Enigma (musical project)

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Enigma

Country Germany
Years active 1990–present
Genres Electronic
New Age
House
Trance
Ambient
Labels Virgin Germany/EMI
Members Michael Cretu (1990-present)
Past members Sandra Cretu (1990-2003)
Jens Gad (1997-2003)
Peter Cornelius (1990-1994)
David Fairstein (1990-1997)
Frank Peterson (1990-1991)

Enigma is an electronic musical project started by Michael Cretu, his wife Sandra Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. Michael is both the composer and the producer; Sandra often provides vocals on Enigma tracks. The pair have also worked together under the name Sandra. Six studio albums have been produced under the name of the project.

Contents

[edit] History

From the late 1970s onwards, Michael Cretu already had his own music career on his hands and apart from several collaboration efforts with several other musicians, he also contributed to his wife's albums. Before Enigma, he released a number of albums under his own name but they all were not particularly successful sales-wise. Cretu revealed in an interview that he believed that his ideas were soon running out at that point.

It was then that Cretu plotted the creation of a "New age-Dance", un-named yet, first single. Ditching his old habits and rules, he headed onto a different direction and in December 1990, he came up with the project's groundbreaking debut album, MCMXC a.D.. 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.

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" and "Carly's Loneliness", which was used in the movie and credited in the motion picture soundtrack as well.

In the following 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 tribal 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 of The Screen Behind the Mirror included 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 with Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits and Love 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 Voyageur was considered by many to be a total makeover for the project. Practically all of the prominent Enigma signature elements (the ethnic and/or 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. Of course sales are only one indicator of the success of a musical project and, given some time to sink in, Voyageur proves to be a solid release that hints at new territories Cretu may explore in future projects.

On August 28, 2005, Enigma's management (Crocodile-Music.de) announced the release of the project's latest single, "Hello and Welcome". The single was originally slated to be released in October, however it was since moved to November 25, 2005 and finally saw release in Germany on March 10, 2006. The song will also be the walk-in music for the German boxer, Felix Sturm, and much like Voyageur shows little similarity to earlier Enigma works.

On July 6, 2006 Enigma's management announced A Posteriori as the title of the sixth album, which would include a new version of "Hello and Welcome".[1]. The album was released worldwide on September 26, 2006.

[edit] Music

Every Enigma album starts with the signature "Enigma horn" mixed into the introductory music. On the first four albums the first track tends to be a short piece lasting no more than 1-2 minutes, that serves to set the tone for the full length second piece which follows. On the two most recent Enigma albums, the first track has been of full length instead, still with the "Enigma horn" mixed into the beginning. Some Enigma albums also end with the same horn in the last track of the album, with the exception of The Cross Of Changes, Voyageur and A Posteriori.

The project is also notable for bringing Gregorian chants and tribal chants to the limelight, and popularising the usage of the Shakuhachi flute. Peculiar songs such as "The Voice and the Snake" and "Weightless" could be seen as experimental songs while instrumental-focused songs with no or minimal vocals were also found in all of the studio albums.

In all of Cretu's six studio albums, he has experimented on songs with reversed vocals, the most prominent ones being on the Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! and The Screen Behind the Mirror albums. (The latter contains a brief experimental track consisting entirely of reversed vocals.) Reversed samples were somewhat hidden in Voyageur.

The content of the project's music differs in album to album, from sexuality in "Principles of Lust", love in "Gravity of Love", and innocence in "Return to Innocence". However, Cretu describes Enigma's music as sensual and not sexual.

Cretu is currently based in Ibiza, Spain. Until recently, he ran the A.R.T. Studios from his mansion in the Ibiza hills. He has now relocated to a purpose built mansion and has recently started installing a state-of-the-art recording studio inside one area of the building.

Cretu is under contract by Virgin Records to release a total of eight albums at a rate of one per three years. At the current rate, the last Enigma album will be released in 2012, with the earliest album being released in 1996.

[edit] Members

Michael Cretu and Sandra Cretu have been with the project since the beginning of the project. Other musicians who had previously worked alongside Cretu in the production of Enigma's studio albums are Jens Gad, David Fairstein, Peter Cornelius and Frank Peterson. The lates album A Posteriori was composed, produced and egineered completly by Michael Cretu.

