Tributes pour in for jazz pianist Szakcsi Lakatos at funeral

Tributes poured in for Hungarian jazz pianist and composer Béla Szakcsi Lakatos at his final resting place in the Fiumei Street cemetery. Photo: MTI

Tributes poured in for Hungarian jazz pianist and composer Béla Szakcsi Lakatos at his final resting place in the Fiumei Street cemetery on Tuesday.

The Roma musician and Kossuth and Liszt laureate died on October 2nd at the age of 80, read more here.

State secretary for culture Péter Hoppál in his speech at the funeral ceremony called Szakcsi Lakatos a jazz legend both at home and abroad.

His range extended from classical to contemporary music — spanning the music of Bach, Mozart, Bartók, Ligeti, Eötvös and Kurtag — to jazz improvisations based on Gypsy music, Hoppál said.

President Katalin Novák, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and former President Pál Schmitt also bid farewell to Szakcsi Lakatos at his final resting place.