Bio
Bobo was born in 1964 in Hnúšťa (Likier) and grew up in Veľký Krtíš in a family of teachers.
His father, Pavel Kantor, who played the cello, led him from the age of five to play the piano and later the clarinet and guitar. He attended folk art school LŠU, I and II cycle, where he gained the basis for his further musical growth.
In 1979, after entering the secondary school of education, he founded two musical groups, AQUA and Protessong, for which he composed and arranged his own repertoire. During his studies he specialised in aesthetics, in which he was professionally guided and supported by the composer and conductor Jaroslav Hübner. He gave him unlimited opportunities to practice in the school theatre on the concert wing with the possibility to record his own music in the school recording studio.
In 1983, he joined the basic military service in the military art ensemble cap. J. Nálepku in Bratislava as a guitar player and singer. With the orchestra they gave concerts all over Czechoslovakia.
In 1986, he received an offer to become a member as a keyboard player and vocalist of the musical group TEAM by its founding members (D. Antalik, I. Valek, M. Dočekal and I. Marček). At that time TEAM had 3 successful singles such as Beh, Tvoj malý strach and Internátné ráno. The arrival of Bobo Kantor and Palo Habera changed everything. In 1988, TEAM’s debut album was released on the Opus label, which shot the group to the forefront of popularity and sales throughout Czechoslovakia. Hundreds of concerts, awards and the long-lasting fan favour that still adorns the group today did not prevent Bobo from closing this chapter of his musical life after six successful albums.
Already, in 1986, he built his first private recording studio EMA records in Martina.
In addition to his work with TEAM, he composes music for television, radio, film, theater, commercials, jingles, multimedia presentations and non-commercial projects. In EMA records studio he is also involved in sound design, sound post-production and mastering. In 1994 he released his first solo album Nelajsia on Tommü records. Subsequently, in cooperation with the Theatre in Martin, he performed the first multimedia concerts of Nelajsia in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. At the beginning of the 1990s it was a novelty and Bobo Kantor was one of the pioneers of the multimedia genre in Slovakia. The combination of musical concert, cinema and theater, video projection, movement theater and especially quadraphonic sounding of the concert – surround, was a success.
In the same year he was preparing an album in Hebrew called Chevra in collaboration with Milan Bartalsky – the singer of Monte Rosa, which they presented together at a music festival in Israel, where they then played a series of concerts.
In 1996 he released the double album Trpělivosti světla chvění a zvoní (new age) on the Disting label, on which, besides Bobo Kantor participated also a TEAM member Milan Dočekal. Besides performing and composing, he naturally moved into the position of producer. Among his most successful and well-known projects, which he has covered as a producer and author, is undoubtedly Fairy Tale Treasure – a collection of Slovak folk tales by Pavel Dobšinský from 1997. It consists of 24 original adaptations in the dramaturgy and direction of P. Kováč, R. Mankovecký and P. Gábor.
40 actors from the theaters – SND Bratislava, SNP Martin Theatre, Astorka-Korzo Bratislava, J.G.Tajovský Theatre in Zvolen and A.Bagár Theatre in Nitra – participated in the recording of the fairy tales. The main protagonists – narrators included Božidara Turzonová, Karol Machata and Michal Dočolomanský. The audio recordings were christened fairy-tale-like in the castle in Bojnice, where they were performed live in its chambers and around the castle. This was the 1st edition of the fairy tale festival – Fairy Tale Treasure with EMA and TV Markíza. The festival was visited by an incredible 120 thousand spectators during 3 days. A year later, the 2nd edition of the Fairy Tale Treasure Festival – Janka Hraška followed, which was also very successful with the audience.
In 1998 he realized a multi-genre music project Concert for 2001 in cooperation with the State Chamber Orchestra Žilina and the Cantica Collegium Musicum Martin choir. Among the many guest performers were Dušan Antalík, Ivan Válek, Július Petrus and Roman Révai from Team and guitarist Palo Chodelka. The concert was broadcast by TV Markíza and its sound recording was released as a vinyl double album and CD.
In 2004 he left for Bohemia. He opens a recording studio in Prague in Barrandov studios, where besides producing bands and music for TV and film he composed his own projects for music labels Fontána, Sonoton, Denis music, EMA, Maybee, Monitor.
In 2008, together with musicians Roman Révai, Jaro Gažo, Pavel Marcel, Bharata Rajnošek and Mir Širán, he created a series of concerts for children and youth in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Bobo Kantor and Roman Révai contributed musically and Zdeněk Novák, Peter Cingel and Dodo Gombár contributed with lyrics. His most successful projects are: Jupiáda or the Merry Music School, KINDER tour – When You Find a Friend, You Find a Treasure, School from Mars, Good News Flies Around the World, Face Look, Orbis Pictus, The Magic Crayon – Around the World. Overall, projects for children’s audiences have a very important place in Bobo Kantor’s oeuvre. Whether it is albums, fairy tales, theater performances or multimedia concerts. The number of CDs released with music for children alone, which is close to 450,000, speaks for itself.
Nowadays he is mainly engaged in composing, working in a recording studio and production.