World Music Artist BélO Wins Grand Prize In 2020 Unsigned Only Music Competition

Winners of the United States-based Unsigned Only Music Competition were announced today and the overall 2020 Grand Prize is awarded to the World Music artist from Haiti, Jean Belony Murat, known as BélO.

This is the first time in the history of Unsigned Only that a World Music artist has been awarded the competition’s overall Grand Prize. Additionally, he is also is the winner of Fandemonium, Unsigned Only’s online public vote.

“Haiti has a lot to offer to the rest of the world, and our culture reflects the beauty of its diversity,” said BélO upon winning the 2020 Unsigned Only Grand Prize. “When we are united there’s not much that we can’t achieve. As always I am proud to represent my country and to share my music with the world. I would like to extend my gratitude to the fans who supported me and carried me throughout the years.”

BélO’s discography includes “Lakou Trankil” (2005), “Reference” (2008), Haiti Debout (2011), Natif Natal (2014), Dizan (2016) and Motivasyon (2019).

In addition to winning $20,000 in cash (US) and much more in prizes, BélO will also receive one-on-one mentoring from a group of higher-echelon music industry executives from: ARC Music, Because Music, Cumbancha/Putumayo, Naive Records, Montreux Jazz Festival, Omnium Records, RCA, and Summerfest Music Festival.

The complete list of World Music winners is as follows:

Grand Prize
BélO (Port-Au-Prince, Haiti) – “EDA”

World Music
First Place
Jaja Bashengezi (Bukavu, Democratic Republic of The Congo) – “Fata Katibu”

Second Place
OYME (Pushkino, Russia) – “Vaya”

Honorable Mention
A2VT (Burlington, VT, USA) – “You Ma Numba 1”
C. Fam (Dakar, Senegal) – “Love Is My Hope”
Dieufaite Charles (Gonaives, Haiti) – “Kawoule-Legba”
Han Beyli (New York, NY, USA) – “Qubanin Ag Almasi”
Jaja Bashengezi (Bukavu, Democratic Republic of The Congo) – “Fata Katibu”
Maham Suhail (Lahore, Pakistan) – “Harr Ka Baloey Naa”
OYME (Pushkino, Russia) – “Vaya”
Pelican State (Potchefstroom, South Africa) – “Jungu Josh”
Sol Okarina (Zipaquira, Colombia) – “Sangre Nueva (New Blood)”
Supa Zungu (Birmingham, England) – “Siyagiya”
VISH (Muscat, Oman) – “Uyire”

Fandemonium (public online vote)
Winner: BélO (Port-Au-Prince, Haiti) – “EDA”

More about BélO

To view the list of all winners, go to www.unsignedonly.com