Check out my interview with Bold Journey:
New music video is out for my song “White Night”!
It was a very exciting creative process to plan it, shoot it and finally see the beautiful imagery that Aron Jaksa created!
Huge shoutout to the incredible team, Aron Jaksa & Juancho Herrera!
Thank you for your relentless work and creativity at the shooting!
Special thanks to Zsofi, Borcsa, Milli and Luciana!
Thanks to my Mom for all the props like the Sokol radio, luggage and those old family pictures
“White Night” is based on three poems by legendary Russian poet Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966), with Pankovits’ own lyrics condensing them into two verses. The poems range from Akhmatova’s first book of poems, published in 1912: Vecher (Evening), to work from the 1960s, a few years before her death.
The music video was inspired by events from Anna Akhmatova's life and her poems.
VIDEO CREDITS
Created by Aron Jaksa - http://instagram.com/aronjaksa/
Script written by Nikolett Pankovits, Aron Jaksa and Juancho Herrera
Production assistant: Juancho Herrera / https://www.juanchoherrera.com
Make up & hair by Liv Rideg: https://www.instagram.com/livridegofficial/
Stream/download song: https://fanlink.tv/whitenight
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About the story:
“To avoid persecution by Stalin, the poet Anna Akhmatova burnt her writings and instead taught a circle of friends the words of her poem Requiem off by heart. By going ‘pre-Gutenberg’ she ensured its survival....” - Martin Puchner
Read full BBC article about Anna Akhmatova:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180515-requiem-how-a-poem-resisted-stalin
SONG CREDITS
Released on March 5, 2024
Song written by Nikolett Pankovits
Lyrics by Nikolett Pankovits
Based on poems by Anna Akhmatova: Moscow trefoil: Almost into the album, White Night, Song of the Last Meeting
LYRICS
There will be thunder then. Remember me.
You’ll say ‘ She asked for storms.’
The entire world will turn the color of crimson stone,
and your heart as then, will turn to fire.
That day, in Moscow, a true prophecy,
when for the last time I say goodbye,
soaring to the heavens that I longed to see,
leaving my shadow here in the sky.
See that dark house again.
Only one candle glows,
A yellow, complacent, flame.
See, how the fields die down,
In the sunset gloom of firs,
I still hear the echo of your voice
That day, in Moscow, a true prophecy,
when for the last time I say goodbye,
soaring to the heavens that I longed to see,
leaving my shadow here in the sky.
MUSICIANS
Nikolett Pankovits – voice
Josh Deutsch – trumpet
Juancho Herrera – guitar
Manu Koch – piano
Bam Rodriguez – upright bass
Franco Pinna – drums
RECORDED BY
Marc Urselli at Eastside Sound Studio, New York City
MIXED AND MASTERED BY
Dave Darlington at Bass Hit Recording, New York City
PRODUCER
Nikolett Pankovits
“White Night” is based on three poems by legendary Russian poet Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966), with Pankovits’ own lyrics condensing them into two verses. The poems range from Akhmatova’s first book of poems, published in 1912: Vecher (Evening), to work from the 1960s, a few years before her death.
The three poems are about parting, loss, and memory, sometimes bittersweet, the complexity of love and its end and remembering it or anticipating remembering it.
Plaintive trumpet and piano set the mood for a beautiful mid-tempo ballad that can stand, musically and lyrically and vocally, with the best of Joni Mitchell’s and Sade’s relationship ruminations. It’s jazz yet also beyond genre—an adult pop song. Trumpet obligatos shadow the vocal like memory commenting on/reacting to the actual events. The song’s four-and-a-half minutes fly by, squeezing a wealth of emotion into a short, easily flowing structure of masterful songwriting and arrangement.
“White Night” is being released on the 58th anniversary of Akhmatova’s death.
lyrics
LYRICS:
There will be thunder then. Remember me.
You’ll say ‘ She asked for storms.’
The entire world will turn the color of crimson stone,
and your heart as then, will turn to fire.
