1. The Foundation’s Beginnings

Could you tell me about the origin of the Milan Mladenović Foundation? What was the initial motivation behind it, and how has its mission evolved?

The Milan Mladenović Foundation was established with the goal of preserving, digitising, promoting, and making available for cultural and humanitarian purposes both the artistic and personal legacy of one of the most significant rock musicians from the Balkans.

In addition, the Foundation encourages artistic creation through a regional award (“Milan Mladenović Award”) for young authors that carries his name, directing new generations of musicians toward further exploration of his work and his life.

Thanks to a series of projects we have carried out since 2018, and to all those who love and respect his work, Milan’s music continues to resonate throughout the area of former Yugoslavia even today.

Our team consists of people who were close to Milan during his lifetime, as well as those who have been his admirers for many years. That is the source of our motivation for the daily work that requires a lot of energy and ingenuity. For example, the local media archives (photo archives, video recordings, interviews, concert footage…) are in poor condition or not accessible to the public at all, while the culture of remembrance and preservation of artefacts is very weak in this region, even when it comes to Public Institutions.

This is why we took on the major task of searching for materials across various archives, then digitising, restoring, classifying, and presenting what has been preserved – to the joy of fans as well as researchers of pop-cultural currents in this region.

Additionally, during a long period before the Foundation existed, Milan’s legacy was subjected to serious piracy, something we still face today due to various factors and the overall situation in Serbia, where law and justice are often dysfunctional.

Finally, it is important to say that the Milan Mladenović Foundation is currently the only continuously active organisation in the region devoted to promoting the work of a rock musician. This makes us pioneers in the field, but it also means that we often have to define our own working mechanisms and rules of the game.

We have no template to rely on, so “We make our own path”, as one of Milan’s lyrics says.

2. Milan’s Legacy

For listeners in the UK who might be discovering Milan’s music for the first time, could you elaborate on his place in the history of Ex-YU music and why he is still considered such a vital cultural figure today?

A full answer would require extensive space, which is why the Monography about Milan we are preparing will be a substantial work.
In short, Milan was a member of at least two bands that are crucial to the history of Rock’n’roll and the pop culture of the region. As part of the explosive trio called Šarlo Akrobata, he co-authored one of the most progressive albums ever recorded in the Serbo-Croatian language, “Bistriji ili tuplji čovek biva kad…”, released in 1981. It is frequently listed among the top three most important albums in the history of Yugoslav Rock. After Šarlo Akrobata disbanded, Milan founded Katarina II, which soon became Ekatarina Velika (EKV). Their albums also rank high on critics’ lists of the best records from the region.

His work is also highly valued by the audience. Listeners of a well-known local radio station once voted for the best Yugoslav songs of all time, and Milan was the only musician to have five songs in the top ten: three with EKV and two with Šarlo Akrobata.
EKV’s song “Par godina za nas” was declared the greatest song of all time, and still resonates like an anthem of the end of our former country, Yugoslavia.

EKV itself is a phenomenon of the ex-Yugoslav rock scene. During ten years of existence, the band, without making compromises or abandoning its artistic credo, grew from a club attraction into a group that filled large concert halls and became the biggest alternative band in Yugoslavia.
Milan’s life was also shaped by the existence of that country. He was born in Zagreb (now Croatia), raised in Sarajevo (now Bosnia and Herzegovina), and lived in Belgrade (Serbia). During the breakup of Yugoslavia – the wars and the rule of Slobodan Milošević – Milan was well-known for his courageous anti-war statements and actions, which made the band “undesirable” on Public Services (TV and Radio).
Even more – despite media blockades and the lack of communication between the former republics at the beginning of 90’s, his words and actions reached Zagreb, Sarajevo, Ljubljana, and Skopje – and music of EKV was played on radio stations even during embargo on Serbian music at that period of time (the same embargo was in power in Serbia Public Radio and TV station – for music from Croatia. Cultural re-connection of the countries begun when Milošević have been dethroned, in the year 2000).

