Maja Sarihodžić (née Hodžić), known by her stage name Maya Sar, is a Bosnian singer-songwriter. In 2005, she graduated with a Bachelor of Music on a concentration on piano from the University of Sarajevo's Sarajevo Music Academy. Before she started her solo career, Sar was a backing vocalist for many famous singers, including Dino Merlin, whom she played keyboard for when the latter performed Love in Rewind for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Her first single, "Nespretno" (Awkwardly) was released in March 2010 and it became big hit in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in neighboring countries.
She was chosen to represent her country at the 2012 contest in Baku, successfully qualifying for the final but only finishing in 18th place, marking the country's worst result since 1997. The following year, she released her debut album, Krive riječi (Wrong Words).
She is the founder of the regional humanitarian project in the fight against cervical cancer Moj je život moja pjesma (My Life Is My Song) and the composer and songwriter of the eponymous song which is performed by leading some of the leading stars in the region - Nina Badrić, Karolina Gočeva, Aleksandra Radović and Maya Sar herself. For this, she received the Gold Plaque of the Great Human Heart by the International League of Humanists in 2011 and the European award by European Cervical Cancer Association (ECCA) in February 2014.
