Ekatarina Velika

Ekatarina Velika ("Catherine the Great") (also known as EKV) was one of the most succesful rock/New Wave bands from Yugoslavia. Initially called Katarina II, it was formed in 1982. This band came to being after the breakup of &Sc

Ekatarina Velika ("Catherine the Great") (also known as EKV) was one of the most succesful rock/New Wave bands from Yugoslavia. Initially called Katarina II, it was formed in 1982. This band came to being after the breakup of Šarlo Akrobata, (another famous New Wave band from Belgrade). Milan Mladenović and Ivica Vdović VD were both members of Šarlo Akrobata. Once Šarlo Akrobata split up, together with guitarist Dragomir Mihajlović Gagi, bassist Bojan Pečar and keyboardist Margita Stefanović, Milan formed Katarina II.

First album of Katarina II, entitled Katarina II, came out in 1984. It is often considered one of the band's finest works, if not the best. However, this album never gained much popularity, because of its artistic sound, which was not an easy listen and lacked the catchiness to become a commercial success. After the album came out, there were some lineup changes. Ivica Vdović left the band due to drug abuse problems. Gagi left the band due to interpersonal problems. However, since Gagi had the license for the name Katarina II, the band had to change the name. Since then they have called themselves Ekatarina Velika ('Catherine the Great'), or EKV for short. They hired a new drummer, Ivan Firchie, and went on with work.