MUSIC | Hankag

Universal Ancestry

UNIVERSAL ANCESTRY is the first album recorded and released in the United States by Slovak vocalist and lyricist HANKA G. She has previously released three albums in Europe. HANKA has lived in New York City since 2016 where she performs at all the local jazz hotspots. She produced UNIVERSAL ANCESTRY together with three stellar jazz musicians – JAMES HURT, SHEDRICK MITCHELL, and RODNEY KENDRICK. HANKA is a soulful singer who stretches the boundaries of jazz with her multi-cultural sensibilities. Her rich, warm tone, improvisational chops, and unique ability to fuse jazz, gospel, R&B, and Slovak folk music have drawn the attention of some of the top names in jazz.

Twin Flame

In December 2016, Hanka released her third solo album recorded in duo with pianist Ondrej Krajnak, who also worked on her previous two CDs. The album is called Twin Flame and pays tribute to celebrated jazz pianists. Hanka decided to work with selected instrumental tunes written by well-known jazz pianists, vocalized them, and wrote her own lyrics. (Ernest Oláh, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Thelonious Monk, Ondrej Krajnak, and Mal Waldron).

At the same time, this album represents the pinnacle of cooperation with one of Europe's best composers-pianists, Ondrej Krajnak originally from Slovakia. The album was named after his original composition Twin Flames. This name captures the essence of both artists whose music is something like karmic twin flames, representing one soul in two bodies, the exquisite balance between a female and male principle. Twin Flame has been nominated for “The Best Jazz Record of the Year“ in “Radio_Head Awards 2017“ in Slovakia.

Essence

In 2014, Hanka was signed by Hevhetia Publishing House and released her second solo album produced by jazz pianist Ondrej Krajnak, who also worked with her on her first CD. The album is called “Essence” and it is a tribute to Slovak folklore songs rearranged into jazzy tunes by Krajnak creating a very unique fusion. Only the Slovak & Czech jazz finest worked with her on this album, such as Josef Feco (double bass, cymbalo), Radovan Tariska (alt and soprano saxophone), Marian Sevcik(drums), Stefan Bugala (percussion), and Ivan Herak’s cymbalo band.