Enigma is a German studio project. 30 years ago, its founder was Michel Cretu, who is both a musician and a producer.
The young talent sought to create music that was not subject to time and old canons, at the same time representing an innovative system of artistic expression of thought with the addition of mystical elements.
During its existence, Enigma has sold more than 8 million albums in America and 70 million albums worldwide. The group has over 100 gold and platinum discs to their credit.
Such popularity is worth a lot! Three times the team was nominated for the Grammy Award.
History of the project
In 1989, the German musician Michel Cretu, who collaborated with many singers, composed songs, released collections, realized that there was no financial return to the extent that he would like. It was decided to develop a project that would prioritize, bring success and income.
The producer opened a recording company, calling it ART Studios. Then he came up with the Enigma project. He chose such a name (translated as “mystery”), trying to tell about existing secrets, about the other world with the help of music. The group's songs are full of mysticism thanks to the use of chant and Vedic songs.
The line-up of the band members was not initially made public. At the request of the producer, the audience will perceive only the music without the corresponding associations with the artists.
Later it became known that the creators of the pilot recording were Peterson, Firestein, as well as Cornelius and Sandra, who play a major role in the dynamic development of the creative brainchild. Later, even more people were attracted to the work of the team.
Frank Peterson (known under the creative pseudonym F. Gregorian) co-wrote Michel Cretu, was responsible for the technical support of the group.
David Firestein worked with lyrics, became the author of the text of Smell of Desire. The guitar parts of the work were reproduced by Peter Cornelius, which lasted until 1996, and after four years he was replaced by Jens Gad.
The arrangement and sounding lay on the shoulders of the producer, who performed the lion's share of the male vocals. His creative name is Curly MC.
The producer's wife Sandra was responsible for female vocals, but her name did not appear anywhere. In 2007, the couple broke up, so they decided to replace the performer with a new one.
Louise Stanley replaced Sandra, so in the first three discs of the group her voice sounded in the songs of The Voice of Enigma, then in the A Posteriori compilation. Fox Lima was in charge of the ladies' part in MMX.
Ruth-Anne Boyle, beloved by many fans, was periodically involved in the project. Later, the group's vocalists were the extravagant Elizabeth Houghton, the unsurpassed Virgin Records, the sophisticated Rasa Serra, and others.
The male vocals were provided by Andy Hard, Mark Hosher, J. Spring and Anggun. Repeatedly, the twin sons of the producer and Sandra were involved in the work of the group. They have two recorded albums to their credit.
Music Enigma
Enigma is not a band in the traditional sense, the band's songs can hardly be called songs. It is interesting that the members of the team never went to concerts, they focused exclusively on recording compositions and filming video clips.
On December 10, 1990, Enigma released the pilot disc MCMXC AD (it was worked on for 8 months). It was recognized as the best-selling record of the time.
The album was preceded by a controversial song called Sadeness (Part I). In 1994, the use of the song led to a legal battle, during which the names of the band members were revealed and their photographs were published. Despite the scandal, the song was considered one of the band's most popular works.
Later, the second song collection The Cross of Changes was released. The lyrics of the compositions were based on aspects of the science of numbers. At the same time, four songs were released, which became international hits in 12 countries.
In 1996 they released the third collection of Enigma. The producer wanted to make the album a successor to the previous ones, so he included already known fragments of Gregorian and Vedic songs there. Despite scrupulous preparation, the collection was not successful, only a few songs were released.
The collection was awarded the British "Golden Disc". The popularity of the project is growing day by day. The realization of the songs that came out from the pen of the author of the project was amazing! It has sold over 1 million copies in America. In 2000, the group created the compilation album Screen Behind the Mirror.
The collection of songs Voyageur, released in 2003, was not like the work of Enigma - the usual techniques and sound were gone. The producer refused ethnic motives.
Fans did not like the innovations, so the audience called the song collection the worst in the history of Enigma.
The team celebrated its 15th anniversary with the release of a disc called 15 Years After with the best tracks of the last years of the team's work. The sound of the songs was noticeably different from the originals.
Our days
Is Enigma still operational? Mystery. There is no reliable data on the release of new video clips. Cretu's musical prosperity is now being promoted by Andrew Donalds (as part of the performances of the Golden Voice of Enigma project). Tours are carried out on a global scale, as well as in Russia.
