El Ma
Elmira Marinova, known professionally as El Ma, is a Bulgarian singer-songwriter based in Italy.
Early life and education
Born in 2007 in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, she is the daughter of a former Bulgarian national youth soccer player and a former model committed to supporting charitable foundations. Her brother is a drum and bass musician.At the age of nine, she began taking singing lessons, joining a children's choir taught by Adelina Koleva. At fourteen, she moved to Italy to pursue her musical career, and at fifteen, she released her first original song, recorded at Dariana Koumanova's Studio20 Milano.
Career
In 2023 she collaborated with MD DJ releasing the songs "Tired of Loving You ", "Stop This Flame" and "Say My Name". In the same year she won the title of European Champion in the singing category, during the European Championship of Performing Arts, held in Rome.In 2024 she released the songs "Going Down", "Domino" and "Blow Your Mind", the latter two featuring MD DJ. In the same year she decided to sign up for the casting of the eighteenth edition of the talent show X Factor, hosted by Giorgia, where she took part in Jake La Furia's team. She was then eliminated during the third episode on 26 September. In 2025 with MD DJ she released the singles "Blow Your Mind", "Beautiful Life", "Dilema" and "Sky" and the solo singles "Give it to me", "Beats again" and "Julie".
El Ma joined a trio with Blind and Soniko, and together they were among the ten winning acts of the Area Sanremo contest on 12 December 2025. The trio was selected to compete in the Newcomers' section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2026. Their entry is titled "Nei miei DM".