Suba
Suba was a pseudenym of Mitar Subotić (b. 23 Jun 1961, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia - aka Rex Ilusivii and Mitar Subotic), who graduated from the Academy of Music Arts, in the department for composition and orchestration, in his home town. After graduation he attended a course in electronic music from the multi-instrumentalist Pol Pinone in Belgrade.
Even at the beginning of his career, Suba showed an "anti-career" attitude: every Sunday he produced for the Radio Novi Sad show, "New perspectives - the other side of pop scene in Yugoslavia", while keeping his identity secret—and he maintained this for an entire year! Finally, he revealed himself as Rex Ilusivii (King of Illusions). What was the result of this strategy? Only that we remember a man who changed the identity of music and reframed the music maps of the world, and who eventually became graffiti art, "Rex Ilusivii" on a wall in Novi Sad - the rest is forgotten.
During the '80s Subotić produced demo recordings of artists well known in the Balkans, including Milan Mladenović, Massimo Savić, Marina Perazić, and Igor Popović. Suba also recorded an eclectic version of James Brown's "Sex Machine" with Milan Mladenović, the jazzy "Plava jutra" with Marina Perazić, and "Arabia" with Igor Popović, although he did not release any of those hits. Later, when Vita Simurdić from Radio Novi Sad persuaded Suba to release the LP "Disillusioned", only 500 copies were released—there was no more vinyl available.
Even now, Disillusioned is considered to be one of the last really well thought-out concepts of pop music in Yugoslavia. Suba rearranged the ways of creating pop music. For example, his work, "Thanx, Mr.Rorschach" was an eclectic, "hush noise" answer to Erik Satie's work, assembled as a journey through Rorschach's inkblot psychoanalytic tests. With this work he was given the chance to work with Satie's opus and so he moved to Paris.
In 1988, UNESCO gave him an award for promotion of culture for an installation "Dream Bird, In the Moon Cage" created with Goran Vejvoda. The installation included "Music for the Cities", which was based on sounds recorded on Madagascar and was also inspired by traditional Serbian lullabies. Later, part of this material was published in Brazil in 1994. After this installation, Suba abandoned the pseudonym Rex Illusivi and left Europe for Brazil, to start over.
In São Paulo, Suba made music for theater, fashion shows and commercials. At the same time, he set new standards for sound production. In the spring of 1994, along with Milan Mladenović and other friends—Suba made "Angel's Breath", an amalgamation of Brazilian and Balkan folk motifs, using the bitterness of Milan Mladenović's lyrics. Tragically, this was the last collaboration between Suba and Mladenović, who died in November of 1994.
Suba then recorded "Sao Paulo Confessions", which was a major departure; created by a man from a totally different harmony.
In November 1999 Subotić died in a fire in his studio while he was trying to save original recordings of Bebel Gilberto's new album "Tanto Tempo": a heroic death, a chivalrous gesture, and some would say, "an authentic ironic death of music", after which remains only silence.
Suba's presence on last.fm can be found:
Angel's Breath
Rex Ilusivii
Suba & Cibelle
Suba, Bid & Kátia B
Suba & Marina Lima
Suba & João Parahyba
JP & Suba
Suba feat. Arnaldo Antunes
Suba feat. Taciana
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