Avalon (Swedish group)

Avalon or Group Avalon was a band consisting of Djo Moupondo and his brother Mohombi Moupondo with Congolese and Swedish ancestry. A multilingual band, they performed songs in Swedish, French, English and Lingala.[1] Mohombi has gone on to create a successful international solo career signing with RedOne. 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.

For other uses of Avalon in music, see Avalon (disambiguation) § music.

Avalon
OriginStockholm, Sweden
GenresDancehall, Hip-hop
Years active1999–2008
LabelsSueco Production, La Clique Music
Websitemyspace.com/groupavalon/
Members(Djo)
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, 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 Stockholm and eventually obtaining his bachelor's degree in music and song from Stockholm Royal College of Music, the Stockholm conservatory. Djo obtained a Bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship at Södertörn University

They played music together for many years touring African and European countries, including forming the group Avalon, combining the dancehall 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, 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, the race to the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Linköping, Sweden with the song "Big Up", a multilingual English / French song with an intro in Lingala[2] 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, Million Stylez, 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 RedOne's first signing to 2101 Records/Universal and Cherrytree.[3] He became most famous for his solo dancehall single "Bumpy Ride". 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 and Willy William.

Discography
For Mohombi discography, see Mohombi discography

Albums
  • 2004: Excalibur
  • 2007: Afro-Viking

Singles
Title Year Peak positions Notes
SWE
[4]
"Le Monde Bouge" 2003  –
"Mama Africa" 2004  –
"Big Up" 2005 32 Melodifestivalen 2005
"Pata Pata" 41
"Rotation" 2006  –
"Fukama"
(featuring Million Stylez)		 2007  –

Awards
  • In 1999, Stockholm Stad Musik, sport, dans och Poesie talang tävling "Winner"
  • In 2002, the Show Stockholm Music contest by Royal College of Music, Stockholm "Winner"
  • In 2003, the Kora awards for Diaspora Europe-Caribbean "Winner"[5]
  • In 2004, the Kora awards for Diaspora Europe-Caribbean "Nominated"
  • In 2009, the Kora awards for Best African Act/Group "Nominated"

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 January 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "YouTube". YouTube.
  3. "Redone Launches Label". Contactmusic.com. 9 August 2010.
  4. "Group Avalon discography". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  5. "Kora Awards: All African Music Awards winners". Archived from the original on 11 March 2009.


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