Zagreb, Croatia

Nani

Flute · Electronics · Production
01 Work, Sonabeest
Fig. 02, Animalis Sonora
Work, 2026

Sonabeest Animalis Sonora

An audio-reactive organism, a many-legged digital creature that walks in real time on sound. The walking mechanism descends from Theo Jansen's strandbeesten; the soundtrack is made exclusively from flute. Every bass, texture and percussion is a shaped flute channel. The same air that carries strandbeests across the beach moves through the body, through the instrument, and into the legs of the Sonabeest.

Mechanism Theo Jansen · CSS walking mechanism Amit Sheen · sound, visuals & code Nani Nodes

Shown on screen, projected, or shared as a link.

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02 About

Nani Nodes is a Zagreb-based flutist, producer and improviser working at the edges of classical and experimental electronic music.

Nikolina Šušak Mandić, classically trained as a flutist at the Music Academy in Sarajevo, graduating with the University's Silver Badge for outstanding achievement, with an Erasmus year at the Conservatory in Vigo and a master's from the Arts Academy in Split. She has played in orchestral and chamber ensembles, among them the Sarajevo Philharmonic and the Orquesta Municipal de Vigo, and at contemporary-music festivals such as Sarajevo Sonic Studio, working closely with new repertoire.

That repertoire drew her toward electroacoustic music: pieces for flute and tape, live electronics, interactive processing. As Nani Nodes she now works at the edge of the acoustic and the digital, using Ableton Live, Max/MSP and real-time effects to turn the flute into texture and performance. Alongside her music she works as a software engineer, an interdisciplinary footing between sound and technology.

In 2026 she took part in the FAMES Institute, recording in a professional studio both as an orchestral player and as a session performer, working alongside contemporary composers. That experience grew into her work as a remote recording artist, recording flute parts for productions remotely.

Instrument
Flute · Electronics
Live setup
Ableton · Max/MSP
Practice
Orchestral · Chamber · Solo · Session · Remote recording
Location
Zagreb, Croatia
Genre
Classical · Experimental · Electronic
03 Releases
Learning Curve — album cover

Learning Curve

  1. 01Fragile Beginnings0:48
  2. 02Allowance2:48
  3. 03Unsteady Pulse2:19
  4. 04Learning To Breathe3:16
Experimental Zagreb Flute · Electronics

Album cover design by Ana Naletilić Ivanković

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Learning Curve is what its name says, a recorded process of working it out. Almost every sound here starts from a single flute: breath, tone and extended technique, then effected, sampled and pushed until it barely resembles where it began. The percussion is the instrument too, key clicks, tongue rams and the small mechanical noises most playing tries to hide. Less a finished statement than an experiment in how far one flute can be stretched, and how many things it can be made to sound like.

04 Sessions

A selection of session and guest appearances, contributing flute to releases by other artists.

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For collaborations, session work or live performances, leave a note below and I'll get back to you.

Zagreb, Croatia