That day, in Moscow, a true prophecy,
when for the last time I say goodbye,
soaring to the heavens that I longed to see,
leaving my shadow here in the sky.
See that dark house again.
Only one candle glows,
A yellow, complacent, flame.
See, how the fields die down,
In the sunset gloom of firs,
I still hear the echo of your voice
That day, in Moscow, a true prophecy,
when for the last time I say goodbye,
soaring to the heavens that I longed to see,
leaving my shadow here in the sky.
Lyrics by Nikolett Pankovits
Based on poems by Anna Akhmatova: Moscow trefoil: Almost into the album, White Night, Song of the Last Meeting
credits
released March 5, 2024
Nikolett Pankovits – voice
Josh Deutsch – trumpet
Juancho Herrera – guitar
Manu Koch – piano
Bam Rodriguez – upright bass
Franco Pinna – drums
Music by Nikolett Pankovits
Lyrics by Nikolett Pankovits – based on poems by Anna Akhmatova: Moscow trefoil: Almost into the album, White Night, Song of the Last Meeting
RECORDED BY
Marc Urselli at Eastside Sound Studio, New York City
MIXED AND MASTERED BY
Dave Darlington at Bass Hit Recording, New York City
PRODUCER
Nikolett Pankovits
DESIGNER
Dragana/Aleksandar
PHOTO BY
Tímea Jaksa
My new single ‘White Night’ is coming out on March 5th!
Here is a sneak peak of the recording session at Eastside Sound Studio in New York 😉
Thanks to Owlee Production for the video! /Owleeproduction.com/
#newsong #colors #white #poetry
We’ve recorded a beautiful Hungarian song, ‘Várlak’ (Waiting for you) that I used to sing with my father when I was a child.
It was written by one of the best Hungarian composers, Gábor Presser. His songs resonate with so many generations. Thank you Pici for this beautiful song and inspiration!
Thanks to Juancho Herrera for playing the guitar so beautifully and Lázár Todoroff for the video & audio recording! It was a true pleasure to create with both of you.
I dedicate this song to my father. Thank you for all the music that you showed me!
Special thanks to Studio Madison for the space and for all the help & support to Tímea Jaksa, Kati Néveri and Pál Szabó! https://studiomadison.hu
For me, this video reflects the emotional content of this song and the depth of connection between poetry, music and love.
VIDEO EDITING Daniel Herrera /https://lumotiongraph.com/, Nikolett Pankovits
VIDEO FOOTAGE Krisztián Köves, Nikolett Pankovits
Listen here
Pankovits has initiated a new project that is planned to eventually grow into an album.
“In the Colors project I want to showcase the beauty of diversity in my life. Connecting the content to this idea, the lyrics will be poems by international poets—covering different continents. I would like to put out singles that we will connect visually and release a record with these songs once all the singles are out. Each song and poem will connect to a color theme.”
This track exists outside of genre boundaries, stripped to the essentials of music—lush harmonies, bountiful melodies, lithe rhythms—that of course relate to jazz but transcend it. Starting with Jon Cowherd's solo piano that feels like a gentle caress, it blossoms when Pankovits sings, joined by sensually resonant double bass by Carlos Henderson.
She has written lyrics (first and last verses) that frame an emotionally charged reading, in the middle, of an excerpt from the 1865 verse drama Chastelard by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909). They are tinged with the poet’s trademark eroticism—not that there’s anything radio will have to censor; it’s a paean to longing crowned with realization, then recalled in a warm haze of memory.
Pankovits’ verses give it more permanency and a lot more optimism as she moves at the end from the sea to the sky in a hopeful ascent. Her music, always highly personal, reaches a new level of intimacy on “Come By the Sea.”
Song: Tele van a sötét égbolt ragyogó csillaggal (“The dark firmament is filled with shining stars”)—Erdély (Transylvania)
Guitar: Juancho Herrera
Vocals: Nikolett Pankovits
Song is on album ‘River’ by Nikolett Pankovits, produced by Juancho Herrera
Video: Cristobal De La Cuadra
New York, 2021