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25th September 2007, Ibiza Like a never-ending dream, that was something we all have been waiting for. For the very first time since 1990, the real audience have been given this unique chance of asking their questions to Michael directly. We highly appreciate this kindness and we are all so excited to be a part of this special connection. We hope you’ll all enjoy reading the questions from true and loyal fans below and the Enigmatic answers from the master himself. We would like to thank everyone who participated in this interview and also Enigma’s Management for making this interview possible. The Global ENIGMA community gathered for the event and those brilliant questions are submitted from: Argentina – Australia – Bangladesh – Belgium - Brazil – Canada – Colombia - Croatia – Denmark - Finland –France – Germany – Greece – Hungary - India – Iran – Ireland – Italy - New Zealand - Poland - Spain - The Netherlands - Turkey – U.K – USA Q: Have you ever considered incorporating more live instruments into ENIGMA, or do you see it mainly within the scope of electronically engineered sound? Samuel A. Warmack, Tampa, Florida, USA No, because the “ENIGMA SOUND” is only possible with the electronic environment I am using. By the way, on every record there are lots of acoustic (digitized) instruments. 70% of the music is recorded in one take (because I am the only musician, except the guitars) without being edited afterwards. Q: A Posteriori was recorded on your new mobile studio concept The Alchemist, could you please share us your technical experiences with it? Are there strange places where you created/recorded songs or do you plan to benefit from this mobile structure? And also, what happened to the A.R.T Studios? Is it the time to phase out? Denis Ferry, France - Jonathan McDowell - Dunedin, New Zealand - Petar Sakic, Croatia A.R.T. Studios still exist, but not used. It takes too long to explain ‘’The Alchemist’’, but in the next six months you will have more than enough information about it. To give a short explanation: It is a fully professional transportable recording studio which includes all state of the art features and also has the size of a couch. Q: From MCMXC a.D to A Posteriori, What are your favourite ENIGMA tracks from each album and remixes from the current great catalogue? James Evans, U.K. - Sounak Biswas, India - Polly Seip, Connecticut U.S.A. MCMXC a.D : “Mea Culpa” Q: You have stated in the EPK Interview of E7 that “I am a tiny tiny microscopic asteroid which is rotating around the universe in a very elliptic orbit. So sometimes, like it was in the 1990 it’s near the collision, sometimes I am very far and I am not fitting at all to the social life or to the needs of humanity.. Let’s hope there’ll be a collision again” Does that mean that there might be a return/re-visit to the well known obscure & mystic characteristics of ENIGMA, sound/theme-wise someday? Could we ever expect an album similar to E1,E2 or E3 in terms of trademark sound packages, samples? Martyn Woolley, USA. - Sumon Zaman Bangladesh The world is changing and I am changing too, so you can expect the same vibrations, but not the same sound. Q: From the very first sample of Maria Callas ‘’Letter Scene’’ on MCMXC a.D to Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana on the Screen.. Your classical background directly reflects on the first volume of ENIGMA productions. Again you have recently surprised us with the classical interpretations of “Dusted Variations” on “15 Years After Box Set” Who’s idea was to collaborate with Rollo Armstrong on such project? Have you ever heard Rollo’s band Faithless before? The record company presented a list of AAA-Names to me which fits to the ENIGMA spirit. From the very first moment Rollo was my first choice, cause I know Faithless very well and I love “Insomnia”.
Q: Just like the essential hallmark of ENIGMA -the overture fanfares, like you say ENIGMA’s MGM line- will you continue to feature the haunting spoken words/whispers of Sandra and Louisa Stanley as the voice of the project in the future? Also how about Elisabeth Houghton? Matt M. from Munich/Germany - Francisco Plazas Lozoya. Spain Yes, if it is fitting to the music. Q: After several productions for Sandra, now her last album "The Art of Love" is produced by ex-ENIGMA guitarist and ex-co-producer Jens Gad. What do you think about "The Art of Love" as an experimental pop album from the eye of your 7 dimension skills..What is your favorite song? Stefano Trentadue, Modugno (BA) - Italy First of all, Jens Gad was my assistant in the studio and never co-producer of any ENIGMA record. I had no time till now to listen to the record seriously, so I can not give you any comment. Q: ENIGMA’s theme and sound variety would fit perfectly on 5.1 Channel Surround music. The recent DVD Edition of "A POSTERIORI" had a fantastic multi-channel mix. Do you plan on re/mastering the other ENIGMA albums in surround sound (and also your future releases)? Is it possible to switch the monitoring of the Alchemist to Multi-Channel productions? Gregory Chervier, France - Jovan from Turku, Finland - Omid Mortazavi & Arash Mortazavi, Canada A remastered ENIGMA will come some day. The Alchemist is a full 5.1 mobile recording studio.
