Biography E2 The Cross Of Changes (1993)

Michael Cretu outlines his beliefs: “Old rules and habits have to be rejected and dismissed to create something new“. When the 36-year-old multi-faceted artist and producer started working on his new musical project Enigma in 1990, the now signature sound revolutionized the world of music. Gregorian chants and intoxicating dance rhythms resounded across the globe, transcending all boundaries and mesmerizing a broad audience world-wide. From Mumbai fortune-tellers to Beverly Hills physicians and attorneys – all of them alike were hooked to the innovative and “enigmatic” sound.

Enigma – derived from Greek, meaning riddle – reaches out to people irrespective of their race, beliefs or cultural backgrounds speaking to their basic human instincts, needs and desires. The secret formula to the magnificent and mysterious Enigma sound? – …pounding grooves, meditative repetition and the exhilarating certainty that the mounting tension will dissolve into perfect harmony!

Enigma is an innovating and unique collage of sounds, rhythms and feeling for time – it is an all-embracing work of art that has nothing in common with standard song formats. As young student of classical music, Michael Cretu loved Bruckner’s late Romanticism and wanted to be a concert pianist – he went on to create a milestone in music history on his synthesizer. He freely admits: “I started writing hits the day I sold my piano”.

There were countless attempts at replication of the pure Enigma sound - the lush flutes found their way into several hundred other musical works – and almost every sequence of the album “MCMXC aD” was used as a soundbed in various TV and film productions. The most astounding side-effect was that the success of Enigma generated a certain fascination with Gregorian chants boosting world-wide sales of these recordings – but this only reflects the tremendous impact Enigma had. This album sold more than 12 million CDs world-wide and was awarded gold, or respectively, platinum in 25 countries. Michael Cretu was the most successful artist on the Virgin roster in 1991 and 1992.

Enigma received broad media coverage in the US – including features on CBS, NBC and CNN newscasts. Film producer Robert Evans approached Michael Cretu asking him if he would be interested in contributing to the soundtrack of the motion picture “Sliver” starring Sharon Stone. Michael obliged and produced and arranged “Carly’s Song” and “Carly’s Loneliness” for this movie. “MCMXC a.D.” debuted in the Billboard Charts on March 2nd, 1991, and remained in the charts for a total of 282 weeks.

Despite all expectations, Michael took three years to produce the follow-up album “The Cross of Changes”. Before he even finished working on the last track, pre-sales exceeded 1.4 million units. But he refused to succumb to pressure: “When it comes to music, we are talking about a part of my soul and this ultimately influences my decisions”. Summing up the basic principle he adheres to, he says: “My decisions are driven by emotions”.

Consequently “The Cross Of Changes” is an autobiographical piece of work picking up on what Michael experienced in the three years that had lapsed since the release and incredible success of “MCMXC a.D.”. “The Cross Of Changes” is the next important step of Enigma’s continuing musical evolution including the instinctive elements of “MCMXC a.D.” but at the same time creating an astonishing new sound-scape.