Bio

Click here to View Telesma’s EPK (electronic press kit)

Telesma is:

Ian Hesford (didgeridoo, kubing, dumbek, djun-djun, throat singing)

Jason Sage (keyboards, percussion, programmer, lyrics)

Joanne Juskus (vocals, percussion, karatalas)

Chris Mandra (guitar, analog guitar synth, his unique manDrum, and vocals)

Bryan Jones “Jonesy” (6 string MIDI & upright basses, theremin, percussion)

Rob Houck (drum kit, percussion, electronic drums)

TELESMA BIO:

The Telesma experience is an ecstatic trans-cultural phenomenon with a highly
infectious and danceable beat. Exploding on the Baltimore music scene in 2002, it soon
developed a loyal local fan base and then shook the underground festival scene. Alex
Grey, the noted visionary artist, hailed Telesma as “shamanic… with a sense of an
underlying universal wisdom…a rare combination in a rock/techno band.”

Telesma’s blurs the line between performer and audience, attracting the most
creative VJs, dancers, visual artists and body artists to its shows. Every Telesma show is
a vortex of creativity; a celebration of body, mind and spirit.

The didgeridoo and manDrum too. Telesma’s vast arsenal of musical finery includes
instruments as divergent as the kubing (bamboo mouth harp from the Philippines), to
electronic and tribal drums and the manDrum, one of the inventions of Telesma’s guitarist,
as well as bass, keyboards, drum kit and the human voice.

Hard to describe. Dancing is mandatory. Telesma’s sound has been sometimes
described as “psychedelic tribal modern world dance music, “ with diverse sounds ranging
from intense polyrhythmic rock to the trance-like pulses of modern electronic dance/
groove music.

“Dead Can Dance… with Teeth” — Telesma has been compared to Dead Can Dance,
Pink Floyd, Tabla Beat Science, Amon Tobin, King Crimson, Ravi Shankar, Krishna Das,
Afro-Celt Soundsystem, Bob Marley, Sun Ra Arkestra, Thievery Corporation, Tool, Mickey
Hart’s Planet Drum, and Peter Gabriel, to name a few.

The Telesma Live Experience. Telesma introduced the first “Visionary Gathering”
to Baltimore with the internationally recognized artist Alex Grey in 2008. Captured live
in 5.1 Surround Sound, the band released the DVD of the event as well as the live CD,
Hearing Visions: Live to great acclaim. More collaborative projects with Alex Grey at his
Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) ensued, as well as performances with visionary artist
Adam Scott Miller. Their studio album, O(h)M, also received critical acclaim upon its
release in 2007 on the independent label sTRANGELY cOMPELLING mUSIC.

Go west young band. Telesma takes its first west coast tour during the summer of
2010, beginning at Faerieworlds in Eugene, Oregon. Not to be missed, Telesma has
been in demand at such venues/festival as Starwood Pagan Gathering, FaeireCon, Raw
Spirit Gathering, Culturefest, Spoutwood Fairie Festival, Maryland Faerie Festival, Alex
Grey’s Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), Free Spirit Gathering, the Baltimore PowWow,
Phanphest, SoWeBo Festival, Nelsons Ledges Quarry Park, 98Rock’s Summer Concert
Series, and many great venues including Sonar, 8×10 Club, Recher Theatre, Metro Gallery,
The Creative Alliance at the Patterson, Public Assembly, and The Whiskey to name
a few.

We are Telesma: Ian Hesford (didgeridoo, kubing, dumbek, percussion) and Jason
Sage (keyboards, vocals, percussion, programmer), Joanne Juskus (vocals, percussion,
karatalas), Chris Mandra (guitar, analog guitar synth, the manDrum, and vocals), Bryan
Jones “Jonesy” (6 string MIDI & upright basses, theremin, percussion), and Rob Houck
(drum kit, percussion, electronic drums) to complete the lineup.