There is some fateful connection in that cruelty of numbers.

On November 2, 1999 Tax collector Subotic Suba tragically lost his life, and five years earlier (on November 5, 1994), Milan Mladenovic, frontman of the cult "Catherine the Great", gone into eternity. If the pair is turned upside down, it becomes a five. And so November brought us some important people, who fought against primitivism...

The world has lived without Milan for thirty years, and without Suba for twenty-five. Milan and Mitar were friends. Good friends.

They collaborated back in the 80s, when Suba signed himself as Rex Ilusivii, which is Latin for Invisible King. Then Milan played guitar on his first recordings, while on the album of "Ekaterina Velika" - "Samo par year za nas" (1989), Suba signed the production.

The crown of a friendship happened a few years later, in Brazil, 1994. Suba was waiting for him in Sao Paulo, together to realize an ancient idea from the eighties - "Angel's Breath", helped by two Brazilian musicians, João Parahiba and Fabio Golfetti. It will be shown - Milan's testament album.

– In general, it was a Brazilian project in which European and Brazilian musical influences met and mixed into some higher energy spheres. All those four separate languages ​​created the fifth, which produced the music without the typical stamp of any of the musicians playing and creating. And because of that mixture that was created by mixing four authentic marks, the music of the fourth world was created - explained Suba.

Those in the know say that in the last year of his life, Milan Mladenovic went to Brazil happy. He came back even happier. The project "Angel's Breath" as an idea has been around for some time, and they have been performing it together in previous years. The very title "The Angel's Breath" represented a story of the creation of man from clay, similar to that in which God creates man from clay, and breathes his soul into him.

- We are not as strong as the gods, but with the breath of the Angel, with the music that is the breath of the gods, we wanted to inspire man with a new world and a new experience - explained Suba.

Fate wanted Milan not to wait for the release of the album during his life on this planet. The CD and cassette appeared shortly after his death as a premiere release on Imago Records. A quarter century later, "Croatia Records" and "Milan Mladenovic Endowment" will breathe new life into it, on vinyl and CD.

The paradox of life is that nothing has changed when Mladenovic and Subotic created this album.

- This undertaking is a continuation of my work and my fight against primitivism in today's culture, both in FR Yugoslavia and in the former Yugoslav republics, which has strengthened mainly due to ruthless political power games, which initiated a general distancing from spirituality - Milan wrote in addition to the album, emphasizing that "today's man is condemned through the media to experience this world as a collage whose true face is unable to unite it in a final vision".

It is unfortunate that even thirty years after Milan described the situation, nothing has changed. On the contrary. Still "Sinking", as he titled one of EKV's songs.

In the system of false values, it could not be otherwise. Was Milan Mladenovic a "rock prophet", a visionary, or just a harsh realist.
Is there some strange lucidity in those numbers, 2, 3, 5?

Milan Mladenovic was born on September 21, 1958. Mitar Subotic on June 23, 1961. When they died, Milan was 36 and Suba was 38 years old.

Legend has it that Suba lost his life tragically after a fire engulfed his music studio. He was trying to save Bebel Gilberto's tapes from the just-completed Tanto Tempo album, which he had been thoroughly working on, and which would definitely make her a big star of Third World music.

His solo album "São Paulo Confessions" released that unlucky 99, was included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". For the uninitiated, from the area of ​​former Yugoslavia, today known as the Region, only "Laibach" with the cult "Opus Dei" entered this strong selection.

On the 30th anniversary of the death of Milan Mladenovic, November 5, 2024, we remembered the man who, as the engine of "Ekaterina Velika" on seven studio albums and 70 songs, left an indelible musical mark. So it's no surprise that in one of the polls, "A couple of years for us" was chosen as the best ex-JU song of all time.
Today, Milan's work lives on through the award that bears his name, definitely the most prestigious recognition for young musicians from the former Yugoslavia.

Two years ago this award went to the Macedonian singer Dina Jashari, and this year three names from Macedonia were among the finalists: "Moira", "Fiction" and "Lufthansa".

- Those bands from Macedonia are a miracle - said some members of the jury.

"No words are enough, just simple words, to bring me back to life...", Milan sang in the fateful "A couple of years for us". He is not here physically, but those words are the only thing left to us in the years after him. As a consolation. If there can be any consolation at all.