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Some people say these songs open portals…

You definitely know these melodies. Maybe from the radio, TV commercials,

or even as the soundtrack of movies and soap operas.

But behind this unique mix of mysterious chants,

rock and synthesizers, there’s a story almost nobody knows.

The mind behind this “sacred” sound is not a monk,

but a Hard Rock guitarist who opened shows for AC/DC and Black Sabbath.

The story of Era is that of a man who locked himself in the tower of a real castle to compose,

who was humiliated by record labels, told that his music was “outdated”,

but decided to put his own money on the line to create a unique universe.

A project that sold millions without ever showing the face of its creator.

Today we’re going to uncover the mysteries of Era. Make sure you subscribe to the channel,

because today’s story is a true epic battle.

To understand Era, we need to go back to 1976. The man behind it all is called Eric Lévi.

Son of a university professor and a ballerina,

he grew up listening to classical music, but rock was his true passion.

Eric founded Shakin’ Street, a French Hard Rock band that crossed the ocean.

They moved to the United States and opened for giants like AC/DC and Black Sabbath.

But, as everything in life changes, the band eventually came to an end.

Eric spent some time in New York working with other artists, until cinema changed his destiny.

In the early 90s, he returned to France and started composing soundtracks.

That’s when he wrote “Enae Volare Mezzo” for the comedy Les Visiteurs (“The Visitors”),

a film that took 14 million people to the movie theaters!

Eric brought a mystical dimension to the film,

using choirs and medieval sounds. It was the seed that gave birth to Era.

But here something curious happened: the movie was a triumph, but the soundtrack

was a sales failure. It sold only 35,000 copies.

Even so, Eric felt there was something there. He believed

there was room for a heroic fantasy music project that he would name “Era”.

From the Latin “Aera”, it means “Age” or “Period of Time” in almost all Western

languages. It was the perfect name for a project that doesn’t belong to a single

era, but builds a bridge between the medieval past and the modern present.

The problem was, he was the only one who believed in the project.

In 1995, he made the decision to isolate himself in the Donjon,

the main tower of the Royal Castle of Collioure, in France, to compose.

“I felt like I was creating the soundtrack for a movie that didn’t exist yet,” he said.

With the demos ready and using the money from his work as a composer,

Eric funded the recording of Era’s debut album.

He didn’t hold back on ambition and rented the legendary Abbey Road studio in London.

That’s where he recorded the tracks that would introduce his universe to the world,

including the future global hit “Ameno”.

A lot of people think Era’s lyrics are in Latin or Ancient Greek. The truth is, they’re sung in an

imaginary, made-up language inspired by the sound of Latin, but without any grammatical meaning.

Eric had the idea of using a made-up language,

but the person who actually created the words was the English conductor Guy Protheroe.

The rule was clear: the meaning didn’t matter,

only the sound. Eric explained: “I don’t tell stories, everything is based on sounds.

I let listeners project whatever they want onto these words.”

It’s true that on other tracks he did use real languages, like “The Mass”,

which is in real Latin; English, with the songs “Mother” and “Looking For Something”;

and even Arabic with the song “7 Seconds”.

The powerful choir on the tracks belongs to the English Chamber Choir,

conducted by Guy Protheroe, who was also the male voice of the project.

The female voices are far more numerous, but the most important ones are Harriet Jay from “Ameno”,

Florence Dedam from “Mother”, and Lena Jinnegren from “Divano”.

But, incredibly, no one could see the potential of these voices at the time.

When Eric took the project to record labels, every single

one of them shut the door. For a year, he was rejected by all the record companies.

The harshest response came from a label executive who said with contempt:

“But come on, Eric…Enigma was ten years ago.”

For those who don’t remember, Enigma was a project created by producer Michael Cretu that had a huge

success in 1990 with the song “Sadeness”, mixing monk chants with electronic beats.

The executive looked at Eric and decided Era was just a late copy,

a passing fad that had died years before.

It was a real blow, until the project landed in the hands of Yan-Philippe Blanc,

a director at Mercury Records. He was the only one who saw its potential.

His initial forecast was that it might sell around 250,000

copies. But that’s where the real surprise begins!

Released in 1997, Era didn’t sell 250,000 copies. It sold 5

million copies. It became the triumph of the year.

But if you turned on the TV hoping to see an interview with the band,

you wouldn’t find anything. Radio stations and the media initially

ignored the project. So Eric turned that into a weapon: the strategy of mystery.

No photos of the artist on the cover, no interviews,

no appearances. The creator chose to stay in the shadows. He said,

“I’m an artist like all the others, I just don’t show myself on the cover.”

If Eric didn’t appear, then who were the faces of Era? The answer is simple:

they were incredible artists! Here are a few.

