Enigma (band)

Enigma
The Enigma logo, used since 2005
Background information
Origin	Germany
Genres	Worldbeat new age downtempo electronica ambient experimental
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Virgin
Members	Michael Cretu
Past members	David Fairstein Frank Peterson Sandra Cretu Louisa Stanley Peter Cornelius Jens Gad Andreas Harde Ruth-Ann Boyle Andru Donalds Elizabeth Houghton Margarita Roig Mark Josher Nanuk Aquilo Anggun
Notable instruments
Sampler Drum machine Synthesizer Keyboard Korg M1 Alchemist Merlin

Enigma is a German musical project founded in 1990 by Romanian-German musician and producer Michael Cretu. Cretu had released several solo records, collaborated with various artists, and produced albums for his then wife, German pop singer Sandra, before he conceived the idea of a New Age, Worldbeat project. He recorded the first Enigma studio album, MCMXC a.D. (1990), with contributions from David Fairstein and Frank Peterson. The album remains Enigma's biggest, helped by the international hit single, "Sadeness (Part I)", which sold 12 million units alone. According to Cretu, the inspiration for the creation of the project came from his desire to make a kind of music that did not obey "the old rules and habits" and presented a new form of artistic expression with mystic and experimental components.

Enigma followed MCMXC a.D. with a series of albums that involved several musicians and producers working with Cretu. The first was The Cross of Changes (1993), which incorporated tribal and ethnic influences and sold over 8 million copies worldwide, followed by Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi! (1996), which blended together the Gregorian chants reminiscent from the first album and the strong intercultural soundscapes present in the second. Enigma's fourth album The Screen Behind the Mirror (2000) started a slight departure from the previous world music themes towards a heavier electronic atmosphere. This evolution culminated with Voyageur (2003), its fifth and more pop-based album, and A Posteriori (2006), a work inspired by the future collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, with distinct operatic tones and an electronic spectrum closer to Voyageur than the earlier releases.Seven Lives Many Faces (2008) and contained a mixture of classical and modern elements ranging from ethnic chants to rap and dubstep influences. Its eighth album, The Fall of a Rebel Angel, was released on November 2016.