Bukola, Nia Nadurata and more: 5 emerging musicians win SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards
Kalisway, Haleluya Hailu and Obediya Jones-Darrell were also recognized
The SOCAN Foundation has announced the five musicians who have each won a $10,000 prize at this year's SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards: Bukola, Haleluya Hailu, Kalisway, Nia Nadurata and Obediya Jones-Darrell.
Selected by a jury of Black Canadian musicians and industry professionals, the winning artists all span different genres. Bukola is based in Vancouver and blends R&B with jazz, Kalisway is a funk/R&B singer and producer from Toronto, Haleluya Hailu is a Vancouver-based pop singer, Nia Nadurata is a Toronto indie-pop singer-songwriter and Obediya Jones-Darrell is a composer and sound engineer from Vancouver.
They will each use their prize winnings to advance their careers.
"Super honoured to be a recipient of this year's Black Canadian Music Awards amongst so many incredible musicians," Bukola wrote on Instagram.
"It's an honour to win this award with other Black Canadian trailblazers," Haleluya Hailu shared on Instagram.
The jury also designated five other musicians as "Ones to Watch," who will receive $1,000 each: AfrotroniX, Kwazii, Seago, Laurie Torres and iaamSaam.
"The SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards by SOCAN Foundation are vital to the growth of Black excellence in Canada, and we're thrilled to celebrate a fresh group of talented recipients each year," Michelle Mearns, SiriusXM Canada SVP, programming and operations, said in a press release. "We extend our congratulations to this year's winners for their remarkable achievements."
"I've had the honour of being part of this great jury over the past few years. To see the development of Black artists across Canada is exciting and inspiring. I think I speak for the entire jury when I say that the unfolding of the amazing talent shown in the submissions is going to be quite exciting," said Dena Williams, SOCAN Foundation jury chair.
