21-05-2025
Two B.C. artists win $10,000 Black Canadian music award
The SOCAN Foundation has announced Coquitlam R&B singer Bukola and Vancouver emo act Haleluya Hailu have each won at the 2025 SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards.
The two B.C. musicians are joined by Ontario's Nia Nadurata and Kalisway and Nova Scotia's Obediya Jones-Darrell as winners at the fourth-annual awards. The prize is valued at $10,000.
The Black Canadian Music Awards were established through a joint partnership by SiriusXM Canada and the SOCAN Foundation in 2020 to recognize and promote the contributions across all music genres by Black music creators across Canada.
Candidates must by Canadian citizens, identify as Black, and be the original creators of the musical submissions to apply for the awards, which are judged by a jury of Black Canadian artists and industry professionals. The first five winners all receive a $10,000 award.
An additional five artists selected in the Ones to Watch category receive awards valued at $1,000. This year's Ones to Watch are Seago, AfrotroniX, Kwazii, Laurie Torres and iamamSaam.
Submissions for the awards are received at
• Nigerian-Canadian artist Bukola was born in Vancouver and is currently based in Coquitlam.
Her latest EP, titled the Confessions of an Antisocial Butterly, was produced by Baca & Brandn and recorded in Los Angeles. The artist describes the mix of R&B vocals, jazz guitar and heartfelt lyrics as 'a retelling of the classic coming-of-age story through the eyes of a twentysomething Nigerian Canadian girl in the suburbs.'
Inspired by artists such as India Arie, Amy Winehouse and Corinne Bailey Rae, Bukola's performance credits include venues such as Toronto's El Mocambo and B.C. Place. Her music has appeared in streaming series such as Netflix's Ginny & Georgia and Disney+'s The Princess.
• Burnaby-born, Vancouver-based Ethiopian-Canadian multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Haleluya Hailu was first featured in the pages of The Vancouver Sun and Province while still attending Burnaby North Secondary, when her debut EP, titled Greetings & Salutations, hit the No. 1 spot on Simon Fraser University radio station CJSF, and No. 2 on the University of Victoria's CFUV station.
Following music studies at Selkirk College in Nelson, Hailu returned to making music, inking a deal with 604 Records, the label co-founded by Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger and Vancouver lawyer Jonathan Simkin.
Her debut EP, Eternally Yours, included the singles Useless, Pinball and Manic Pixie Pacifist.
sderdeyn@
Q&A: Haleluya Hailu talks about putting together Greetings and Salutations EP with fellow teenagers
Q+A: Haleluya Hailu unleashes her Manic Pixie Pacifist on eternally, yours
