SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA – Early in the morning on October 16

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA – Early in the morning on October 16, word came through news bulletins and

blogs from a stretch of highway north of the Sava river, in Croatia. A terrible car crash claimed the

life of Macedonian music superstar Toshe Proeski, who had been popular in all of the former Yugoslavia

for his golden voice, charity and kindness. TV networks all over the region, from Macedonia to Serbia,

Croatia and Bosnia, pre-empted their regular programming and played Toshe’s music videos with messages

of condolences. Thousands gathered in town squares, first in Macedonia and then in Bosnia, Serbia and

Croatia as well, lighting candles and making impromptu memorials. For a moment, Yugoslavia existed once

more – united in grief over a man whose voice had brought them together.

Proeski was 26.

I don’t believe in god any more. How could he let this happen? growled a man from Skopje on Tuesday

night; God takes the best from us, said a fellow musician from Croatia. He was a wonderful man, good

and kind, who loved all. I am crushed, said another Macedonian fan.

Accounts of the accident seem to underscore the cruelty of fate. Proeski was traveling from Skopje to

Zagreb by car; having driven all night through Serbia and Bosnia, driver was tired. The thick fog that

blanketed the Sava river valley in the early morning made for low visibility as they merged onto the

highway leading to Zagreb. It was hard to notice a stopped trailer-truck until it was too late. The

Volkswagen SUV ricocheted off the truck and slammed into the guardrail. Proeski had been asleep. He

died instantly. The driver survived.