SOCAN Foundation Announces Winners of 2025 Black Canadian Music Awards

On May 21, The SOCAN Foundation announced the five winners of the SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards, honouring outstanding Black music creators from across Canada and all musical genres. Now in their fourth year, the awards have named Bukola, Haleluya Hailu, Kalisway, Nia Nadurata and Obediya Jones-Darrell as new recipients.

Each recipient will be granted $10,000 to advance their careers, with an additional five Ones to Watch Awards each valued at $1,000. The Ones To Watch recipients are: AfrotroniX, Kwazii, Seago, Laurie Torres, and iaamSaam. All winners were chosen by a jury composed of Black Canadian artists and music industry professionals.

Notable previous winners of SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards include AHI, Savannah Re, Nonso Amadi and Zach Zoya.

In a statement, SOCAN Foundation jury chair, Dena Williams noted that “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. I can truly say that I’m seeing a new level of quality, creativity, and genre diversity emerging within our community from coast to coast. To the artists out there, keep applying and keep creating, you never know whose ears your work will land on and whose creativity you'll inspire!”

Black Canadian Music Award Recipient Biographies via SOCAN Foundation

Bukola is a Nigerian-Canadian artist from Vancouver who fuses R&B vocals, jazz guitar, and heartfelt storytelling. She has performed across Canada, and her music has appeared in Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia and Disney+’s The Princess. Her latest EP, The Confessions of an Antisocial Butterfly, explores coming-of-age themes.

Haleluya Hailu is a Vancouver-raised multi-instrumentalist, poet, and activist. Her debut release, eternally, yours, on Canadian music powerhouse 604 Records features alternative-minded tracks that effortlessly straddle emo, punk, and pop.

Kalisway is a Toronto-based funk, alternative R&B artist, songwriter and producer. Daily she records instant ideas of grooves, feelings and rhythms through her phone. No matter the weather, Kalisway records it all. Her new EP, Take Me Back (World of Eras), came out in March.

Nia Nadurata is a 24-year old indie pop sensation who began her musical journey in 2021. Since then, she has collaborated with artists such as Russ, Preston Pablo, Nonso Amadi and more and has amassed over 4 million streams to date. In January this year, she released her debut EP, Still Living With My Parents, alongside hit single “Souvenirs.”

Obediya Jones-Darrell is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and sound engineer whose work is rooted in Afro-Diaspora musical aesthetics. He has presented his award-winning music at over 60 international festivals, composed for major theatre companies across the U.S., written for ensembles such as the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Nova Scotia and scored for film and TV.