Enigma (music project)
Enigma is an international music project by the German-Romanian music producer and composer Michael Cretu in the fields of electronic music and New Age , in which Sandra takes over some of the spoken vocals. Andru Donalds has also been singing for Enigma since 1999 .
history
The first album MCMXC aD was released in Europe in 1990 and in the USA in 1991 and quickly became a worldwide surprise success. MCMXC aD became number 1 in 41 countries and received 57 platinum and 45 gold. The debut single Sadeness Part I made it to number one not only in Germany , but also in many other countries such as France and Great Britain. In the US, the single came to number 5.
With the release of the first single it was completely unknown who was behind the project, as the protagonists still published under pseudonyms. After a few days, the first suspicions arose as to what it should be the voice of the singer Sandra . Only after weeks did the suspicion arise that it might be a Michael Cretu project. Months later, he made a public statement and confirmed that Enigma came from his forge. In fact, it was a joint project between Michael Cretu (Curly MC) and the Hamburg music producer Frank Peterson (F. Gregorian), who was still the keyboardist for Sandra at the time. Frank Peterson came up with the idea of mixing Gregorian choirs with the music. Frank Peterson got out of the project after the first album to devote himself to his own new project Gregorian .
Michael Cretu said in an interview that he appreciates that you only know his music, but that he can still walk through the streets unrecognized.
To this day, the studio albums are more or less internationally successful.
Enigma paved the way for many other performers who followed Michael Cretu on the path of meditative, religiously inspired ambient music, often referred to as ethno .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1990 |
MCMXC aD Virgin Records |
DE3  × 2
(46 weeks)DE |
AT3  (13 weeks)AT |
CH2 × 2
(20 weeks)CH |
UK1 × 3
(107 weeks)UK |
US6th × 4
(282 weeks)US |
First published: November 26, 1990
Sales: + 14,000,000 |
| 1993 | The Cross of Changes Virgin Records |
DE5 (31 weeks)DE |
AT5 (25 weeks)AT |
CH4th (28 weeks)CH |
UK1 × 2
(52 weeks)UK |
US9 × 2
(63 weeks)US |
First published: December 5, 1993
Sales: + 3,865,000 |
| 1996 | Le roi est mort, vive le roi! Virgin Records |
DE3 (17 weeks)DE |
AT4th (14 weeks)AT |
CH4th (13 weeks)CH |
UK12 (13 weeks)UK |
US25th (29 weeks)US |
First published: November 20, 1996
Sales: +1,911,236 |
| 2000 | The Screen Behind the Mirror Virgin Records |
DE2 (17 weeks)DE |
AT6 (10 weeks) AT |
CH4th (16 weeks)CH |
UK7th (6 weeks)UK |
US33 (17 weeks)US |
First published: Jan 14, 2000
Sales: + 930,000 |
| 2003 | Voyageur Virgin Records |
DE6 (6 weeks) DE |
AT19 (6 weeks) AT |
CH29 (6 weeks) CH |
UK46 (2 weeks) UK |
US94 (5 weeks) US |
First published: September 5, 2003
Sales: + 10,000 |
| 2006 |
A Posteriori Virgin Records |
DE16 (7 weeks) DE |
AT17 (6 weeks) AT |
CH24 (7 weeks) CH |
- |
US95 (3 weeks) US |
First published: September 21, 2006
Sales: + 20,000 |
| 2008 | Seven Lives Many Faces Virgin Records |
DE15 (9 weeks) DE |
AT30 (4 weeks) AT |
CH18 (8 weeks) CH |
- |
US92 (2 weeks) US |
First published: August 5th, 2008
Sales: + 13,000 |
| 2016 | The Fall of a Rebel Angel Island Records |
DE10 (5 weeks) DE |
AT24 (1 week) AT |
CH19 (3 weeks) CH |
UK40 (1 week) UK |
US122 (1 week) US |
First published: November 11, 2016
|
Awards
-
ECHO Pop
- 1991: in the category "National artist or group abroad"
- 1992: in the "Marketing" category
- 1994: in the category "National artist or group abroad"
- 1997: in the category "National artist or group abroad"
Web links
- ^ Enigma - The Answer. five.no, accessed on September 24, 2016 .