Mitar "Suba" Subotic / June 23, 1961 - Nov 2, 1999

Another one gone way, way too young, Suba was already one of Brazil's top producers when he died from a studio fire in 1999 at just 38. Serbian-born, he started playing accordion as a child. Later on he was playing keyboards in punk bands in Yugoslavia and was producing new wave, electronic and experimental ambient music before heading to Brazil in the late '80s to study and work with Afro-Brazilian music. He permanently relocated to São Paulo in the early '90s.

His career in Brazil saw him working on jingles and for fashion shows and dance & theater companies, while also finding himself at the forefront of an emerging Brazilian electronic music scene, mixing Brazilian and Serbian/Balkan folk elements into the music. He worked with better known artists and singers such as War, Mickey Hart, Marisa Monte, Arnaldo Antunes, João Donato and others before embarking on some material for bossa singer Bebel Gilberto.

On November 2, 1999, the night before his album São Paulo Confessions was released, his studio caught fire. He scrambled to save the nearly-complete album of Bebel's Tanto Tempo album, but died from smoke inhalation. He never lived to see either of his final productions released. Not only did São Paulo Confessions become a classic of electronic music, but Bebel's Tanto Tempo album became the biggest international seller to ever emerge from Brazil.


Tagged: Bebel Gilberto, bossa, Celebrate Icons, classic albums, edit/remix, lounge, samba, soundtrack, Suba, techno


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