Krisma, originally known as Chrisma, was an Italian new wave/

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

duo founded by

Maurizio Arcieri Maurizio Arcieri (30 April 1942 – 29 January 2015) was an Italian singer who was a member of the 1960s Italian beat band the New Dada, and the 1970s/'80s band Krisma. Career In the spring of 1967, the New Dada supported the Beatles at their ...

(1942–2015) and Christina Moser (1952–2022) in 1976.

Career

1976–1979

In 1976,

and his wife Christina Moser formed the duo under the name "Chrisma" in Milan. The name was a combination of their initials. The very same year, the couple moved to London to record "U" and "Amore" with the producer Nico Papathanassiou and his brother

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

under the management of

Anthony Fawcett Anthony Paul Fawcett (born 1948) is a British writer, art critic, and a former personal assistant to John Lennon and Yoko Ono from 1968 until 1970. He took over the role briefly held by Lennon's boyhood friend Peter Shotton, after Shotton's re ...

. Their collaboration with Papathanassiou and Vangelis continued through 1978 with the album ''

Chinese Restaurant A Chinese restaurant is a restaurant that serves Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese style, due to the history of the Overseas Chinese, Chinese diaspora, though other Chinese regional cuisine, regional cuisin ...

'' and the single "Lola". In 1979 Arcieri and Moser released their second album, ''

Hibernation Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic reduction entered by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is mos ...

''.

1980–1989

In 1980 the band officially changed its name from "Chrisma" to "Krisma". Their third album, ''Cathode Mamma'', featured

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

on synthesizer. The single "Many Kisses" was met with great success in Europe. Around this time Krisma developed the first minisequencer, known as Krismino. Krisma left Polygram for CGD, then part of the CBS group, in 1981. In 1982 Krisma released ''Clandestine Anticipation'', an experimental album dealing with water in all of its forms (liquid, ice, vapor, fog, snow and rain) supported by a series o
videos
filmed in tropical locations. The clips were first shown on Carlo Massarini's Mister Fantasy TV program on Rai 1. Krisma moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1986. They directed three videos for

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, and soon after they began to work for France 2. In Italy they often appeared on the program "Be Bop a Lula" hosted by Red Ronnie for Italia Uno. The single "Nothing To Do With the Dog" (retitled "Fido" in international markets) and "Iceberg" were released during this time. In 1988 ''Non ho denaro'' was released. It was their last album to be released on vinyl, and today it is one of the hardest-to-find Krisma records.

1991–2015

During the 1990s Krisma's early records were remastered. They continued to do freelance work for the Italian state broadcasting company Rai 3, and they were credited with crafting the special effects on the

Marco Ferreri Marco Ferreri (11 May 1928 – 9 May 1997) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor, who began his career in the 1950s directing three films in Spain, followed by 24 Italian films before his death in 1997. He is considered one of t ...

film ''Nitrato d'Argento'' (1996). Krisma also designed several video-art installations and worked as consultants for Benetton's Centro Ricerca Comunicazione. On 22 July 1998, the couple launched Krisma TV, which was broadcast through the Skyplex satellite service (and later Eutelstat) to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. In June 2000 the band opened their website, www.krismatv.net. Arcieri made a comeback attempt with Re-Birth, a solo project, around the same time. The singl
"Kara"
was released in 2001 in both Italian and English versions. In 2002 Krisma collaborated with the

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

-based band Subsonica on the track ''Nuova Ossessione''. Krisma singer Christina Moser died on 13 October 2022.

Discography

; Albums * ''

'' (1977) (as Chrisma) * ''

'' (1979) (as Chrisma) *''Cathode Mamma'' (1980) * ''Clandestine Anticipation'' (1982) * ''Nothing to Do with the Dog'' (1983) (released by Atlantic in the US as ''Fido'') * ''Iceberg'' (1986) * ''Non ho denaro'' (1989) * ''Chybernation'' (2011) ; Singles * "Amore"/"Sweet Baby Sue" (1976) (as Chrisma) * "U part. I"/"U part. II" (1977) (as Chrisma) * "Lola"/"Black Silk Stocking" (1977) (as Chrisma) * "C-Rock"/"Mandoya" (1977) (as Chrisma) * "Gott Gott Electron"/"Vetra Platz" (1979) (as Chrisma) * "Aurora B."/"Hibernated Nazi" (1979) (as Chrisma) * "Many Kisses"/"Rien Ne Va Plus" (1980) * "Cathode Mamma"/"Rrock" (1980) * "Water"/"Samora Club" (1982) * "Nothing to Do with the Dog"/"Find a Friend" (1983) * "Be Bop"/"Be Bop (rep.)" (1985) * "Iceberg"/"Skyline" (1985) * "Signorina"/"Hotta Choccolata" (1987) ; Collaborations * "Suffocation" – track included in

' 1980 album '' See You Later'' * "Nuova Ossessione" – track included in Subsonica's 2002 album ''Amorematico'' * "Odore di Polvere da Sparo", "23 Coppie di Cromosomi", "Apparenza e Realtà" – tracks included in Franco Battiato's 2004 album ''Dieci Stratagemmi'' * "Australia" – track included in Garbo's 2006 tribute album ''Congarbo''

References

External links

* * * *
Krisma news blog
{{Authority control 1976 establishments in Italy 2015 disestablishments in Italy Italian electronic music groups Italian musical duos Italian new wave musical groups Italian pop music groups Musical groups disestablished in 2015 Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups from Milan New wave duos Male–female musical duos