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 very peculiar to the ears of the public at that time. In December 1990, after eight months of preparation, Cretu released Enigma's debut album, MCMXC a.D., which received over 57 platinum awards worldwide, and topped the charts in 41 countries, directly becoming the most successful Virgin Records act during that time. Cretu revealed in an interview that he believed that his ideas were running out at that point. Before Enigma, he released a number of albums under his own name, but none of them sold particularly well. Peter Cornelius also contributed to Enigma during the 1990s.įrom 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. Jens Gad co-arranged and played guitar on three of the Enigma albums.
His former wife, pop singer Sandra, often provided vocals on Enigma tracks. Cretu is both the composer and the producer of the project. Studios in Ibiza, Spain, from the early 1990s until May 2009, where he has recorded all of Enigma's studio releases to date. The Romanian-born Cretu conceived the Enigma project while working in Germany, but based his recording studio A.R.T. Enigma (musical project)Įnigma is a German new age band formed in 1990 by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson.
#ENIGMA MUSIC FREE#
Enigma also influenced others, most notably Deep Forest whose eponymous debut was definitely cut from the same musical cloth.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It introduced New Age music to the mainstream, but at the same time, it relied on the heritage of artists including Tangerine Dream and Jean-Michel Jarre. In 2008, Seven Lives Many Faces became the band’s seventh album.Įvery now and then an album or an artist seems to come out of nowhere and take the music world by storm – Enigma is one such artist and their debut album, despite its influences was a genuinely unique and inspired creation. With astronomy, physics, history, and sociology as its themes, this is an album that is well worth exploring. For the project’s sixth album, 2006’s A Posteriori, there is a definite move towards techno and pop-oriented electronic music. Fans were left underwhelmed by the change, but there needed to be a move away as the old formula had run its course. In 2003, Voyageur marked a significant shift in Enigma’s sound, no Gregorian chants and other world music overtones. The following year, Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits and Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection brought to an end what Cretu considers the first chapter of the Enigma project. This time Cretu used classical music as his inspiration, taking samples from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana to be used on four tracks on the album. There was the Gregorian chant as well as Sanskrit and Vedic chants all crafted into the familiar Enigma sound, but the album failed to arouse the interest garnered by the first two releases.įor 2000’s release, The Screen Behind the Mirror, Ruth-Ann Boyle (from the band Olive) and Andru Donalds make their first appearances on an Enigma record.
Long live the King!”) was issued and once again explored familiar territory. Three years later, Le Roi est mort, Vive le Roi! (French for “The King is dead. This album developed the sound of Enigma with World music sounds and while not as successful commercially is a very satisfying recording. He felt unable to do the whole thing, given his commitments to a second Enigma record.
#ENIGMA MUSIC MOVIE#
In retrospect this helped the marketing of the album, adding to the mystery.Įnigma’s second album, The Cross of Changes, came along in 1993 and includes the single, ‘Carly’s Song’ (“Age of Loneliness”) that was also featured in the movie Silver, which Cretu had been asked to compose the soundtrack to. Real names were shunned and Cretu credited himself as Curly M.C initially, people were unsure whether it was a band, a person or quite what it was. The riddle of Enigma was fueled by the fact that Cretu was shy in revealing almost any information on the album, it’s said because he was unsure of its potential. According to Cretu, the album was about, “unsolved crimes and philosophical themes such as life after death, hence the name Enigma.” It became Virgin’s most successful worldwide album and its success was helped by the single, ‘Sadeness (Part I),’ which included Gregorian chants and pseudo-sexual sounds all arranged over a dance beat – impossible to pigeonhole, but almost impossible to resist. Studios in Ibiza, Spain, where he both wrote and produced the album. Cretu had spent eight months working on MCMXC a.D. (the roman numeral from 1990), at his studio A.R.T.