This is why his work remains important throughout the region, even though he passed away more than thirty years ago at the age of 36. In an essay published in Croatia not long ago, someone even wrote that Milan “did not die of pancreatic cancer, but of grief caused by the war and the collapse of his homeland.”

The interest surrounding the opening of his Legacy Collection, installed in 2024 as a permanent exhibit at the National Library of Serbia – the oldest cultural institution in the country – as well as the student protests in Serbia that have lasted for more than a year, confirm the relevance of his songs. EKV’s song “Zemlja” is one of the most frequently performed and sung songs at those protests.

Murals featuring Milan exist in Podgorica (Montenegro), Sarajevo, Novi Sad, Kraljevo, and he has streets or squares named after him in Zagreb and Belgrade. A new landmark will soon appear in Makarska, a coastal town in Croatia that played an important role in his life.

In short, in all the countries that emerged from former Yugoslavia, respect for his work is preserved, which is, unfortunately, still a kind of rarity in this region.

3. The Milan Mladenović Award

Last year, Nemeček received the Foundation’s annual award. Could you explain what the award represents and how the selection process works?

Тhe „Milan Mladenović Award” is regional and is given annually to the best song by young authors. Over the past seven years, the laureates have come from Serbia, Croatia, and twice from North Macedonia, while finalists and semi-finalists have also included artists from Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

Each year, the Foundation forms a new five-member jury consisting of musicians and music critics from across the region. They select the winners according to a rulebook that includes voting for semi-finalists, finalists, and super-finalists. Although the jury changes every year, the songs chosen as winners form an exceptional and valuable sequence, and the compilation of twelve finalists we publish each year provides a high-quality guide to the contemporary music scene of the region. Laureates often mention how the Award changed the course of their careers and increased their recognition – the band Nemeček is an excellent example.

It is important to say that the jury never searches for songs or authors who sound like Milan or his music; quite the opposite. They look for artists who – like Milan – have the courage to create something authentic, different, and stylistically fresh. This can sometimes be challenging, since more than 350 songs may be submitted, but thanks to the independence of the jury and the voting mechanism, I believe we succeed. These are the reasons why the Award has real value: it respects and celebrates uniqueness and artistic integrity, and its monetary component encourages artists to bravely continue their work.

4. Regional and Global Influence

Is there a difference in how people experience Milan’s music today compared to audiences 40 years ago?

If we compare streaming data with the presence EKV had in Yugoslav media during the band’s lifetime, or compare today’s demand for vinyl records to that of 30–40 years ago, we can see that the band may actually be more popular now than when it existed!
At the height of their popularity, EKV did not sell more than 50–60,000 records in a country of 22 million people – yet they played more than 200 concerts in the last two years of Yugoslavia, performing for tens of thousands.

EKV was a kind of „anomaly” at the time. They played music that didn’t follow genre trends, evolving from album to album. Their lyrics were often labelled too hermetic, unclear, even „pretentious.” But great works of art survive the test of time and can be interpreted in new ways! This happened with EKV: their lyrics seem clearer today, not only to those who listened to them then, but also to new generations discovering them now.
They connect with that music differently. Young artists in Zagreb, Sarajevo, Belgrade and Skopje reinterpret their work through theatre-dance performances, experimental films, and video art. The story of EKV is a story of art triumphing over time, despite the difficulties they faced, including a lack of support from media, record labels, and promoters. They had only themselves and their audience, and they gave themselves fully. The audience never forgot – nor have the children of those who were in that audience decades ago.

5. Global Reception

As someone who discovered his music from the outside, I’ve always been intrigued by its global outreach. Do you hear from fans or musicians abroad who have connected with his music in unexpected ways?

It is fascinating to see how audiences who do not speak this language react to the music Milan created – and your project is a good example of that.

Some react to the sheer energy captured in the recordings, or to the virtuosity of the band members – all of whom were extraordinary musicians. Just look at the reactions of the YouTuber “Rob Reacts.” He feels their energy. However, another of Milan’s projects – Angel’s Breath, which he created in Brazil during the last year of his life with the globally acclaimed producer Mitar Subotić Suba – may resonate even more strongly with listeners who do not understand Serbo-Croatian, compared to EKV or Šarlo Akrobata. Angel’s Breath was an amalgam of Brazilian and Balkan music, mixing languages, rhythms, and atmospheres – “fourth-world music,” and likely the direction Milan’s music would have taken had he lived longer.

