Maja Nurkić, B&H new music star
There is so much I want to share with other people, and I have so much to say, but I‘m afraid to do it only by speaking– it is easier for me to communicate through singing. I want to be the voice of many who don‘t have their own voice or who are afraid to speak their own mind.
By: Elma Zećo
Maja Nurkić has always wanted to do music professionally. Unfortunately, growing up in a small country, where all great wishes are hard to achieve, she did not have the opportunity or the ability to start doing music when she was only fifteen years old. On the other hand, she neither wanted to neglect her education. However, two days after she defended her master’s thesis at the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo with the highest grade, she asked her mother to receive her diploma instead of her, packed her hiking knapsack and went to America on the 2nd of July 2009. Before her departure to America, she was negotiating with a management team from Los Angeles for a half a year. ”It was crazy and courageous, but it was also the beginning of a new school and a life story, as well as the beginning of an endless experience.” These are the words with which Maja describes this long anticipated moment, when she finally entered the world of music. Her first song Carry On, which was produced and released by Tempo last year, brought her a lot of respect. Soon to appear is the music video for her second single called Na, na, na oh, in the direction by Dejan Milićević. The new music video is still in the process of editing, so Maja does not reveal a lot about the concept of the new video, but she does say:” As it is an up-beat song, the music video will fit it perfectly. I want to surprise you all.”
The news that the music video for your song Carry On will have its premiere on MTV Adria made you cry of joy. Do you expect the same for Na, na, na oh music video?
– I would certainly love that. It was my honor and privilege to see the music video for the song Carry On on MTV Adria channel as well as at the top of the hit list Domaćica. I will be honest and say that I would be delighted to see my new music video on the MTV channels in Scandinavia, Great Britain and Germany.
You decided to build your carrier singing in English language. Which goals do you want to achieve?
– I love singing in English, first of all because of the opportunity for my songs to be heard around the world. The fact that English language is at the same time a language spoken throughout the whole world, it enables me to reach out to as many people as possible.There is so much I want to share with other people, and I have so much to say, but I’m afraid to do it only by speaking- it is easier for me to communicate through singing. I want to be the voice of many who don’t have their own voice or who are afraid to speak their own mind. I will try to do that through my songs and lyrics.
Are you a kind of person who will do anything to fulfill your wishes?
– I am a person who loves to work hard and to sacrifice for the things I believe in. I think that only maximum dedication, discipline, passion and love for a certain profession can bring significant results. I am not a person who will base her success or life on someone else’s misery, neither am I a person who will humiliate, undervalue or step over others in order to succeed. I think that this type of unfair success becomes a failure very soon. I only firmly believe in things in which I invest my sweat, blood and tears!
B&H is a small country, struggling with issues of unstable political and economic situation. Do you think it is possible to live up to the worlds’ popularity coming from this country?
– Everything is possible today. Thanks to technology and everything available around us, the world has become so small. Of course it is harder to achieve that from B&H, because the competition in other bigger countries is overwhelmed with a great number of young and talented people. On the other hand, the fact that I am coming from a small country could be of interest for many music fans around the world. It is important to work hard, to be a part of a good team and to surround yourself with good and honest people, who have the same goals and to make the best out of the given moment.
How realistic and how demanding are you when it comes to work?
– Sometimes people think I’m being unrealistic because I have great imagination and because I dream and strive towards something that is seemingly unreachable. The easiest thing to do is to say that something is unreachable and not even bother to try. For me that is cowardice, or just a lack of interest for a certain goal. A human being can achieve everything he or she truly wants and everything he or she makes an effort to do. I am very demanding in my work, and only if I had more opportunities, I would be even more demanding. This does not involve me harassing people around, but I do expect my co-workers to be as serious and as devoted to work as I am.
Is it difficult to make the audience interested these days?
– Although some people think that today’s music, which in majority consists of four keys, is stupid, they are wrong. Songs which are easy to sing along to and which have catchy lyrics are the most difficult to write and compose. People today want to have fun, to relax, to enjoy the music and to sing along. If it was so easy to attract and interest the audience, then we would all be singers, songwriters and producers. In this period of mass production, you need to stand out because of something, but what?
How do you recognize a song that could reach out to people’s hearts?
– Nobody can with certainty know which song will be a hit song or which song will reach the audience and which not. The song that will reach my heart is that particular song in which the singer achieves to transfer emotions and enables me to visualize that same emotion during listening and to achieve to take me to different places in which I can live through everything that particular text of the song is talking about.
The year 2012 has brought you a lot of success. What do you wish for in 2013?
– I wish us all to be healthy, patient and considerate. And one MTV award, then a Grammy award… (laughter)
