Telesma (band)


Telesma is a Baltimore, Maryland based musical group playing in the psychedelic rock, world music, progressive rock,and trance music genres. A "telesma" is either a talisman or the energy with which a talisman is charged. Founded in 2002, the band performs at festivals and other venues across the country, mostly in the Eastern half of the United States.

Current roster

Band:
Additional artists/performers:
Blending ancient and modern instrumentation and spirit, Telesma bridges the gap between primal and futuristic. Setting themselves apart with their intoxicating sound and extraordinary live performances, they take the audience on a soul inspiring journey that transcends this world, tantalizes the senses, and moves the body with waves of pulsating rhythm.
Telesma's unique sound, often labeled “electro-acoustic psychedelic world dance music”, is driven by the ancient sound of the didgeridoo, the kubing, tribal drums and percussion, and the human voice. These elements are fused with modern instruments and technology to create a diverse sound ranging from intense polyrhythmic rock-n-roll, to ambient melodic meanderings, to trance-like pulses found in modern electronic dance/groove music. Telesma's live show 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.
Themes of higher consciousness, philosophy, connectivity, peace, and universal archetypes merge with influences from folklore, various mythologies and religion, nature, fantasy, art, and other mystical elements to create the root of Telesma's inspirational message. This sound can be heard on the group's full-length albums “OM”, “Hearing Visions: Live”, “Action In Inaction”, and 5 song EP “Decade Dance” all released on their independent label “sTRANGELY cOMPELLING mUSIC”.
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.

Collaborations

Telesma has collaborated with several other artists. They co-created the 2008 Visionary Gathering in Baltimore with Alex Grey, releasing a CD and DVD of the event entitled Hearing Visions: Live, and worked on other projects with him at The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors.
From 2010–present, Telesma collaborated with visual artist Adam Scott Miller on creating video content for their live projection show. As well as having Adam paint live with the band on several occasions. In 2012, Adam created the "LOTUS-CHAIN" video project which includes 3 videos for the Telesma songs "Chain", "White Lotus" and a 3rd song TBA.
Other artists that Telesma has performed with include Shpongle, Beats Antique, EOTO, Papadosio, Consider The Source, David Tipper, ArcheDream For Human-Kind, Delhi2Dublin, Woodland, Bernie Worrell, Cyro Baptista & Beat the Donkey, See-I, Faun, Eliot Lipp, Jim Donovan, The Gypsy Nomads, and HuDost.

Venues

Some of the event venues Telesma has performed at include: Camp Bisco, Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks, Artscape, the Starwood Festival, Faerieworlds, PEX Summerfest, Spoutwood Fairie Festival, EvolveFest, FaerieCon, Raw Spirit Gathering, Culturefest, Karmafest, Maryland Faerie Festival, Alex Grey's Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, Free Spirit Gathering, Primal Arts Festival, the Baltimore PowWow, Phanphest, SoWeBo Festival, Nelson's Ledges, and WIYY 98Rock’s Summer Concert Series.

Discography