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Biography
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Ivan Lantos was born in Hungary in 1949. Graduate of the Bela Bartok Conservatory (Budapest)
in traditional double bass and jazz, he soon made a name for himself with his non-conformist views.
Escaping from the groves of classical academism, he was initialy drawn to jazz but gradually abandoned it
in favour of traditional Balkan music. Passionately interested in ethnomusicology, he undertook several
study trips to Transylvania and Bulgaria, where the local pesants taught him to play the gaïda (bagpipe),
and the kaval (rim-blown flute).
Drawing on this experience, he founded the Budapest-based ensemble Kolinda, a group who derived that material for its new pieces from
different types of ethnic music. During a show in Paris, the Hungarian formation is noticed by Hughes de Courson,
who produced with enthusiasm its first three records. Kolinda soon enjoyed immense success in France, where
Ivan settled definitively in 1980.
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With the jazz drummer Peter Gritz, he formed a duet based on the research of the improvisational forms
within the framework of popular music. After a participation at the Festival of Rotterdam, the duet got into a
trio with the arrival of the harpist Kristen Noguès, and performed mainly in Brittany (Festival of Creative Music of
Rennes in 1981).
While building up Transylvania as an off-beat pop group, he also worked with Hughes de Courson on various creations,
as well as on contemporary dance projects and record releases such as Mando (Pierre Akendengué), Elf (Gabriel Yacoub),
or Lambarena... Arranger for Christian Ferrari, he managed with him several musical trainings for teenagers and joined
him on stage for its spectacles for children.
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He teamed-up once again with Hughes de Courson to found Spondo, a band centered on a modern music played with
antiquated technicals and instruments. In 1994, he recorded Palestrina's Missa Primi Toni and gave, with Bulgarka Junior, several shows in Europe and at the
Festival of Fès (Morocco).
After the reunion with Kolinda and the Lantos Banda experience, Ivan enters the new century with a series
of daring discographic projects. Without neglecting, however, its regular collaborations with Pierre Akendengué,
Christian Ferrari and Hughes de Courson...
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