Tanar Çatalpinar, born in Ankara, came to the Netherlands during the seventies. He autodidacticly developed into a composer, singer and musician. He is one of the first musicians in Western Europe who broke new ground in ethnic music and achieved a fusion with jazz and pop music. Bearing musical witness to this are bands like Turquoise and East Meets West, both of which he started.

Nahim Avci is one of a select group of saz-virtuosos in the Netherlands. He was taught the special technique by a traditional Turkish master. In addition to the saz Nahim also plays other Turkish instruments, including kemane and tar. He studied composition at the Rotterdam Conservatory (academy of music) and he occupies himself with the preservation of Turkish musical traditions.

Benito Ouwendijk studied with the celebrated Paco Pena at the Rotterdam academy of music where he developed into an inspired flamenco-guitarist. He frequently travels to Andalucía to further his studies in the various aspects of flamenco music. Benito is active within several projects, including the flamenco dúo 'La Union' and Prisca Maria's 'Arte Flamenco'.

Ashok Pathak descends from a renowned Northern Indian family, who have brought forth traditional musicians for 700 years now. There is indeed an official school for Pathak music. His first tutor was his father Pandit Balram Pathak, who was himself a celebrated musician in India. Ashok Pathak performs as a solo-player on a regular basis and in addition he teaches at various schools of music.

Alice van den Boogaard was attracted to 'those beautiful low tones' from an early age. Considering this, her choice of the bass-guitar is not hard to understand. After having played funk, soul and R&B, she became more and more interested in jazz and world music. Alice has been performing with ACHA since February 1996.

Siavach Yazdanifar, from Iran, is a real virtuoso on the "tombak", an Iranian percussion instrument. In Belgium he accompanies several groups from his native country. Siavach has been a member of ACHA since 1996.