Afro-Cuban music.
Thierry Zipper played in a lot of bands and made a significant number of recordings. He also traveled through South America staying in countries like Puerto Rico, Colombia and Cuba, country he visited with "Sexteto trio los dos" to study and play Cuban rhythms. Once in Cuba he passed the exam for professional percussionists with the help of his Cuban teacher "Manolito el rapido". He has had some other teachers along the way. Some of them are: Javier Campos, Orlando Poleo, and Stephanie Chapman.
This are the bands Thierry Zipper has played in: "Salto absurdo", "Tipico tampoco", "The Banwagon", "Sexteto trio los dos", "Son cuarenta", "Veronica y su medicina". Thierry Zipper made also recordings at TV programs, and participated in many national and international festivals.
