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Enigma (musical project)

Enigma

Michael Cretu (composer and producer)

Background information

Origin Germany, Spain, Romania, I taly

Genres World beat

Electronic

New Age[1]

Downtempo

Years active 1990present

Labels Virgin

EMI

Charisma

Associated

acts

Gregorian

Website www.enigma.de

(http://www.enigma.de/)

Members

Michael Cretu, Andru Donalds, Margarita Roig

Former members

Sandra (19902003)

Jens Gad (19932003)

Peter Cornelius (19901996)

David Fairstein (19901999)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Enigma is an electronic musical project founded by

Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in

1990. The Romanian-born Cretu conceived of the Enigma

project while working in Germany, but has been based at

his recording studioA.R.T. Studios in Ibiza, Spain, since

the early 1990s, where he has recorded all of Enigma's

studio releases to date. Cretu is both the composer and

the producer of the project. His former wife Sandra often

provided vocals on Enigma tracks. Jens Gad co-produced

and played guitar on three of the Enigma albums.

Seven studio albums have been produced under the nameof the project. Their first and most successful album,

MCMXC a.D., sold more than 22 million copies

worldwide.

Contents

1 History

2 Influence3 Awards

4 Discography

5 See also

6 Sources

7 References

8 External links

8.1 German

8.2 English

History

From the late 1970s onward, Michael Cretu already had

his own music career on his hands and apart from some

collaboration efforts with several other musicians, he also

produced his wife's albums. Before Enigma, he released a

number of albums under his own name, but none of them

sold particularly well. Cretu revealed in an interview that

he believed that his ideas were running out at that point.

In December 1990, after eight months of preparation,

Cretu released Enigma's debut album, the groundbreaking

MCMXC a.D., which received over 60 platinum-level

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Notable instruments

Sampler

Drum machine

Synthesizer

Keyboard

Korg M1

ALCHEMIST

sales awards worldwide. The album was Cretu's first

commercial success through the single "Sadeness (Part I),"

which juxtaposed Gregorian chants and sexual overtones

over a dance beat that was highly peculiar to the ears of

the public at that time. Cretu explained that the album was

about unsolved crimes and philosophical themes such as

life after death, hence the name Enigma. He had previously

used a Gregorian-type chant on the opening seconds ofSandra's 1987 single "Everlasting Love", without

integrating them into other parts of the song. "Sadeness" quickly rose to the top of the charts in Germany and

France; it went on to become an almost-worldwide hit. Later Cretu would claim that the now signature Enigma

sound was inspired after falling asleep on the London Underground.

Before the album was released, Cretu was cautious of the response towards the upcoming album, decided to

forgo mentioning his and most of the personnel's real name and credited himself as Curly M.C., while the album

sleeve contained little information about the background of the project, furthering the mystery about the creators

of the album and leading to speculation whether Enigma was a band, a person or a group.

In 1993, Cretu was given an offer by producers to compose the full soundtrack of the motion picture Sliver, but

he was unable to accept the offer. Instead, he came up with "Carly's Song" ("Age of Loneliness" in the album

and video releases) and "Carly's Loneliness," which were used in the movie and credited in the motion picture

soundtrack as well.

In the same year, The Cross of Changes was released and it received about the same, if not an even larger and

better response from the public (it sold 6 million copies in a year). However, both of the albums also hitched up

lawsuits over the issue of sampling from other music sources.

In 1996,Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! (French for "The King is dead, long live the King!") was released.

Cretu's idea was that this third album was the child of the previous two albums, and therefore included familiar

elements of Gregorian chants and Sanskrit/ Vedic chants in it. Though the album was as meticulously crafted by

Cretu as the earlier two albums, it failed to achieve the same level of success that they enjoyed. As a result only

two of the three singles originally slated were released, with the third one ("The Roundabout") being silently

cancelled in 1998.

The 1999 release ofThe Screen Behind the Mirrorincluded samples from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana on four

tracks on the album. This time the Gregorian chants were toned down a lot, but still Shakuhachi flutes and other

traditional Enigma signatures remain. Only "Gravity of Love" and "Push the Limits" were released as singles from

the album. Ruth-Ann Boyle from the band Olive and also Andru Donalds mark their first appearance on the

Enigma project.

