I do not know the origins of Enigma or the people who formed the band or regarding their association with any cult or religion. I write this article based on the fact that the songs of Enigma are nonpareil in the field of music. In this world where everything that comes through to us these days is some mix of the same instruments, producing the same type of music, where you can't even understand the spirit of the music. I may not be even a novice in music, but then music is universal, ubiquitous, catholic. Everything that exists is music. Hence because some people (and those people have produced some creative music) have lived a glamorous life, a life that others want to emulate, so anyone today with a even a little sense of how to work on the instruments comes forward and produces songs which, after hearing them, you don't even understand why the people who created them did so. Of course, I understand that the hit rate in any creative activity is extremely low and requires a great deal of work on the subject. (The terms amateur and novice would have been created for some purpose.) But it seems that the aim of these people is not music but its aftereffects. Unfortunately, the test of a successful musician (or any creative art for that matter) is not how many people remember you while you are living in this mortal habiliment but how many remember you after you come out of it.
Simply listening to Enigma is so energizing.. Whether it is "The Return To Innocence" or "Silence Must Be Heard", almost everything that they have produced is worth listening to. You see songs having a spirit of their own, exhorting you to go into worlds within you, where life prances in front of you, and you realize there is much more to life than just the daily wont. The music refreshes you as much as it enthralls with its quality and more amusing, its mysteriousness. No doubt they chose Enigma as their band name.
Indeed the ictus is on music; with voice being used sparingly, unless it is to produce even more music. And even where words have been used, they have been used in such a way that the music and the words consummate the purpose immaculately.
My personal favourite would be "Out from the deep". Some 20 words make this song, but you would not listen to a song that is extreme with profundity.. "And that's why we're here".. Of course, it is more the words that cut your soul and affect you philosophically and spiritually.. It makes you feel as if you are watching a macro-view of your life.. And comparing it with the song and the underlying theme: the purpose. Let me end by reproducing some words from the song.
We came out from the deep
To learn to love, learn how to live;
We came out from the deep
To avoid the mistakes we made;
That's why we are here.
We came out from the deep
To help and understand, but not to kill;
It takes many lives till we succeed
To clear the debts of many hundred years
That's why we are here.
So true; yet the absolute opposite of what most of us do in practice. Of course, the growing tribe of agnostics and non-believers would not agree to some words, but most would agree that the music is delphic. And even if it forces us to think about ourselves once a day, it serves the purpose of creating an oeuvre of such songs. Kudos to Enigma!
