Katarina Mala

Katarina Mala is the stage name of Katja Verderber, a Slovenian singer and actress born in 1981. She makes her music mainly with the songwriter and composer Marko Gregorič, and the two call their style "social pop": pop songs with playful, cheeky lyrics drawn from everyday life.

She became known with the hit "Ciao ciao" in 2011 and then made her mark at the festivals. At Slovenska popevka 2012 she sang "Zgoraj brez", which won the expert jury's award for the best lyrics and finished sixth. She returned in 2013 with "Nebesa" (eighth) and in 2014 with "Mal' naokrog" (eleventh). At Melodije morja in sonca 2014 her "Moja soseda" again won the jury's award for the best lyrics and came fifth.

Her debut album, Ciao ciao, came out in 2015. For a while she performed with the band Sladcore (Marko Boh, Marko Gregorič and Blaž Grm) as Katarina Mala kvartet; later her band was Denis Beganović, Dejan Golub, Nace Jordan and Anže Žurbi. In March 2016 she presented a new single, "Pulover", which became Val 202's song of the week at the end of April, and "Adijo" and "Dva za mene" followed before the end of the year. After a few years away from music she came back in 2021 with "Grem sam naprej (Vsak dan nov dan)", again with Sweet Peak, and her channel has since added "Greva na kavico" and "Vedno pravi čas".

She also works as an actress. In 2008 she went to the summer school of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, she plays in children's shows with KUD Teater za vse, and with Ana Pupedan she appeared in Viže inu griže, a musical built on Slovenian folk songs. In 2016 she presented the children's cooking show Glej, kdo kuha on Planet TV.