In 2001, Cretu released a new single called "Turn Around" together withLove Sensuality Devotion: The

Greatest Hits andLove Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection to end what he considers to be the first

chapter of Enigma. A light show was held at the Munich Planetarium in conjunction of the release of the

compilation albums.

2003's Voyageurwas considered by many to be a total makeover of the project. Practically all of the prominent

Enigma signature elements (the ethnic and Gregorian chants, the famous Shakuhachi flutes) were no longer in use

for this album. As a result many fans had difficulty appreciating this new direction and sales were affected. From

a statistical point of view, every Enigma studio album to date has sold roughly half of what the previous release

did.

To commemorate the fifteen years of Enigma, a very special limited-edition album called Fifteen Years was




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launched, which was the size of an old LP vinyl disk, with Leonardo Davinci's art in the cover, a big booklet

with extra art, and featured eight compact discs; all the previous albums, the DVD "Remember the Future"; and

a special and exclusive bonus CD that was called The Dusted Variations, which included the project's greatest

hits remade by another project. All of the songs were very different from the originals, and it sounded very

dreamy and had almost no percussion. This disc also contained the single version of Hello and Welcome,

which was later released as a single. Also, the DVD ofRemember the Future featured in the box was slightly

different because it contained the extra video of the single "Voyageur," and it had extra commentary in the extra

part, called Solve the Enigma.

On August 28, 2005, Enigma's management (Crocodile-Music.de (http://www.crocodile-

music.de/enigma/index.php) ) announced the release of the project's latest single, "Hello and Welcome," which

was originally slated to be released in October, however it was moved to November 25, 2005, and finally was

released in Germany on March 10, 2006. The song was also the walk-in music of the German boxer Felix

Sturm and, much like Voyageur, shows little similarity to earlier Enigma works.

On September 26, 2006, Enigma's sixth albumA Posteriori was released worldwide, containing a new version

of "Hello and Welcome" and the new song "Goodbye, Milky Way," which, despite earlier announcements, was

not released as a single. The album is more techno- and pop-oriented electronic music than any previous one.

The concept is based on such sciences as astronomy, physics, history, and sociology.

A DVD version ofA Posteriori was released on December 16, 2006, which featured kaleidoscope images in

synchronization with the multi-channel remastered music.

In late March 2007, a special private lounge remix album version ofA Posteriori was released on the iTunes

Music Store. This compilation includes 12 new remixed tracks from the album by artists such as Boca Junior,

Tocadisco, and more. Some of these tracks were available previously on the originalA Posteriori iTunes

version of the album and on the previously mentioned DVD release.

Released worldwide on 19 September 2008 was Enigma's seventh album, Seven Lives, Many Faces. The leadsingle, "Seven Lives," is a fusion of modern and classical elements.

"Platinum Collection" - a 3 CD compilation was released on November 20, in Germany, and on 23 November

2009 worldwide. First CD contains Enigma hits, second - remixes and the third one is a collection of "Lost

Track" - Michael Cretu musical experiments, which never were finalized and released before.

Influence

Enigma's first two studio albums also led to the creation and popularity of bands and musical groups that followsimilar styles, often called "Enigmatic Music". At least 100 of them gained commercial success worldwide. Era

and Gregorian (led by former Enigma member Frank Peterson) are among some notable groups which

capitalised songs which heavily incorporate Gregorian chants in their works. Enigma and Deep Forest are also

to be considered by many to have brought the tribal chant genre to the ears of the public. Achillea, a musical

project by co-producer/guitarist on several albums, Jens Gad, features music with similar atmospherics, while

featuring female vocals in different languages, with different singers from different parts of the world. Enigma also

influenced Christopher von Deylen's musical project Schiller. The influence can be heard in any album by the

band. Cretu's musical project is also included into the list of influences of Schiller.[1]

(http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=24918960)

Critics and fans have noted down the probable influences if not similarities of Enigma and the works of other

notable musicians. Some examples include Delerium's Semantic Spaces album, Mike Oldfield's albums, The

Songs of Distant Earth and Tubular Bells III, all B-Tribe's albums as well as other Claus Zundel projects and

Sarah Brightman's cover of Hooverphonic's song, "Eden".