Q: Even though you’re a pure perfectionist, would you consider releasing tracks that you felt didn't meet your expectations, but perhaps the fans would enjoy or have known about but have not yet heard? Is there an ENIGMA "B-Sides Archive" hidden away never to be heard? (for example unreleased single remixes like “The Roundabout (DJ Quicksilver Mix)” and “Silence Must Be Heard (ATB Remix)”)? Roshan Gandhi,Canada - Stephen Windle, U.K - James Evans, U.K - Piotr Filipow , Poland - Nicola Migliore, Naples - Italy - Matías S. Castro. Argentina - David Marbot, Australia - Luiz Gustavo de Paula, Brazil I will never release a song, I am not happy with. If it is not good enough for me, how can I expect that people will like it... Q: Dear Mr.Cretu, We suppose this question is the one you just knew you would be getting but we all have to have to know! Do you visit us here on the EnigmaMusic.com and the Enigma Message Board (EMB)? Do you know us? Our names and people behind the accounts? We would be delighted to hear your feedback/impressions. Peter Lambe, Ireland - Naveen Kumar, Bangalore, India Yes, I know EnigmaMusic.com (I know, that you didn’t expect this ;-) ...) your Message Board and the man “behind the mirror”, but not his face. Q: When you sing, "Rescue me, oh rescue me…My invisible love" and "Where are you, I am sitting on the moon," It feels a certain messianic/greater power hint to your music. Is this "Invisible Love" the only and unique creator of life? Drew Gardner US - Arash Mashhady - Iran It could be. What do you think? Q: If money and "star attitude" was not a problem who would you ask as a guest vocalist for ENIGMA? And also, do you consider new vocalist(s) for the next album(s)? Eynav Goldbach, The Netherlands - Marius Krause, Belgium For sure somebody you don’t know, cause I love experiments and not joint ventures with famous people. Q: Early solo work was always very refreshing and creative - Would you ever consider making just a solo “Michael Cretu” album again in between the 3 year period, rather than use the ENIGMA sound and name? Martyn Woolley, USA - Marina Katsarioti, Greece I don’t think so, but never say never. Q: You collaboration on “Enigmatic Encounter” in 2000 on André Tanneberger’s (ATB) album “Two Worlds” was apparently very influential on him and he released many chill out, laid back tracks after this “encounter” Do you see any collaboration with ATB again anytime in the near future? Nise Smith, USA André is a big fan of ENIGMA since the very first day. I really enjoyed the work with him. We just had dinner a few days ago, cause he was visiting Ibiza. We didn’t speak about work stuff, but a new collaboration is in the range of possibility. Q: We know, you do not plan concerts, live shows, etc. under the title ENIGMA. However, your music is very versatile and thus would fit absolutely well on "art pieces" like movies, soundtracks or other cinematographic audio/visual apperarances. Do you or your management think about some more "advertisement" for your music in this area? Tamás Szabó, Hungary - Salvatore Sconzo, Milan - Italy Yes, cause it was and still is used in movies, documentations, commercials etc. worldwide. Q: ENIGMA’s videos are as enchanting and intriguing and as the music and often referred as excellent and uniquely leading pieces in the industry.. However 99% of all images from “A Posteriori” DVD were Kaleidoscopic Images. Why there was no actual video planned for such space symphony, A Posteriori? Arístides Moreno López. Spain. My intention was to create a kind of psychedelic animation in the style of the “flower power” period. I love paradoxes. Q: Things are changing, ENIGMA’s presentation to its audience is changing. Way back in the release date of the last album, there was an Alternative Reality Game (ARG) campaign with the tagline ‘’This Is Not A Game’’ under Virales Marketing (Word of Mouth Marketing) concept accompanying the release, only in Germany. What was your part in all and have you reached your aims with this project? Ilias Kirimlidis, Greece My part of the game was first of all to say “YES” to this new promotion tool and secondly to support the team of Susanne Flug for additional information. Q: How would you describe your 6 main albums in one word, for each of them? Jean-Pierre Héon – Canada 1st CD // 2nd CD // 3rd CD etc... No seriously, I never thought about it, cause I am doing music straight from the heart. It will take hours to find (if there is…) an answer. Q: Probably every ENIGMA fan thought this year was finally the ENIGMA time for Grammy Awards. How did you feel not been given the award in the end? Marina Katsarioti, Greece Not sad at all, cause I am a smoker and in the U.S they will put me in “jail”. I prefer to have fans instead of awards. Q: You gave a lecture in Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt with the title ‘’The meaning of numbers in music and in the general human life” Your fans outside Germany sadly missed the class. Could you please be so kind to explain us this briefly? Onur Tezgeldi, Istanbul-Turkey If I understand your question in the right way, it was just one part of the campaign.
