Perhaps there is no such person, even far from the world of music, who would not have heard about what the Enigma group is. Their mysterious, bewitching music, incredibly popular in the 90s of the last century, and today has not lost its relevance, while becoming a modern classic.
In fact, Enigma is not so much a group in the usual sense of the word as a musical project. So, he did not have a constant composition of participants, did not give interviews, did not play at festivals and did not give any concerts at all, since he was originally conceived as an exclusively studio project.
Idea of creation
At the base of the project are the spouses of Cretu: Michel Cretu, composer and producer, and Sandra Cretu - a popular singer of the 80s, performer of many songs of the group. Initially, the Enigma group was conceived by Michel as completely mysterious. Even the name was not chosen by chance, because it translates as "secret."
It was planned that this would be the purest piece of music devoid of any interference from the performer’s personality. For this, the composition of the project was kept secret for a very long time. And they were not even going to open it. Perhaps Michel would have succeeded, but the court dispute did not allow to keep the secret. The fact is that in their first album the Enigma group used samples from the recordings of Gregorian chorales. It was they who gave the music that very depth and mysticism, as well as a recognizable sound. But the owners of the recording, which was used for samples, sued for its illegal use. During the trial, the identities of the artists were declassified. The press mentioned the names of those who made up the Enigma project. The group, whose members' photos appeared on the covers of music publications, still has not become less popular.
Best albums "Enigma"
If in the first album samples of monastic chants were used, then in the second - The Cross of Changes, they were replaced by songs of American Aborigines in combination with French speech, which made the fans of the group, who were expecting again flutes and chorales, indignant. Nevertheless, the album was successful and sold millions of copies around the world. But the third disc, according to the creators, became like a child of the first two, having absorbed all the best that they had. This third album was released in 1996 and was called Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! Further, in his work, Cretu and his partner Frank Peterson continued to experiment, writing in the songs of the Enigma group the ringing of church bells, the sounds of an organ or classical Japanese instruments.
The second chapter in the life of the project
It became more and more difficult to call Enigma tracks as songs, even a voice began to appear only in an insignificant part of the compositions. Moreover, in many cases it is difficult to say whether this is a voice or an instrument. Cretu himself speaks of his music: "It is difficult to express in words, no words can describe it."
Despite this, many fans believe that the main merit in the fact that the project has become popular belongs to the voice of the soloist Sandra. However, by the sixth album, her participation in the creation of the compositions had ceased, since the marriage with Michel had practically broken up. But, contrary to everything, it was the sixth album of A Posteriori that many described as Cretu, the best in his musical career. But the next disc, although it returned to its traditional ethnic sound, was not commercially very successful.
The fate of the group after 20 years of existence
In 2009, the group "Enigma" celebrated its 20th anniversary by publishing a musical collection of three albums. They were not only the best hits of the group, but also remixes, as well as tracks that were not previously published.
To date, the musical style in which the group plays is characterized as enigmatics. And he has a lot of followers. Interest in such music and in the project itself is not diminishing, despite the fact that the best Enigma albums are in the past.