Kristina Casolani | Music, music and more music

Kristina’s performances are becoming well-known for being not just a girl singing on a stage but a whole act including wild costumes, a myriad of dancers, flames and so on.

“I’d rather start rehearsals early to make sure we get the performance down to a T before the final rehearsals were each act is given only 15 minutes to do the last fine tuning.”

Like all good musicians should Kristina was born with a passion for singing and by the time she was three years old, with a wooden spoon for a microphone, she was already performing for her family. A successful career in music all started from there.

JK, Kristina’s partner is also very much a part of her music life taking care of all managerial and legal aspects of her music career.

“I’m not really sure how I ever managed without him. It is now a lot more professional without people nagging to do gigs for free just because it’s good promotion. People don’t seem to realise how much money goes into recording songs, choreographing dances and everything else that goes into performances.

“After 11 years in the business of music, I’ve finally found the right team that makes it all so worthwhile, hairstyles by Prive' hairdressing, Petriiski fashion for costumes, David ‘dp’ Attard for photos, Activezone gym to keep me in shape, Justin Brincat for make up, Diandra Mattei for nails and beauty, Kristina Schranz, Felix Busuttil, Waterfall dancers and Reactive Dancers for choreography.

“This takes the stress out of performing and allows me to the time to concentrate on the music – the writing and the performing.”

In so far as music styles go Kristina has performed a number of different genres from R ‘n’ B to dance.

“I do whatever inspires me at the time, writing music and lyrics wherever I happen to be at the time it comes to me, sometimes while driving or occassionally even while sitting on the loo! After that I meet up with my producer and co-writer, Boris Cezek, who has believed in me from the very beginning and we let our inspirations and ideas run wild."

“I believe that tastes in music change like character does. At the moment it is dance music that inspires me most. I love working with other artists like Ruby in the remixed version of Get Out.

Locally, Kristina is an active performer, never missing an opportunity to get up on stage. She has performed at various festivals and award shows as well as playing support to huge foreign acts of the likes of Akon. She also performs laid back acoustic sets with her “unplugged partners in crime” Renzo Spiteri and Jes Spiteri at selected venues.

While a London promoter was in Malta recently he heard some of Kristina’s work and was so impressed by her he offered her two nights in some of London’s biggest clubs. The first night was at the legendary Club Movida, which is frequented by some of London’s top socialites as well as celebrities the likes of Prince William, P.Diddy and Beyonce.

“It’s like the London version of Club 22 times a hundred. We were given the celebrity treatment, given the most prestigious table in the club – the Dom Perignon table, where the minimum spend on the table is £20,000, and everyone at the club trying to get a peek at who was at that table.

“Fifteen of my friends came along with me, some Maltese and other friends living in the UK. Lots of them had never managed to get into this club before so it was a great experience.

“Performing at this club was something else. The crowd went absolutely wild when I came on and by the end of the track they were even singing along even though they had never heard my music before. It was absolutely amazing.

“The following night we moved away from the high brow crowd and performed at Pacha, supporting Alex Gaudino – although he played before me so it felt like he was supporting me” she says with a cheeky giggle.

JK summed up the experience: "The club is an old Victorian theatre, like the Manoel Theatre, but painted black. The Ibiza style clubbers treated Kristina like an exotic star, commenting that she must be the next big thing".

“The whole experience was bitter-sweet as I could see the potential for my music but had to come back to my beloved but little rock. The owner of the club asked me where my next stop was, like I was a superstar on a world tour, so I sarcastically threw in a white lie and said I was off to New York" Kristina added.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to come back to win the award for Best Female Artist at the Malta Music Awards and Best Dance Song with DJ Ruby at the Bay Music Awards. National recognition for all the hard work the team puts into every performance is very rewarding. However performing to audiences abroad is just such an invigorating experience.”

When talking about life outside music Kristina pauses and says, “What life?! Between song writing, rehearsing and performing there isn’t much time left over.

“However we love spending any free time we have at sea. Just last week we spent the day on the boat sailing with my dad. I love spending quality time with my family."

“We also spend a lot of time dining - both in and out. At home JK does the cooking and I do the eating, and then spend hours in the gym working it all off.

“Apart from my family my pride and joy is my cat called Stupid. He’s so affectionate and comes for ‘kisses’ in the morning.”

Despite her busy schedule Kristina still finds time for fundraising for causes close to her heart. Family friends have a grown son suffering from Huntington’s disease and Kristina has been raising money to buy equipment to make his life easier and to send the family on a much-deserved family holiday while he can still enjoy it.

“I get really depressed when I see him degenerating slowly before my eyes. It just breaks my heart. The Community Chest fund really do some good work with people like him offering a lot of support that really make a difference to the quality of life of people in need. The small donations people make really do make a difference.”