Maja Milinković (; born 21 April 1981) is a Bosnian

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado ...

singer and songwriter, born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, the capital of

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

(formerly a part of

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

). Milinković became known to a wide public in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and other parts of Southeast Europe in 2003, as one of the 6 finalists of the first OBN Music Talent Show, the popular television show in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She began singing at an early age in a church

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

, and learned to play guitar in a shelter. She started to sing in a rock band when she was 15. Her grandfather and grandmother encouraged her to sing. She graduated from the department of Music Theory and pedagogy at Music Academy of Sarajevo. She plays piano and guitar and works as a singer, songwriter, composer and music arranger. At 2009 she discovered the

genre, and since then she has dedicated her life and work to it. Since 2013 she lives in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Music career

Milinković became widely known in

and other parts of the Balkan Peninsula in 2003, as she was one of the six finalists of the first OBN Music Talent Show. After the show Maja recorded her first solo pop-rock album "Zacarani krug

in the Hayat production label. The album won eleven 11 awards, including a Davorin (award), Davorin for the best female interpretation. The song "Zovem Te" won 3 awards (interpretation, audience and arrangement) on the "Bihacki festival". The song "Genijalno" won first place for interpretation of the "Expert’s Jury”,"I BHRTV festival". In 2011 she released her second solo pop-rock album "Očekivanja" She discovered

in 2009, through the voice of Portuguese fado leading singer

Amália Rodrigues Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues (23 July 1920 – 6 October 1999), known as simply Amália Rodrigues () or popularly as Amália, was a Portuguese fado singer (''fadista''). Dubbed ''Rainha do Fado'' ("Queen of Fado"), she was instrumen ...

, and she started to do research on that genre. She also started to learn Portuguese. In 2012 she recorded the first fado album in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the well known fado
Tudo isto é fado
which Amalia Rodrigues recorded at 1955, and since then has focussed on fado. During 2012, she had a dozen fado concerts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among them a concert at the most known music festival

Baščaršija Nights Baščaršija Nights (; sh-Cyrl, Башчаршијске ноћи) is an annual cultural festival held every July in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Established in 1996, the festival celebrates the city's rich cultural heritag ...

, where she accomplished a success, and the acceptance of fado music by the people of her country. At the end of 2012, she performed a glamorous concert at the Sarajevo Chamber Theater. She was noted for her charismatic, powerful and strong emotional interpretation. Milinković moved to Portugal in 2013 where she currently lives. 2015. release single
Znam za rijeku
, the first fado on Balkan Slavic languages. 2016. release single
Sou a chuva
. In 2017, she released the fado album "Fado é sorte" at the

Museu do Fado The Fado Museum is a music museum dedicated to Fado located in the Lisbon neighbourhood of Alfama. It was inaugurated on 25 September 1998. The building The museum is housed in a building that was formerly a pumping station for Lisbon's water su ...

, in

. In 2019, she released the fado -

sevdah Sevdalinka (), also known as Sevdah music, is a traditional genre of folk music originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sevdalinka is an integral part of the Bosniak culture, but is also spread across the ex- Yugoslav region, including Croatia, Mo ...

album "Fadolinka", and "Fadolinka 2.0" in 2023.

Concerts

Solo concert in Lisbon in the

Jerónimos Monastery The Jerónimos Monastery or Hieronymites Monastery (, ) is a former monastery of the Hieronymites, Order of Saint Jerome near the Tagus river in the parish of Santa Maria de Belém, Belém, in the Lisbon Municipality, Portugal. It became the nec ...

in March 2017, solo concert "Fado je sevdah" at the Bosnian Cultural Center in

at the music festival “Baščaršijske noći" (

), in 2017, concerts in , Auditório Camões, Zenica Summer festival, Konjic Summer festival, Chamber theater 55, National Multicultural Festival in Canberra 2020 are just some of the venues from the long list of Maja's concerts.

Discography

Albums

*2006 - ''Začarani krug'' CD *2011 - ''Očekivanja'' CD *2012 - ''Expectations'' CD *2013 - ''Fado Meu'' Maja live CD *2017 - ''Fado é sorte'' CD *2019 - ''Fadolinka'' CD *2021 - ''Kaftan d' Alma'' *2023 - ''Fadolinka 2.0''

Singles

*2007 - "Mito bekrijo" *2008 - "Kraj" *2009 - "Ako te ne budem imala" *2012 - "Tudo isto é fado" *2013 - "Trago fados nos sentidos" *2015 - "Znam za rijeku" *2016 - "Sou a chuva" *2018 - "Romansa- Uspavanka za dušu" *2018 - "Não há fado sem saudade" *2022 - "Sarajevo u duši mi spavaš" *2022 - "Não há fado sem saudade (remix)"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milinković, Maja 1981 births Living people Bosnia and Herzegovina fado singers 21st-century Bosnia and Herzegovina women singers Portuguese-language singers