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Several prominent songs from the project have appeared on notable TV shows and movies:

SongType of

WorkName Comments

Beyond the Invisible TV series La Femme Nikita

Carly's Song Movie Sliver

Gravity Of Love Movie The Scorpion King In the preview trailer

I Love You ... I'll Kill

YouMovie

Money Train

Eraser In the preview trailer

Modern Crusaders TV series La Femme Nikita

Principles of Lust MovieSingle White Female

Sliver

Return to Innocence

Movie

Man of the House In end credits

Exit to Eden (film)

TV series

The Outer Limits In episode The Conversion

My So-Called Life

Cold Case In episode Sanctuary.

The L Word

Sadeness (Part I)

Movie

Boxing Helena

Charlie's Angels

Single White Female

Exit to Eden

1492: Conquest of

ParadiseIn teaser trailer

Tropic ThunderIn a faux trailer for Kirk Lazarus'

upcoming film

Gomorra

TV seriesCold Case

Chappelle's Show

Smell of DesireMovie Bounce In the preview trailer

TV Series Temptation Island

The Eyes of Truth Movie

The Matrix In the preview trailer

The Long Kiss

Goodnight

"Return to Innocence" also appeared in numerous TV commercials around the world, including one for Virgin

Atlantic.

Awards




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World Music Award - 2002 as most popularGerman solo artist. [2]

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1859473.stm)

ECHO (music award) - 1997 for Beyond the Invisible

ECHO (music award) - 1992 for best marketing

ECHO (music award) - 1992 as best national artist [3] (http://www.mfyi.com/e/enigmaawards.html)

over 120 Platinum awards worldwide [4] (http://www.enigma-fanclub.com/news.htm) , [5]

(http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS153272+19-Aug-2008+PRN20080819)9 RIAA Platinum awards

7 RIAA Gold awards

8 BPI Platinum awards

Discography

Main article: Enigma discography

1990:MCMXC a.D.1993: The Cross of Changes

1996:Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!

2000: The Screen Behind the Mirror

2003: Voyageur

2006:A Posteriori

2008: Seven Lives, Many Faces

See also

List of number-one dance hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

Achillea

Deep Forest

Jean Michel Jarre

Sacred Spirit

Vangelis

SourcesAllmusic biography and discography (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jifoxqe5ldhe)

Billboard.com, biography, discography and US chart history

(http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/bio/index.jsp?pid=4556)

Rolling Stone biography and discography (http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/enigma)

rateyourmusic.com, biography and discography (http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/enigma)

Discogs.com Biography and discography (http://www.discogs.com/artist/Enigma)

Chartstats.com, UK chart history (http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=3457)

Chartssurfer.de, German chart history (http://www.charts-surfer.de/musiksearch.php)

References

1. ^ MUSIC REVIEW: Enigma's LSDElectronic & Choral Avant Garde, Engima Releases Greatest HitsThe




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This page was last modified on 13 December 2009 at 23:47.

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Contact us

Tech (http://tech.mit.edu/V121/N59/enigma.59a.html)

External links

German

Enigma.de (http://www.enigma.de) (Official website of Enigma)

Crocodile-Music.de (http://www.crocodile-music.de/enigma/index.php) (Official Enigma managementwebsite)

EMI Virgin Record Company (http://www.virginmusic.de/enigma) (Official Enigma Record Company)

English

Enigma Space (http://www.enigmaspace.com) (Official English Enigma website)

EnigmaMusic (http://www.enigmamusic.com) (Official international fansite)

Enigma Planet (http://www.myspace.com/enigmaplanet) (Official Enigma MySpace Page)

Last.Fm Profile (http://www.last.fm/music/Enigma) (Music scrobbler)Enigma Music TV (http://www.youtube.com/EnigmaMusicTV) (Official Enigma YouTube Channel)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_(musical_project)"

Categories: 1990s music groups | 2000s music groups | Enigma (musical project) | Ambient music groups |

German electronic music groups | German house music groups | German techno music groups | German trance

music groups | New Age musicians



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