e·nig·ma
[uh-nig-muh]
–noun,
–   puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation

But to me the word enigma means sexy music; the wonderful sound of Enigma.  I’ve been a fan since the early 90’s.

Enigma is not a band but a music project. Tracy introduced me to the first album MCMXC a.D. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard before and the music touched me deeply.  I still love that cd today and I have many later Enigma cd’s too.  When I was first getting to know the sound of Enigma the internet was non-existent.  No Googling, can you imagine?! There was not much on the cd covers and I was always a little curious about who was behind the music which only added to the mystery and the spell the music cast over me.

Enter the age of the internet and the enigma behind Enigma is now solved for me.  The man behind Enigma is Michael Cretu.

The Romanian-born Cretu conceived of the Enigma project while working in Germany, but had been based at his recording studio A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza, Spain, since the early 1990s until May 2009, where he has recorded all of Enigma’s studio releases to date. Cretu is both the composer and the producer of the project. His former wife Sandra often provided vocals on Enigma tracks. Jens Gad co-arranged and played guitar on three of the Enigma albums. Peter Cornelius also contributed to Enigma during the 1990’s.

Seven studio albums have been produced under the name of the project. Their first and most successful album, MCMXC a.D., sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Trained as a concert pianist and conductor,  Michael Cretu started Enigma with the philosophy that old rules and habits have to be rejected and dismissed so that something new can be created. In the past two decades Enigma has become one of the most successful music ventures in modern times, with a fusion of the old, new, sensual, and philosophical as the driving force.

One reviewer described the music as combining “both sexuality (in the form of hip-hop grooves, breathy female vocals, and musings on the Marquis de Sade) and spirituality (in the form of flowing strings, Gregorian chants and biblical quotations) to forge a new kind of music equally suitable for dancing or meditating.”  I couldn’t agree more.

“Good evening. This is The Voice of Enigma. In the next hour, we will take you with us into another world, into the world of music, spirit, and meditation. Turn off the light, take a deep breath, and relax. Start to move slowly– very slowly. Let the rhythm be your guiding light.”

That invocation, gently intoned by Sandra “The Voice Of Enigma” Cretu, opens MCMXC a.D. A fusion of the sacred and the sexy.   This is still my choice for the best music to have playing in the background during sex.

For the full effect watch this too-hot-for-Tara-Cronica video “The Principles of Lust”.  Phew!  It’s gettin’ hot in here! I’m on f-eye-ah!