Avalon or Group Avalon was a band consisting of Djo Moupondo and his brother

Mohombi Mohombi Nzasi Moupondo (born 17 October 1986) is a Congolese-Swedish musician, singer, composer and dancer. He grew up in Norsborg and Kista near Stockholm. Mohombi was RedOne's first signing to 2101 Records in joint venture with Universal Mu ...

Moupondo with Congolese and Swedish ancestry. A multilingual band, they performed songs in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, French, English and

Lingala Lingala (Ngala) (Lingala: ''Lingála'') is a Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser degree in ...

. Mohombi has gone on to create a successful international solo career signing with

RedOne Nadir Khayat ( ar, نادر الخياط; born 9 April 1972), better known by his stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive. As a record producer and songwriter, he has worked with many high-profi ...

. Djo is CEO of their label La Clique Music co founded with their longtime friend and Bruno Lopez with whom he also Co-manages Mohombi.

Career

Djo and Mohombi born to a Congolese father and a Swedish mother were raised in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Djo & Mohombi escaped the war-torn country for

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden in 1998. The parents regularly exposed them to varied musical influences. Djo became a well-known DJ in local clubs and Mohombi studied at Rytmus Music High School in

and eventually obtaining his bachelor's degree in music and song from

Stockholm Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music, Stockholm ( sv, Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm) is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The institution was mad ...

, the Stockholm conservatory. Djo obtained a Bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship at

Södertörn University Södertörn University ( sv, Södertörns högskola, abbreviated as SH) is a public university college ( sv, högskola) located in Flemingsberg in Huddinge Municipality, and the larger area called Södertörn, in Stockholm County, Sweden. In 20 ...

They played music together for many years touring African and European countries, including forming the group Avalon, combining the

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

and hip hop of the time with the distinctive African beats on which they were raised. From 2003 to 2008 the group sold over half a million records. It won the Best Diaspora Europe/Caribbean Group award at the All African

Kora Awards The KORA All Africa Music Awards are music awards given annually for musical achievement in sub-Saharan Africa. The awards were founded in 1994 by Benin born businessman, Ernest Adjovi, after a discussion in Namibia with the country's President Ha ...

, an African equivalent of Grammy awards. In 2004 the group launched its debut album "Excalibur" including the songs "Le Monde Bouge", "Mama Africa" and "Ghetto" In 2005, the group participated in

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

, the race to the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

, Sweden with the song "Big Up", a multilingual English / French song with an intro in

coming sixth. Also in 2005, Avalon took part in the show "sthlm", an annual music festival held at Lava Kulturhuset. They launched their album ''Afro-Viking'' targeting mainly the African music market on 21 December 2007. Avalon Group has collaborated with artists / songwriters such as

Bob Sinclar Christophe Le Friant (; born 10 May 1969), better known by his stage name Bob Sinclar (), is a French record producer, DJ and remixer. He is the owner of the record label Yellow Productions. Musical career A native of Paris, Le Friant began DJ ...

Million Stylez Kenshin Iryo (born June 1, 1981), better known by his stage name Million Stylez, is a Swedish dancehall artist. Kenshin Iryo was born on June 1, 1981 in Stockholm, Sweden. He grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Sollentuna, and has been living ther ...

, Mohamed Lamine in ''Rai n B Fever'', Silver Room, Alexander Papadimas, Marcus Landström and many others. They also shared stage with the likes of Ludacris, Angie Stone, Magic System, Sain supa crew, Montel Jordan, Musiq Soulchild among others.

After split

In 2009, Mohombi went solo and was

's first signing to

2101 Records RedOne Records is an international record label founded by Moroccan-Swedish record producer RedOne in 2014. He is the label's main producer. In 2010, RedOne had established 2101 Records. Previously an imprint under Republic Records, RedOne distri ...

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

and

Cherrytree A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

. He became most famous for his solo

single "

Bumpy Ride "Bumpy Ride" is a soca song by Swedish-Congolese R&B singer-songwriter Mohombi from his debut studio album, ''MoveMeant'' (2011). It was released as his debut single in the United States on 24 August 2010. Written by RedOne, Bilal "The Chef" ...

". Mohombi was Grammy Awarded in 2016 For his participation on Pitbull album '' Dale'' and again in 2018 as a co-songwriter of Mi Gente of

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. He has been referred to as the " Prince of Reggaeton" (from Spanish: "Príncipe del Reggaetón"), and is one of the best-sell ...

and

Willy William Willy Fauade William (born 14 April 1981) is a French DJ, record producer and singer, famous for his club remixes and vocal collaborations with a number of dance music artists. He is most famous for his French hit " Ego" and his Latin hit " Mi Gen ...

Discography

Albums

*2004: ''Excalibur'' *2007: ''Afro-Viking''

Singles

Awards

*In 1999, Stockholm Stad Musik, sport, dans och Poesie talang tävling "Winner" *In 2002, the

Show Stockholm Show or The Show may refer to: Competition, event, or artistic production * Agricultural show, associated with agriculture and animal husbandry * Animal show, a judged event in the hobby of animal fancy ** Cat show ** Dog show ** Horse show ** S ...

Music contest by

Royal College of Music, Stockholm The Royal College of Music, Stockholm ( sv, Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm) is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The institution was mad ...

"Winner" *In 2003, the

Kora awards The KORA All Africa Music Awards are music awards given annually for musical achievement in sub-Saharan Africa. The awards were founded in 1994 by Benin born businessman, Ernest Adjovi, after a discussion in Namibia with the country's President Ha ...

for Diaspora Europe-Caribbean "Winner" *In 2004, the

for Diaspora Europe-Caribbean "Nominated" *In 2009, the

for Best African Act/Group "Nominated"

References

External links

Group Avalon MySpace
{{Authority control Family musical groups Melodifestivalen contestants Musical groups established in 2004 Sibling musical duos Swedish musical groups