Maja Perfiljeva

Maja Perfiljeva (Montenegrin: Маја Перфиљева, Russian: Майя Перфильева; 1 May 1941 – 8 July 2019) was a Croatian poet, lyricist, educator, and painter, born in Montenegro. She authored numerous lyrics for popular pop and rock songs during the 1970s, and she collaborated with Sarajevan rock group Indexi. Additionally, Perfiljeva taught Croatian language and literature. One of her songs, "Bit će kasno" by Beti Jurković, was covered by the British rock band the Shadows under the title "I Can't Forget".

Early life and education Maja Perfiljeva was born on 1 May 1941, in Tivat, Bay of Kotor, Italian-occupied Montenegro. She was ethnically Russian, Mongolian, Montenegrin, Croatian, and Italian. Perfiljeva spent her early childhood in Tivat. She completed her primary and secondary education in Dubrovnik and Split. Perfiljeva was introduced to painting in childhood while the family lived in Dubrovnik. She had lived with a Russian doctor Milnikov, and he was often visited by the painter Alexei Vasilievich Hansen. Perfiljeva began painting in Vienna, where she stayed during the Croatian War of Independence, with her older sister Asja, who was also an artist. She painted on silk. Her mother wanted her to study architecture or medicine, but Maja wanted to study literature. At her mother's insistence, she enrolled in architecture, completed her first year, and then enrolled in literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.

Career After graduating, an unsuccessful job search led her to write poems. She got a job at a technical high school, where she taught Croatian language and literature, but she continued to write for various festivals. Her song "Bokeljska noć" (Boka Night), performed by singer Vice Vukov won the Split Festival in 1966. The following year in 1967, at the "Intervizija" festival in Bratislava, Slovakia the Bokeljska noć song won the "Golden Key" award. She found inspiration for this song in the Bokeljska noć festival, which has been held in Kotor since the early nineteenth century. At the Opatija Festival, Kornelije Kovač introduced her to other members of Indexi. Indexi performed in Zagreb and invited Maja Perfiljeva to read her poems at the concert, this was around the time she published her first book of poems. She has been collaborating with Indexi since 1971 and has written many lyrics for them. The first song she wrote for them ,"Da sam ja netko", was a hit. This was followed by 14 more Indexi songs, including: "Sanjam", "Balada", "Hej ti", and "Moja hrana". In addition to Indexi, Maja wrote lyrics for many others, including: Josipa Lisac, Duško Lokin, Krunoslav Slabinac, Gabi Novak,…Citește mai mult

Personal life and death She was married for ten years to the Croatian songwriter Hrvoje Hegedušić. She persuaded him to participate in the Split Festival in 1965, with the song "Riva u noći", performed by Zdenka Vučković and Ivo Robić. The song did not make it to the finals. Hegedušić described their marriage as Bohemian. She did not remarry. She lived in Medveščak neighborhood in Zagreb, Croatia, where she died on 8 July 2019.