Nostalgia (Live) Hania Rani

• 1 Rani: 24.03 (Live at Studio 1, Warsaw) 05:52
• 2 Bellamy, Rani: Thin Line (Live at Studio 1, Warsaw) 06:54
• 3 Watson, Rani: Dancing with Ghosts (Live at Studio 1, Warsaw) 05:31
• 4 Rani: The Boat (Live at Studio 1, Warsaw) 06:36
• 5 Rani: It Comes in Waves (Live at Studio 1, Warsaw) 07:09
• 6 Bellamy, Rani: Don't Break My Heart (Live at Studio 1, Warsaw) 06:54
• 7 Rani: Komeda (Live at Studio 1, Warsaw) 10:33
• 8 Rani: Utrata (Live at Studio 1, Warsaw) 05:08
• 9 Rani: Nostalgia (Live at Roundhouse, London) 05:46
• Total Runtime 01:00:23

Info for Nostalgia (Live)

On the 6th of October 2023, the release date of her third solo album ‘Ghosts’, Hania Rani organised a special album release concert with a string ensemble in a very unique location - Witold Lutosławski's Concert Studio at the Polish Radio in Warsaw.

“Over the years, the spaces of Polish Radio became an important part of my life - both privately and professionally. I visited it for the first time as a student of Chopin University of Music and came back to make my first recordings in late 2018, just before the release of the debut album ‘Esja’. Since then I have been a regular guest.”

The building is located in the Mokotów district in Warsaw and has served generations of musicians and sound engineers for decades. For Hania it is a home from home; a beloved recording studio but something more important and resonant too. Nostalgia does more than just present a memorable concert; it celebrates a space and an idea as through the mediums of photography and recorded sound. Hania creates something profound and enlightening.

“Some months after this special concert in Studio S1 I came back to the chambers of Polish Radio. This time not as a musician, but as an observer. It was one of the coldest Mondays of January and Warsaw was adorned with fresh, plush snow. The building seemed completely empty, so I was able to navigate freely with my camera from space to space without interruption. I relished each object and each room waiting patiently to be consumed by a film roll. The obscure lighting was putting things in a subtle movement, the strong white beams were making them still again”

Hania Rani

Hania Rani
is an award-winning pianist, composer and singer. Her debut album ‘Esja’, a beguiling collection of solo piano pieces on Gondwana Records was released to international acclaim in 2019, earning Rani four prestigious Fryderyk Awards including “Best Debut Album”, “Best Alternative Album” and “Best New Arrangement”, in recognition from the Polish music industry’s very own Grammys.

Her follow-up sophomore album, the expansive, cinematic, ‘Home’, was released in 2020 on Gondwana Records and finds Rani expanding her palate: adding vocals and subtle electronics to her music as well as being accompanied by bassist Ziemowit Klimek and drummer Wojtek Warmijak. The album earned Rani another notable accolade of “Best Composer”, a further acknowledgement from Fryderyk and with Rough Trade including it in their essential “Albums of the Year”.

Hania’s third solo album ‘Ghosts‘ was released on October 6th 2023, and features Patrick Watson, Ólafur Arnalds and Duncan Bellamy (from Portico Quartet) and was made with the help of Viktor Orri Árnason (string arrangements) and Greg Freeman (mixing). ‘Ghosts’ was mastered by John Davis at Metropolis Studios.

“With ‘Ghosts’ I wanted to start something from scratch, picking tools and stories I was not familiar with, but which felt dear to me. ‘Ghosts’ is a story about life and death, light and darkness, real and unreal. It’s an attempt to touch ultimate qualities and craft my own mythologies; to face fears, take a deep dive into things that scare me but also seduce me subconsciously. ‘Ghosts’ collects all of these things together, mixing the past, present and the future into a new sound of mine.”

Newly announced ‘Nostalgia‘ is Rani’s first ‘real’ live album, recorded in a place of deep personal and artistic significance: the Polish Radio studios in Warsaw. Through Nostalgia, Hania presents the studios in her own perspective,as somewhere unique and unknown. A place of work, but something more. A place of ghosts and hidden meanings, of inspiration and mystery. By juxtaposing her music with evocative analogue photographs of the studios, Rani provides a closer look at her artistic journey – from composing to performance and recording – all seen through her own eyes. For Rani, it is an experimental step – the first time she brings her sonic and visual worlds together in a combined presentation.

Booklet for Nostalgia (Live)