Q: Why "Out From The Deep" –one of the best ENIGMA videos- was not included on "Remember the Future" DVD? Nicola Migliore, Naples, Italy - Marcos Weber, Brazil - Marius Krause, Belgium Because it’s the only computer animation video of ENIGMA and I had the feeling that it is not fitting to the rest. Q: As many fans think, you respect the musical creations of Vangelis Papathanassiou. Just to mention samples from 666, 1492 Conquest of Paradise or Albedo 0.39. and also a cover of Pulstar in “The Energy of Sound” under TAAW title. What would you say about your impressions on him? Maybe influences? Ilias Kirimlidis, Greece For me “Vangelis” is a genius and the best keyboard player of all times. Q: With today’s climate of downloading individual tracks rather than buying vinyl or CD's; “Private Lounge Remixes” album and Ruth Ann’s “What About Us?” was released as digitally only on iTunes. Do you think that method replaced/by-passed traditional procedure? Does any of this new way of purchasing music influence your thought and writing process? Do you like this concept? Martyn Woolley – USA I think this is the future of distributing music, but it has no influence on the way I am doing music. Q: There’s a constant discussion among fans that began with the Voyageur era regarding the new simplistic and “less is more” direction of ENIGMA. Seeing the diminishing sales levels of the last two ENIGMA albums have you ever performed (or felt the need to perform) an analysis over consequences? Alonso Gutiérrez, Spain – Onur Tezgeldi, Istanbul/Turkey I am doing music for myself and I am following a certain way without having the $$$ in front of my eyes. Concerning the sales... I don’t want to talk about problems that many famous artists – including me – world-wide have with their record companies nowadays. Look to the figures five years ago and now... Also a result of the illegal downloads. Q: Do you ever feel like going back to alter or re-do some of your previous songs or albums, either because you have developed new skills or simply feel like tweaking them? If so, which ENIGMA albums would you go back to adjust? Rory Mackay, Scotland, UK None of them. Q: Rather than being a UFO, ENIGMA lands on earth like a monolith, feeling and perceiving the genius reference to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Radio-talk samples on E3, visual cross- references on Turn Around video later… Ironically we even have the musical version of where the victorious man-ape throws his weapon into the air, at which point the film cuts forward to the future as Enigma’s sudden sound change from medieval to ultra modern and spacey/electronica tunes. Could we say the mentioned movie and the project have something in common? Onur Tezgeldi, Istanbul/Turkey Thanks for mentioning this movie. I always wanted to see it, but I forgot it. I will do it as soon as possible (because it is a must for a Sci-Fi fan like me). Q: The ENIGMA project introduced a unique musical experience to the world that continues to touch people’s lives even today. The world has changed alot since ENIGMA first began. Do you feel any inspiration once again to introduce something radically new onto the music scene of today? Something different from any of your previous work, even ENIGMA? Jason Edward Dudley, Canada - Will & Anne Lücken - Cologne/Germany Yes. I am working at the moment on E7, but as soon as it will be finished, I will start to work on a completely different dream, which is in my mind since years. Maybe you will like it. Q: Every ENIGMA record is the result of how you feel in the period of your life when you do it. Be it social, emotional or cultural climate as explained by saying ‘’Zeitgeist’’ Could you please be so kind to give hints to the zeitgeist of ENIGMA today? Or let’s put it simple; what kind of music style can we expect from ENIGMA 7? Martyn Woolley - USA - Nicolaj Stengaard Jensen, Denmark. - Justin Phillips, U.K. - Jose Antonio Riachi, Colombia. Wait and you’ll hear... I am working on E7, but before it’s finished even my record company has no idea about what I am doing. Sorry, it always was and always will be like this.
___________________________________________ C R E D I T S Executive Producer: Onur Tezgeldi - Advisor: Martyn Woolley
Many Thanks to Crocodile Music Management GmbH & Baloo Music S.A. (Susanne Flug & Jürgen Thürnau) for their kind collaboration THIS INTERVIEW IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR ENIGMAMUSIC.COM AND AFFILIATE WEB PAGES. ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THE
INTERVIEW IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND ANY FULL/PARTIAL REPRODUCTION REQUIRES WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE OWNER(S) ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED. © 2007 EnigmaMusic.com & Affiliate Web Sites
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