Djooky Music Awards — the world’s first and largest online music contest has concluded its Winter Season with Kazakh folk metal band Ulytau being crowned winners with their track “Jumyr Kylysh”.
Ulytau’s prize includes £7,500 cash and a trip to LA’s Capitol Recording Studios to record a song, post-COVID, with an all-star team including Djooky co-founder/multi-platinum US producer, Brian Malouf (whose credits include the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson).
The awards, designed to showcase emerging artists worldwide, continue to grow in popularity, with voters from 154 countries listening to tracks submitted by 1,606 artists from 120 countries this season. This is compared to 623 artists representing 91countries sharing their music with the world in the autumn edition and 377 artists from 55 countries participating in the first season in summer 2020.
Chilean electronic musician Tomas Verdugo AKA Verdgoivf finished in second place this season with his track “Summer Vibes”, scooping a £3,500 cash prize. Meanwhile, Nigerian Afro-R&B singer-songwriter Tam Ben, AKA tambensings’ track “Electric Vibe” earned him a third-place finish, winning £1,500.
One of the Global Finalists included the track “I Will Always” from UK artist Kule T, the former lead singer from popular ’90s R&B group MN8. The group’s hit single “I’ve Got A Little Something For You”, peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1995, selling over 300,000 copies and hitting number 1 on the UK R&B charts for four weeks.
Alongside the main season winners, there were also 11 Genre winners, who each receive a £750 prize to further their music careers:
Afrobeat: Laydon — “Make You Mine” (Zimbabwe)
Alternative: Steven Afrikaner — “Menina de Africa” (Namibia)
Classical: Ibadov — “Away From Me” (Azerbaijan)
Country: Gyal.CW — “Letter To Heaven” (Peru)
EDM/Electornic: Verdugoivf — “Summer Vibes” — (Chile)
Hip Hop/R&B/Soul: Mr. 6 — “Why” — (Liberia)
Indie: Keira Music — “Transparente” (Mexico)
Jazz/Blues: Karan Music — “MadHouse” (Azerbaijan)
Latin: jezzdrake — “Andar Contigo” (Peru)
Pop: Dominik Jesz — “Out Of Love” (Germany)
Reggae: DMP — “Party Animal” (Solomon Islands)
Rock/Metal: Ulytau — “Jumyr Kylysh” (Kazakhstan)
A user from Chile became the inaugural winner of the Don Grierson Award, an accolade presented to the music fan who is the most effective A&R scout, accurately and swiftly identifying potential hits on the Djooky platform. The user will receive a cash prize of £750 along with the bragging rights which come with being crowned Winter 2021’s ‘Ultimate HitHunter’.
The awards have now commenced their Spring Season and Djooky are encouraging artists from all over the world to submit their tracks by Saturday, 22 May 2021. The organisers hope to see the awards grow until they have entries from all 193 member states of the United Nations.
The winner of the first edition of the awards, Gina Brooklyn from Ohio, USA, will be travelling to LA to record a track with Brian Malouf later this month. Gina captivated the Djooky judging panel with her distinctive vocals, soul-gripping melodies and engaging lyrics on her track “No More Hiding”.
Reflecting on the Winter Season, Brian Malouf said: “This season has provided a huge amount of quality songs which I found incredibly exciting as it has highlighted the growing popularity of our platform. Many congratulations to Ulytau, this should be a really exciting project to work on when we get together in the studio!”
