New Single 'Come By The Sea'

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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.”

Nikolett Pankovits
New video by the Hudson River

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

Nikolett Pankovits
Review of 'River' and 'Magia'

New review in from Canada by Raul da Gama!

Thank you very much Raul!

Nikolett Pankovits: River In keeping with its idiomatic title, the repertoire of this disc flows mightily from one song to the next. It is as if the music is meant to take us – body and soul – into another world.

Read full review here

Nikolett Pankovits
Since you're nowhere....

Two Hungarian folk songs from different regions melding with a beautiful poem by Lőrinc Szabó finding comfort and peace in nature.

Since you are nowhere /Mert sehol se vagy/ by Lőrinc Szabó, translated by Paul Sohar

Since you’re nowhere, I seek you everywhere, the sun, the fields; a cloud can be your dress, the world keeps showing you, continues to possess your essence, even in the way my stare predictably fails to capture you; the play of light and shadow, cricket noise can reproduce the tinkling of your voice, imagination can always find a clue: I see you and I don’t, your dear name in my heart always echoes yours, yet every moment robs me of my claim: I open myself to the stars and prick my ears, but while chasing you, this predator is lured into your grave; into himself he disappears.

Mert sehol se vagy, mindenütt kereslek, nap, rét, tó, felhő, száz táj a ruhád, mindig mutat valahol a világ s mindig elkap, bár kereső szememnek tévedései is hozzád vezetnek, úgyhogy fény-árnyak, tündérciterák villantják hangod, a szemed, a szád, csöndes játékait a képzeletnek: látlak s nem látlak, drága nevedet csengi csendülő szívembe szíved, de percenkint újra elvesztelek: csillagokig nyílok szét s hallgatózom, üldöződ, én, mégis, mint akit ólom húz le, sírodba, magamba csukódom.

Recording credits: Song: Fújnak a fellegek / Ne aludj el, két szememnek világa (The clouds are blowing/Do not fall asleep my dear), Dunántúl / Felvidék (Transdanubia / Upland)

Album: River

Artist: Nikolett Pankovits

Musical arrangement: Josh Deutsch, Artemisz Polonyi, Nikolett Pankovits

Performers: Nikolett Pankovits, Artemisz Polonyi, Josh Deutsch, Manu Koch, Bam Rodriguez

Actor: Adam Boncz Song selection: Ildikó Nagy, Boglárka Raksányi

Producer: Juancho Herrera

Video credits:

Editing: Nikolett Pankovits

Footage recorded in Hungary, Iceland, Transylvania/Romania, Switzerland, U.S.A and in the sky around the world

Thanks for the inspiration to Tímea Jaksa! Special thanks to Mimi & Gabi!

Nikolett Pankovits
Album Review at All About Jazz

By FRIEDRICH KUNZMANN
February 1, 2021

A dominating proportion of Hungarian lyrics paired with various Hungarian folkloric elements spread across fourteen compositions lend influential character but aren't all-defining on vocalist Nikolett Pankovits' ambitious sophomore outing, River. On the album, the Hungarian singer, based out of New York, is joined by an octet choir of handpicked Hungarian vocalists, who add complex harmonic movements and much body to traditional Hungarian songs that are treated to improvisational arrangements and Latin grooves. The result is a fusion of styles that defies national boundaries and claims a sound of its own.

Read full review here: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/river-nikolett-pankovits-ninwood-music

Nikolett Pankovits