Guest singers who had been influential in Enigma's songs are Angel X who provided vocals in "Return to Innocence", and both Ruth-Ann Boyle and Andru Donalds in The Screen Behind the Mirror and Voyageur. Louisa Stanley and Elisabeth Houghton have also lent their voices in "The Voice of Enigma" and "The Gate". The first one became the only person, not counting Cretu, to be credited on the sixth album, providing voices for Dancing With Mephisto and Goodbye Milky Way.

[edit] Influence

Cretu's first two studio albums also led to the creation and popularity of bands and musical groups that follow similar styles as Cretu. 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.

Critics and fans have noted down the probable influences if not similarities of Enigma and the works of other notable musicans. 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 and Sarah Brightman's cover of Hooverphonic's song, "Eden".

Michael Cretu and his wife Sandra in the early 90's.
Enlarge
Michael Cretu and his wife Sandra in the early 90's.

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

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

[edit] Sampling and lawsuits

In 1994, Cretu was sued by Munich-based choir Kapelle Antiqua and its record label, Polydor Germany for infringing its "right of personality" through distortion in the samples used in "Sadeness (Part I)" and "Mea Culpa". Although the source was technically in public domain, an unknown figure in compensation was still awarded to the choir. Or rather, the source music itself may be public domain, but Kapelle Antiqua's recording of it would be the intellectual property of Kapelle Antiqua's. European law also recognizes droit moral rights in works that American copyright does not.

Cretu was not spared over the issue of sampling when in 1998, Kuo Ying-nan and Kuo Hsiu-chu from Taiwan's Ami tribe filed a suit over uncredited vocals in "Return to Innocence". Both of the lawsuits have since been settled, but besides compensation and acknowledgement on the source of samples on both lawsuits, the anonymity that Cretu intended to keep after the release of the first album was shattered due to the first lawsuit.

Burned by the lawsuits, the samples used in the production of the third and fourth studio album, Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! and The Screen Behind the Mirror were credited properly this time and Cretu's fifth album, Voyageur contained no samples at all....

[edit] Discography

For a more detailed discography, including chart positions, sales and awards, bootleg albums and other releases, see Enigma discography.

[edit] Studio albums

[edit] Compilation albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] DVDs

  • Remember the Future (2001)
  • MCMXC a.D.: The Complete Video Album (2003)
  • A Posteriori (2006)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

  • (German) Enigma.de – Official website of Enigma.
  • (German) Crocodile-Music.de – Official Enigma management website.
  • (English) EnigmaMusic.com – Enigma fansite (maintained by Martyn Wooley), has extensive news and discography,
  • (English) Five.no/enigma – Enigma fansite (maintained by Joar Grimstvedt), has extensive list of discography and news.


Enigma
Michael Cretu | Sandra Cretu | Jens Gad

Guest singers: Ruth-Ann Boyle | Andru Donalds

Former members: Peter Cornelius | David Fairstein | Frank Peterson
Discography
Studio albums: MCMXC a.D. | The Cross of Changes | Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! | The Screen Behind the Mirror | Voyageur | A Posteriori

Compilation albums: Trilogy | Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits | Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection | 15 Years After

Singles: "Sadeness (Part I)" | "Mea Culpa (Part II)" | "Principles of Lust" | "The Rivers of Belief"
"Carly's Song" | "Return to Innocence" | "The Eyes of Truth" | "Age of Loneliness" | "Out from the Deep"
"Beyond the Invisible" | "T.N.T. for the Brain" | "Gravity of Love" | "Push the Limits"
"Turn Around" | "Voyageur" | "Following the Sun" | "Boum-Boum" | "Hello and Welcome" | "Goodbye Milky Way"

DVDs: Remember the Future | MCMXC a.D.: The Complete Video Album
Related projects
Sandra | Cretu and Theirs | Cornelius and Cretu | Moti Special | Trance Atlantic Air Waves
Related articles
A.R.T. Studios | List of Enigma music videos | The Dusted Variations


Modern musical projects based on Gregorian chant and other chants
Aereda • Cantara • Divine Works • Elbosco • Enigma • E Nomine • Era • E.S. Posthumus • Gala • Gregorian • Industrial Monk • Lesiëm • Libera • Magna Canta • Mysteria • Nostradamus • Richard Souther (Vision and Illumination) • Solyma
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