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"The
King is Gone" - by Zvonko Ninkov, "Nova Barselona",
2000
Cruel
twist of fate or bitter coincidence: On the 5th year of Milan
Mladenovic's death there came another: In distant Sao Paulo
died Mitar Subotic - Suba a.k.a Rex
Ilusivii. There's more than just a coincident - Mladenovic
and Subotic were close friends and co-workers - More than
that: Mladenovic's last project - "Angel's
Breath" - was their creation.
Who
was Mitar Subotic ? A Visionary, eternal experimentator whose
innovations and alternative music approach always headed one
step forward. Because of that - it was hard to gain any award
or support for his work. That's the weight that avant-gardes
always had to carry-on, and we know that those awards will
come, at the end. Sadly - for that's too late now.
All
of those works that Suba created since 1980 till 1987, by
the pseudonym Rex Ilusivii, were recorded only on "Disillusioned"
LP record, and only there, because Suba started as musician
full of ideas which could not be recorded easily. For a year
he recorded music themes for radio show "New perspectives
- the other side of pop scene in Yugoslavia" without
any attempt of discovering his real name. Later (when he finally
announced his identity) Suba cooperated with many of the most
popular musicians from Yugoslav new wave-art rock-pop scene.
But, except two songs from "Ventilator" compilations
(web site editor: compilation lp's during 80's, something
like "John Peel Sessions") and "Disillusioned"
album, all of that ended as home-demo-recordings, because
no one could dare and publish alternative, non-commercial
music. Taking a look from a distance of 20 years, you can't
recognize what stopped the distribution: That was intelligent,
electronic pop music with tiny atmospheric, avant-garde feedback.
Anyway,
Mitar Subotic discovered full taste and richness of folk music
from all parts of the world (he already used motives from
Eastern cultures), and when he realized that nothing would
change for his music in Yugoslavia, he moved to Paris. "The
Dreambird" and "In The Mooncage" projects were
successful and he finally got support. "The Dreambird"
(Suba co-operation with Goran Vejvoda) - based on birds songs
from Madagascar - were re-changed by Suba's "ambient
touch", and this work was broadcasted as "street
music" in Brazil, Yugoslavia and Italy. The Ideas were
delivering some egzotic atmosphere into urban places. For
"...Mooncage" Suba used old lullabies from Yugoslavia
as starting point of his work and that work was awarded by
UNESCO for promotion of (different) culture. But he was already
reaching for more authentic mixture of cultures, so he moved
to Sao Paulo.
Very
soon Suba got his place in Brazilian music scene. He made
lots of "applied music", cooperated with well-known
musicians and examined Brazilian folk music. He finally found
his soul in Sao Paolo: That period of time is corner stoned
with "Angle's Breath"
LP record and "Sao Paulo Confessions".
"Angel's Breath"
presents a fascinating mixture of Brazilian and Yugoslav/Balkan
folk music, with a fine touch of modern music. That cooperation
(musicians from Brazil and Yugoslavia) Suba called "Music
of the Fourth world" and this is his most known work
in Yugoslavia. More than that - songs like "Crv"
(Cocoon), "Ogledalo" (Mirror) and "Metak"
(Bullet) were often broadcasted by radio stations in Yugoslavia.
His
last recording "Sao Paulo Confessions"
received nothing but excellent ratings!
The moment of inauguration came, but Suba tragically died
in his studio.
Tragic
personality and carrier of Mitar Subotic/Rex Ilusivii is definitely
not lonesome because destinies like this are quite often in
a world of art. But the terrible thing is that those who contributed
to underestimation of importance and originality in vanguard
art later try to redeem themselves and use that kind of art
as a product on which they can earn some money. I hope that
won't happen to Suba but I also hope that true fans of this
kind of music will finally discover him and his music.
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