Panetoz is a Swedish multi-ethnic band with members originating from Gambia, Ethiopia, Angola, Congo and Finland-Sweden. Panetoz are now signed to Warner Music that released their biggest hit is "Dansa pausa". Their repertoire is made up of a mix of Swedish language, English and various African languages with influences from traditional African music and Swedish hip hop and R&B.

Beginnings

Original band members of Panetoz were Pa Modou, Nebeyu and Tobias who were high school mates. Forming a trio band, they were initially not taken very seriously, but their music teacher liked their potential and developed a musical project that included dance performances by the three. They were also offered to perform live gigs. Through initial encouragement, they wrote their initial tune called "Jordbro" in 2001.

Soon after Tobias left the project, but new members were invited to widen the band's appeal with Johan Hirvi being the first recruit after he took part in a compilation CD through Vägen Ut community multicultural musical project. Two other members, Christian Omonomben (aka DJ Flatline), and Daniel Nzinga joined in later.

The band was introduced publicly when through an initiative of Daniel, Panetoz took part in Hitmakers, a Scandinavian reality show for songwriters on Sweden's Kanal 5 channel. The competition was open to participant songwriters from Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Panetoz applied in 2008 with three songs for consideration by 5 record companies from Scandinavia sitting as judges. The representative of the Danish record label picked them, and offered to remix one of their songs. But the project of recording the song fell through and Panetoz recorded the song through their own independent means rather than sign with the Danish label.

The band has released many recordings independently through their own PNTZ label or through Vägen Ut label before signing with Warner with songs like "Mama Africa", "Känn dig fri" and "Mer än ord". But it was the release of "Dansa pausa" that secured them their first majour chart success in Sweden.

Members

The main band is made up of 5 individuals:^[1]

• Pa Moudou Badjie, 26, (of Gambian origin) immigrated to Sweden in 1996. An original member and band leader and most responsible for the musical output. He is also a studio manager at Haninge Jordbro based multicultural musical project Vägen Ut that provides studio facilities to aspiring artists through Haninge and two other locations in Stockholm.^[2]
• Nebeyu Baherulla, 25 (of Ethiopian origin) was born to Ethiopian parents and grew up in Haninge. He studied economy and is the other original member of the band.
• Johan Hirvi (of Finnish-Swedish origin) was born to a Finnish father and a Swedish mother. He grew up in Haninge. He started music in intermediary school and wrote a few R&B style tunes. He had been invited to contribute to a compilation CD with other hip hop performers from Haninge through Vägen Ut. The project was sponsored and financed by the Haninge municipality. He joined in Panetoz in 2001 after the release of CD project he contributed in.
• Christian Omonomben (Chris, aka DJ Flatline), 24, grew up in Lidingö. He started music and dance in intermediary school. He is a "back-up" member and Dj for the band.
• Daniel Nzinga, 27, (of Angolan origin) was born in Angola and has lived in Sweden since 1990.

Discography

Singles

Videography

• 2009: "Mama Africa" [1]
• 2010: "Känn dig fri" [2]
• 2010: "Mer än ord" [3]
• 2012: "Dansa pausa" [4]