Maya Sar

Maya Sar, born Maja Hodžić on 12 July 1981 in Tuzla, is a singer-songwriter whose music mixes pop, soul and sevdalinka. She graduated in piano from the Sarajevo Music Academy in 2005. She lives in Sarajevo, where she and her husband, the music producer Mahir Sarihodžić, own the Long Play studio.

Before her own career she spent years as a backing vocalist and session musician for other singers. At Eurovision 2004 in Istanbul she sang backing vocals for Deen, she was part of Dino Merlin's band for several years, and at Eurovision 2011 in Düsseldorf she played piano and sang backing vocals on his "Love in Rewind", which finished sixth.

Her solo career began in March 2010 with the ballad "Nespretno", a big hit in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the neighbouring countries. In December 2011 she was announced as the country's entry for Eurovision 2012 in Baku with her own song "Korake ti znam". She qualified from the second semi-final and finished 18th in the final.

In 2012 she also started a regional campaign for cervical cancer awareness, Moj je život moja pjesma, and wrote its title song, which she sang with Nina Badrić, Karolina Gočeva and Aleksandra Radović; the work brought her a prize from the International League of Humanists and, in February 2014, a European award from the European Cervical Cancer Association. Her debut album, Krive riječi, came out on 1 June 2013, and the same year she sang "O meni nikome ne pričaj" with Marijan Brkić.

"Naša ljubav, naša kuća" followed in December 2015. Her "Maya Sar Live in Theatre" tour ran for three months and went on again in early 2017, with a show in Vienna, and in 2018 she was named best female singer at the Story.hr awards. She wrote two songs for Tereza Kesovija's album and in 2019 sang "Kao sva djeca" with Vanna, Neno Belan and Jacques Houdek. In 2020 came the duet "Zar se nismo shvatili" with Goran Kovačić, the single "Hvala" and, in December, "Novi Sad Zagreb Ljubljana" with the Novi Sad Big Band.