Contact:

JasminesPorchMusic@gmail.com

Jasmine was raised in a musical family - she is one of 5 siblings who sing, play instruments, and/or DJ. Her Irish father is a performing guitarist/singer-songwriter; her Malaysian-Chinese mother sang harmonies with him in talent competitions on Australian TV in the 1970s. Her Irish grandfather was a seafaring banjo-mandolin player and singer, and her great-grandfather played flute in the Bothar Boys Fife and Drum band in Limerick, Ireland in the 1920s. Jasmine started playing flute at age 10, at a time she was also absorbed by the complex vocal harmonies of Abba, the Beatles, and the Everly Brothers. She spend much of her childhood working out harmonies with her sister, and playing classical flute/guitar duos with her older brother.

After majoring in studio art and minoring in classical flute performance and music theory at NYU, she started singing, playing flute, tin whistle, guitar, and bodhrán in 2001 in her first band Zot’s Dream (affectionately described as “ethnobillies” who drew as much inspiration from old-time banjo & fiddle tunes and Leadbelly as from klezmer, Afropop, Bollywood, and gypsy jazz). She was then recruited by Gaijin A Go-Go (an 11-piece Brooklyn art band inspired by Japanese 60s pop) to be backup singer, dancer, and flutist, from 2003-2007. During these years she joined troupes of fellow musicians and visual artists to create themed floats for Coney Island’s annual Mermaid Parade (winning awards including “best musical group” and “best push-pull float”.)

After a couple moves, starting a family, and finishing grad school, Jasmine returned to music in Boston in 2015, performing locally with the bluegrass / western swing band Gin Daisy. She then teamed up with Michael Buonaiuto to start The Squeakeasy Jug Band, performing and leading jug band jams. She also was briefly a part of The Gloucester Hornpipe and Clog Society, performing Celtic repertoire and sea shanties. Jasmine has also performed on the local Porchfest circuit with Cuban-American ensemble Los Encendidos, bluegrass trio Storm In A Teacup, and in a banjo/fiddle duo with Susan Ruth.

Currently she is excited about writing songs, arranging 3-part harmonies, and playing flute, guitar, banjo and trashcan bass in the trio Squirrel Therapy with Ken Clarkson (banjo/ dobro/ vocals) and Peter Fernandez (piano/ accordion/ bass/ vocals). She continues to run monthly jug band jams with The Jug Nuts, and eagerly jumps into bluegrass gigs with Familiar Strangers whenever possible.

She fills in any remaining musical gaps by participating in the occasional tap dance band gig, gospel choir concert, pub sing, soulful house party jam, or sitting around singing Irish songs of rebellion with one teenage son, while waiting for whenever her other teenage son, a drummer, might agree to her being Robert Plant to his John Bonham. (She is also keeping fingers crossed for the next Gaijin A Go-Go reunion!)

Jasmine works as a licensed acupuncturist in the Cancer Center of Massachusetts General Hospital and in her own private practice in Cambridge, MA.