| Niki Nana | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 24, 1989 | |||
| Genre | Instrumental | |||
| Length | 39:41 | |||
| Label | Private Music | |||
| Producer | Peter Baumann Yanni | |||
| Yanni chronology | ||||
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Niki Nana is the fifth studio album by Greek keyboardist and composer Yanni, released in August 1989 by Private Music.
By 1989, Yanni had released four studio albums, the most of recent of which was Chameleon Days (1988). When he started work on a follow-up record, he took a musical departure as he had explored music of an orchestral nature on his first three albums, in particular using synthesised strings. For Niki Nana, Yanni incorporated more rock-oriented arrangements with rhythm dominating the music, for which he used his time playing in rock bands in his early career as inspiration.[1]
"Niki Nana (We're One)" started as an instrumental track and Yanni felt it had a celebratory feel, hearing "people singing and dancing" of a South American or African flavour. He then decided to incorporate words from the Greek, Zulu, English, and Spanish language as an attempt to present the theme of unity.[1]
Yanni dedicated the album to his parents, Sotiri and Felitsa, in the liner notes.[2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard New Age albums chart.[4]
In 1992, lyrics in Greek were written for the track "Nightbird" by Greek lyricist Tasoula Thomaïdou. The song was called "Mia Ellada Fos" (A whole Greece of Light) and was performed by the Greek-Cypriot singer Konstantina in her personal album of the same name in 1992.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Niki Nana (We're One)" (Sterling, Yanni) | 5:21 |
| 2. | "Dance with a Stranger" | 5:01 |
| 3. | "Running Time" | 5:59 |
| 4. | "Someday" | 4:36 |
| 5. | "Human Condition" | 5:10 |
| 6. | "First Touch" | 2:59 |
| 7. | "Nightbird" | 6:01 |
| 8. | "Quiet Man" | 4:34 |
