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Christina Marisa Calcagno and Thomas Stelter, who recorded as the Hamburg new wave duo Ti-Tho in the early- and mid-'80s, met when Calcagno was 13 and Stelter was teaching guitar to her friend Oliver. Calcagno and Oliver were in a band called Tempelfreuden, together with Markus Lipka and Johan Pop; Stelter had been following the band and going to their gigs, and eventually asked Calcagno sing in a project he was working on. Calcagno agreed, and began playing keyboard, writing lyrics, and singing with Stelter. During their first rehearsal the duo didn't have any lyrics in mind, so Calcagno picked up Die große Überfahrt, a 1975 volume of the Asterix comic book series, and improvised. The result was their first recorded track, "Asterix" (included here), with many crazy lyrics and compositions to follow. The music scene in Germany, and especially the rising neue Deutsche welle (NDW), was very open-minded, and received even the craziest projects with open ears. Ti-Tho wrote lyrics based on experiences of everyday life and combined elements of traditional, flamenco, and punk musics... Everything was possible, and nothing was off-limits. One of the duo's very first fans and admirers was Alfred Hilsberg, who was running the highly influential ZickZack label and writing for Sounds magazine. He produced and released Ti-Tho's first 7", Traumtänzer, in 1982, both sides of which are included here, and got them a deal with Polydor to release three more 7"s and one 12", plus compilation-contributions for Polydor and ZickZack -- most of these tracks are included here. An LP produced in 1985 by famous producer Tom Dokoupil (Siluetes 61, The Wirtschaftswunder, Die Radierer, Die Partei...) is still waiting for release at the time of this writing. Ti-Tho made several TV-appearances and even music videos in the early-to-mid-'80s. They also produced a musical, Dodona, which was performed at the Planetarium Hamburg. Sadly, moving to a major label pushed them in a commercial direction and suppressed their wonderful simplicity and artistic freedom. The pair's interest in the project waned; Calcagno began concentrating on her art and Stelter moved to the countryside, producing tracks for Calcagno to sing over when she was ready, but, unfortunately, the reunion never happened.
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