6. Cultural Rediscovery in the Internet Era

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in music outside the Western canon. What do you think about this cultural rediscovery, and what might it imply? Can someone bridge the cultural and language gap from the outside?

Great music is always great music, regardless of linguistic or cultural boundaries. Just as Serbia has a surprisingly large fan base for MPB (Brazilian popular music), and an even bigger one for non-English-language artists like Manu Chao or Les Négresses Vertes, it is natural that someone “from the West” might be surprised by the music created here.

Once you explore the Ex-YU music scene – especially the new wave period and everything that followed – you realise that the Balkans are not just brass bands, Bregović, and rakija. On the contrary, there are EKV, Suba, Haustor, Luna from Novi Sad, Miladojka YouNeed, and Laibach – still the most internationally recognised name from this region. You have to keep in mind: Jazz music was played in Yugoslavia since the early 20th century. The country was not behind the Iron Curtain. The first major protests in Belgrade – then a part of Yugoslavia under a ‘socialist regime’ which ended in clashes with police, were sparked because fans were upset that their favourite singer did not win a festival – in the early 1960s! It sounds fun, but it’s a fact. The first youth music magazine, called “Džuboks” (Jukebox), published in the late ’60s, sold 100,000 copies in just three days. Independent radio stations – or less controlled by the Communist Party – began broadcasting in the early ’70s and were the first to play punk and new wave. All of this exploded into an extraordinary music scene by the late ’70s – one that your readers will find as surprising as you did.
And you can still hear echoes of that period of time on the current music scene in the region. Take a look at recent works of the bands like KOIKOI, Porto Morto, Nemanja, Lenhart Tapes (very interesting local sound-combo!), Auf Wiedersehen, Konstrakta, Vizelj… there’s a bunch of interesting music, and some of these names are already known outside the Balkans.

7. Plans and Collaborations

As a record collector, I know how hard it can be to find Milan’s records. The recent EKV box set was fantastic — are there more archival projects or collaborations in development?

The vinyl box set with the band’s complete official discography was major news across the region, and the first pressing sold out in pre-order. A new pressing should appear soon.

The Foundation’s archive is rich, but restoration, digitisation, and publication require time and funding. In Serbia, many public cultural-support grants have been cancelled over the past year and a half, and funding is being redirected toward initiatives more aligned with the current regime. As a result, we face limitations similar to what the band once experienced. Just as EKV struggled to secure rehearsal space even during their peak, the Foundation today has no permanent office or exhibition space.

Despite these challenges, our task is to find new sources of funding that will allow us to continue releasing materials we consider important. Crowdfunding or other forms of support from Milan’s admirers may be part of the solution.

The Monography about Milan is underway, and work has also begun on a documentary film about EKV (“Promeniću svet do kraja pesme” – named after their lyrics) that will present a complete and truthful story about the band — a necessary project, given that the careers and lives of its members are still the subject of misinformation in tabloids.

8. Personal

You have worked closely with the Foundation for years. What does Milan’s music mean to you personally?

Personally, working for the Foundation fulfils a long-held wish – to repay, in some way, the man whose life and work profoundly shaped me and helped me to survive. His songs and words still give me goosebumps. This is why I volunteer for the Foundation. Milan’s song “Ona se budi” (with the band Šarlo Akrobata) was one of the first I ever owned on vinyl. I listened to it as an eight-year-old on my grandmother’s mono turntable.

I went to my first EKV concert at the age of thirteen – and, in a way, I never returned from it.

Forty years later, thanks to working on the Monography, I became “the best-informed fan”, and now, through my work in the Foundation, I have the opportunity to help bring this music and the complete story about his life to as many people as possible – especially younger audiences. I’m deep in it because Milan’s work and life deserve admiration.