The man with noble features and a melancholic gaze,

who often played a priest, a guardian, or a time traveler in the videos for

“Enae Volare Mezzo,” “Divano,” and “The Mass,” is Pierre Boisserie.

Pierre is a high-level dancer and choreographer. He began his career at

the Ballet National de Marseille, working with dance legends such as Roland Petit.

He was a soloist at the Marseille Opera and at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse.

The beautiful woman with the intense expression who performs the ritual

choreography brought Latin blood to the group.

She is Irene Bustamante, a Chilean dancer and choreographer. She was the

one who created the dances in the music videos.

Her presence explains, in part, the spiritual connection Latin

America felt with the project. Today, she directs the CASSIS dance company in Chile.

And of course, the young girl who stars in the “Ameno” music

video — the so-called “visionary child” — couldn’t be left out.

Her name is Léonore Confino. That little girl grew up to become a respected playwright,

nominated several times for the Molière Awards (the French equivalent of the Oscars for theater).

Era’s great triumph was creating a cinematic atmosphere without needing

to tell a closed-ended story. The music videos weren’t just promotional pieces to sell CDs;

they were true silent films, full of mystery and symbolism.

In the year 2000, Era 2 was released. The album brought the hit “Divano,”

which kept the same magical aura of the first, although Eric himself later admitted he found

the album a bit too “soft.” The truth is that he wanted power — he wanted impact.

So in 2003, the third chapter of this great saga was released: the album The Mass. The title

track was inspired by the classic work Carmina Burana. It’s grand, it’s epic, it’s powerful.

Eric was very direct about this return to a heavier sound.

In an interview, he dropped this gem: “This is not music for pregnant women! It’s massive,

it’s heavy, it has a spiritual side.” For him, Era is almost a “Hard Rock Opera.”

With this album, the project finally cemented itself in 55 countries,

proving it wasn’t just a passing phase.

Curiously, Era exploded with full force in Latin America. Countries like Mexico,

Argentina, and Brazil embraced the project in a way that even France took years to match.

Since they speak Portuguese and Spanish,

Era’s “pseudo-Latin” sounded strangely familiar to them. Words like “Ameno” and

“Divano” activated their cultural memories of the church, Catholicism, and the sacred.

In Mexico, Era became a religion. The song “Ameno” even made its way into the wrestling

ring! It became the entrance theme for Místico, the biggest idol of Lucha Libre in the 2000s.

Every night, when the lights at Arena México went out and the “Dori me” chant began,

wrestling turned into a sacred ritual.

For millions of Mexicans, that wasn’t a French

song — it was “Místico’s theme.” But the project didn’t stop there.

Eric Lévi kept creating, but chose to take the sound into new territories. In 2008,

he released the album Reborn. Here, the music gained Arabic influences and

exotic vocals. The standout tracks are “Reborn” and “Kilimandjaro”.

Soon after, in 2009 and 2010, came the albums Classics 1 and 2. The idea here was bold:

take untouchable works by masters like Bach, Vivaldi,

and Verdi and give them the “Era treatment,” with guitars and beats.

And after a long hiatus, the most recent studio work arrived in 2017: the album The 7th Sword.

From this record, the track that drew the most attention was “7 Seconds,” proving that even

decades later, the formula of mixing the old with the modern still worked.

For 23 years, Era never played a live show. It’s true that on YouTube you can find videos

from the time when Era appeared on French, Mexican, and Brazilian TV.

The truth is, those weren’t real tours. They were what we call “TV

Promotional Performances.” To sell records, the label would put together a “pocket show.”

They brought in the actors and did performances using playback or pre-recorded backing

tracks. Eric didn’t consider that a “real concert.” For him, it was just advertising.

So much so that an Official Era Tour — sung live, with a full orchestra, no playback,

and Eric on stage conducting the whole thing — only truly happened in 2019. But why wait so long?

Eric admitted in an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien that it was his perfectionism:

“I was too much of a purist. I thought we wouldn’t be able to

reproduce on stage the universe I created on the record. I wanted a choir of 80 people,

that kind of crazy thing that just wasn’t logistically possible.”

Until, in 2019, pop culture changed. Eric realized the world had finally caught up

with his vision. He summed it up perfectly in this sentence: “Today there is a real

resonance between what we see on TV and Era… the time is right, and I’m ready.”

For this comeback, he assembled a true army: 31 performers on stage,

including musicians, an 18-voice choir, and singers who blend opera with heavy metal.

Unfortunately, figures like Pierre Boisserie and Irene did not return. This is a new era now,

with new voices, focused on delivering the sound Eric dreamed of for 23 years inside that tower.

And what about you? Did that wave of nostalgia hit hard?

Which Era song marked your life? Drop it here in the comments!

If you have a suggestion for the next video, comment that too.

And don’t forget to leave a like and subscribe to the channel — next week

I’ll be back with another great story from the world of music!