Jack Lowry has been in music for over 30 years. He started with rock and jazz guitar as a teenager, but later he became busy mixing live sound for Indian, West Indian, Bangalee, Persian, etc. concerts. Through these, he learned about doloks, harmoniums, tablas & non western scales. In 2007, fueled by the energy he experienced at the drum circles at Starwood and the power of Raquy & the Cavemen, he started to experiment with playing Middle Eastern music. He debuted with the Anka Kusu band/dance troupe at Spring Caravan in 2010. Jack plays Oud (fretless string lute), mini 12 string guitar. cumbush (a fretless Turkish banjo) and sings in Gypsy Funk Squad. He has attended retreats/workshops with Jim Donovan, Raquy Danziger, Ross M. Daly and others.

Ohannes was born in Istanbul, Turkey and lived there until the age of seventeen. After high school, he came USA to study Engineering. He has a MS in Electrical Engineering from NJIT. He has always been into music, rhythm and dancing. He got his first doumbek when he was around 10 years old and learned to play then very popular song Mastika. He became more serious about music when he started taking some oud lessons from John Vartan in late 90s. John Vartan gave him the opportunity to sit in with his band as second percussionist or as the bass player. And that's how he got into playing on stage. He has also danced for 6 years with the Antranig Dance Ensemble, an Armenian dance troupe. Being born in Turkey and being of Armenian decent, he is very familiar with Armenian and Turkish repertoire and rhythms. He is also familiar with Arabic, Greek and Jewish songs. He has also been playing over 20 years at the African Drum and Dance Circle in Central Park. He loves playing and organizing drum circles, and admins a Facebook Group called North Jersey Drum Circles . His nick name at drum circles is the Cowbell Boy as he loves to play the cowbell. Visit his Facebook Fan Page to find out about his gigs and drum circle activities. You can also connect with him on Facebook.

Jason Eaton: This heavy hitter was born in Queens NYC and raised in the garden state of NJ. As a child, his parents introduced him to the joyful sounds of Motown, funk, and salsa. In the year 2000, Jason graduated college and bought his first traditional djembe hand drum. Determined to live coast to coast, Jason set out to make some noise. Drumming in Las Vegas, California, and Alaska taught him that you can learn more about a person in an hour of play than a day of conversation. Now he is back in NJ to share the light and love of The Drum.

Koshek Swaminathan is an artist and writer who loves music and has been in the music business for many years and on many sides. He began learning about the business side as publicity assistant at Capital Records and doing radio and retail promotions at EMI. He's been a promoter of bands, producer of events, curator of sound art, copywriter for record companies - just to name a few. Koshek's sound art projects have been displayed in many galleries including the famous Hermitage Museum in Russia. Koshek is very grateful to have had many of the best teachers of music and of life. A small list would not do justice. Some of his teachers include Bruce Wacker who taught him guitar, Mickey Hart who taught him rhythm, Allen Ginsberg who taught him poetry, Bill Burroughs who showed him how to do easy, Maestro Iliaraja who taught him about Indian music composition, and David Peel who taught him how to keep moving and never stop doing music. Koshek also played in many bands of varied genres on both the eastern and western coasts of the United States. These genres include rock n roll, folk rock, bluegrass, electronic, sonic art, ambient, experimental dance, prog rock, punk, new new wave, country and western, East Indian - and now with Gypsy Funk Squad - middle eastern music. Koshek first met Ohannes in May of 2018 at the COGS Steamfest Festival. They quickly became friends and Ohannes introduced him to the rest of the band and they have all been playing music together ever since.

Jimmy Clark, a multi instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, and media producer from New Jersey, joined Gypsy Funk Squad in August 2019.

In GFS, Jimmy performs on (THE BIG) drums and contributes backup vocals, while also taking an active role in the band’s business affairs behind the scenes.

Jimmy has been a musician his entire life, with his primary instruments being Guitar, Piano, Percussion, world instruments including Didjeridoo, as well as Harmonica, and Bass.

From 2003 to 2013, Jimmy was devoted to his band, Amber Blues, of which he was the founding member. Amber Blues released 3 studio albums: “A Year And Some Days”(2008); “Your Next Obsession” (2010); and “The Colors That You See” (2012); and the band toured extensively appearing over 500 times in concert. Though the band went on hiatus on 2013, the members have stayed friends, and intend to (eventually) release a body of work that consists of many previously never before heard studio and live performance recordings.

From 2013 until the present (2023) he has been performing with Veronica Kole, a Pop Artist, who he has toured nationally with, as well as in multiple countries, appearing on stage with her for Royal Caribbean Cruise-lines, at the renowned Hard Rock Cafe (MA), B.B. Kings (NYC), Mohegan Sun Casino (CT), and extensively in the New Jersey tristate area.

In 2017, Jimmy and his musical partner Josh Kobel formed “Clark & Kobel”, a media production group that not only extensively recorded studio music, created accompanying art, and project companion books, but also created a full length feature film, “The Fools’ Journey”, a 22 music video anthology based on the Tarot which is expected to be released in 2023. In August 2022, Josh Kobel suddenly and tragically passed away, thus leaving Jimmy to pick up the mantle of their work in efforts to perpetuate their legacy of creation.

Aside from his endeavors as a producer and performer, Jimmy has been a business owner of 25 years with JC Music & Wellness LLC, his Artist Life Coaching and Music Education company.

Guest Artists

Former Members