Original subtitles

Some people say these songs open

portals. [music]

[music]

>> You definitely know these melodies.

Maybe from the radio, TV commercials, or

even as the soundtrack of movies and

soap operas. [music] But behind this

unique mix of mysterious chance, rock

and synthesizers, there's a story almost

nobody [music] knows.

[music]

>> The mind behind this sacred [music]

sound is not a monk, but a hard rock

guitarist who opens shows for AC/DC and

Black Sabbath. The story of Era [music]

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that his [music] music was outdated, but

decided to put his own money on the line

to [music] 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

[music] of era. Make sure you subscribe

to the channel because today's story is

a true epic battle.

To understand era, we [music] need to go

back to 1976. The man behind it all is

called Eric Levy, son of a university

professor and a ballerina. He grew up

listening to classical music, but rock

was his true passion. [music] Eric found

Shaken Street, a French hard rock band

that crossed the ocean. They moved to

the United States and opened for giants

like [music] AC/DC and Black Sabbath.

But as everything in life changes, the

band eventually [music] came to an end.

Eric spent some time in New York working

with other artists until cinema changed

his destiny. In the early '90s, [music]

he returned to France and started

composing soundtracks. That's when he

wrote Eni Volare Mets for the comedy

[music] Le Visitor, a film that took 14

million people to the movie theaters.

[music]

Eric brought a mystical dimension to the

film using choirs and medieval sounds.

It was the sea 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

Aya, it means age [music] 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

[music] in the project. In 1995 he made

the decision to isolate himself in

Donjon the main tower of the royal

castle of Kolure [music] 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 [music]

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 [music]

Ameno. A lot of people think Era's

lyrics are in Latin or ancient Greek.

The truth is they're sung in an

imaginary madeup language inspired by

the sound of [music] Latin but without

any grammatical meaning. Eric had the

idea of using a madeup language. But the

person who actually created the words

was the English conductor Grojoy. The

rule was clear. The meaning didn't

matter only the sound. [music] 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 [music]

Arabic with the song 7 seconds. The

powerful choir on the tracks belongs to

the English chamber choir conducted by

Ge Projoy [music]

who is also the male voice of the

project. The female voices are far more

numerous, but the most important ones

are Harriet J from Ameno, Florence Dam

[music] from Mother, and Lena Ginigran

from Divano. But incredibly, no one

could see the potential of these voices

at the time. When Eric took the project

to record [music] 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

10 years ago."

For those who [music] don't remember,

Enigma was a project created by producer

Michael Katto that had a huge success

[music] in 1990 with the song Sadness.

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 Phipe Blunk,

a director at Mercury [music] 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

[music] 250,000 copies. It sold 5

million copies. It became the triumph of

the year. [music]

[music]

But if you turned on the TV hoping to

see an [music] interview with the band,

you wouldn't find anything. Radio

stations and the media initially ignored

the project. [music] So Eric turned that

into a weapon, the strategy of mystery.

No photos of the artist on the cover.

[music] No interviews, no appearances.

The creator chose to stay in the

shadows. He [music] said, "I'm an artist

like all the others. I just don't show

myself on the cover." [music] If Eric

didn't appear, then who were the faces

of Era? The answer is simple. They were

incredible artists. [music] Here are a

few. The man with noble features and a

melancholic gaze who often played a

priest, [music] a guardian or a time

traveler in the videos for Enan Valarzo,

Divano and the mass is Pierre [music]

Boyceeri. Pierre is a highlevel dancer

and choreographer. He began his career

at the ballet national de Mariel [music]

working with dance legends such as

Roland Petite. He was a soloist at

[music] the Marciel Opera and at the The

Dapitol in Tulus. 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 [music] explains in part

the spiritual connection Latin America

felt with the project. [music]

Today she directs the Cassis Dance

Company in Chile. And [music] 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

Lenor Confino. That little girl grew up

to become a respected playwright,

nominated several times for the Molè

Awards, the French equivalent of the

Oscars for theater. [music]

Era's great triumph was creating a

cinematic atmosphere without needing to

tell a closedended story. The music

videos weren't just promotional pieces

to sell CDs. [music] They were true

silent films full of mystery and

symbolism. In the year 2000, Era 2 was

released. The album brought the hit Dano

which kept the same magical aura of the

first. Although Eric himself later

admitted [music] he found the album a

bit too soft. The truth is that he

wanted power. He wanted [music] impact.

So in 2003, the third chapter of this

great saga was released. The album The

Mass. [music] The title track was

inspired by the classic work Carmina

Barana. It's [music] grand. It's epic.

It's powerful. I

[music]

>> look [music] in the sky I'll search for

the signs who tell us

[music]

>> something real something

[music]

>> Eric was very direct about this return

to a heavier sound. [music] In an

interview, he dropped this gem. This is

not music for pregnant women. [music]

It's massive. It's heavy. It has a

spiritual side for [music] him. Era is

almost a hard rock opera. With this

album, the project finally cemented

itself in 55 countries, proving it

wasn't [music] just a passing phase.

Curiously, era exploded with force in

Latin America. Countries like Mexico,

Argentina, [music]

and Brazil embraced the project in a way

that even France took years to match.

Since they speak Portuguese, [music] and

Spanish, era's pseudo Latin sounded

strangely familiar to them. Words like

ao and dano 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 Mystico, the

[music] biggest idol of Lucha Libé in

the 2000s. Every night when the lights

at Arena Mexico went out and the Dory

chant began, [music] wrestling turned

into a sacred ritual.

>> For millions of Mexicans, that wasn't

just a French song. [music] It was

Mystico's theme. But the project didn't

stop there. Eric Levy kept [music]

creating but chose to take the sound

into new territories. In 2008 he

released the album Reborn. Here [music]

the music gained Arabic influences and

exotic vocals. The standout tracks are

reborn [music] and Kilimanjaro.

>> [music]

[singing]

>> when

no more [music]

killing on.

Soon after in 2009 and 2010 [music] came

the albums classics one and two. The

idea here was bold. Take [music]

untouchable works by masters like Bach,

Vivaldi and Verde [music] and give them

the era treatment with guitars and

beats.

[music]

[singing]

[music]

>> [singing]

[music]

[music]

>> Look at the smile on a rain.

[music and singing]

>> After a long hiatus, the most recent

studio work arrived in 2017. The album

The Seventh Sword.

>> It's not a second [singing and music]

away. the sound of the fall [music] in

the midst of the night.

>> 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.

[music]

For 23 years, Era never played a live

show. [music] It's true that on YouTube

you can find videos from the time when

era appeared on French, Mexican, and

Brazilian TV. [music] 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 [music] did performances

using playback or pre-recorded backing

tracks. Eric didn't consider that a real

concert. For [music] him, it was just

advertising. So much so that an official

era tour sung live with a full [music]

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 Parisian that it was

his perfectionism. [music] 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. [music]

That kind of crazy thing that just

wasn't logistically possible until in

2019, [music]

pop culture changed. Eric realized the

world had [music] finally caught up with

his vision. He summed it up perfectly in

this sentence. Today, there is a real

resonance between [music] what we see on

TV and era. The time is right and I'm

ready for this comeback. [music] He

assembled a true army. 31 performers on

stage, including musicians, an [music]

18 voice choir, and singers who blend

opera and heavy metal. Unfortunately,

figures like Pierre Boyceeri [music] and

Irene did not return. This is a new era

show 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 [music] to leave a like and

subscribe to the channel. Next week,

I'll be back with another great story

from the world of music.