Hannes Mikael Waldemar "Hasse" Walli was born on 10 February 1948 in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
. His father
Aarno Walli was a musician and bandleader, his mother
Anne-Marie Strandberg a singer. Hasse Walli was about ten years old when he started playing drums. He drummed in various bands in early 1960s such as The Islanders, The Electric Five and Nameless. Gradually Walli switched from drums to electric guitar. After Nameless had split, Walli started as a solo guitarist in The Typhoons. The Typhoons split when its members had to join the obligatory military service.
Professional career
In spring 1966 Walli launched his professional musical career as guitarist when he started playing with
Jormas
Jormas was a Finnish pop band in the 1960s. They had previously appeared as the Beatmakers, but were renamed by their manager Jorma Weneskoski. They were active from 1965 - 1968. Line up in 1965 was Raul Wikström (vocals), Pepe Willberg (vocal ...
, a band which was extremely popular not only in Finland but in the rest of
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
too. During the seven months Hasse Walli spent in Jormas, they toured expansively Finland,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, Walli also appearing on the band's album and singles. Again, Jormas split too when its members had to join military service; Walli finding soon himself doing a brief stint in The Frankies of
Johnny Liebkind. However, soon Hasse Walli became frustrated in having to play soft pop, when the rawer sounds of
The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...
and
John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...
's Bluesbreakers (which especially inspired Walli) started to make waves in the mid-60s rock scene.
With his friend
Måns Groundstroem
Måns Ivar Åkesson "Måsse" Groundstroem rʊndström(b. 23 April 1949) is a Finnish bass player, studio technician and music producer. He has recorded ca. 100 music albums and produced another 70 albums. Most of these albums were released by Lo ...
,
Edward Vesala
Edward Vesala (15 February 1945 – 4 December 1999), born Martti Vesala, was a Finnish avant-garde jazz drummer.
Career
Born in Mäntyharju, he began playing jazz and rock in the 1960s, in such bands as Blues Section and Apollo. In the 1970s ...
(who was not to spend a lot of time in the band) and British expatriate
Jim Pembroke
James Francis Pembroke (27 January 1946 – 8 October 2021) was a British musician who was the vocalist of the Finnish progressive rock band Wigwam.
Life and career
Pembroke was born in London, and played with London group Taverners' Guild befo ...
, Walli initiated a new band dedicated to this sound, which was baptized
Blues Section
Blues Section are a Finnish rock music group. They started in 1967, formed around the vocalist Jim Pembroke, a British expatriate songwriter now living in Finland. The other members of the band were Eero Koivistoinen (saxophone), Ronnie Österbe ...
, and which was to become a groundbreaking act in the whole Finnish rock scene. Another great inspiration to Blues Section was the
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
gig in May 1967 at
Kulttuuritalo
Kulttuuritalo ( fi, Kulttuuritalo, sv, Kulturhuset) is a building in Alppila, Helsinki, Finland. The building was designed by Alvar Aalto, and is considered to be one of his main works.
The building
The building combines a concert hall, an o ...
, Helsinki. Blues Section lasted until the late 1968, during which time Walli recorded with the band their seminal eponymous album, several singles, film music and other material later to be heard on various collection albums, and played over 150 live gigs. During this period Walli also played guitar in the jazz band Otto Donner Treatment, the composer-musician
Henrik Otto Donner being the essential and extremely innovative producer figure behind Blues Section and their record label
Love Records.
![Hasse walli](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Hasse_walli.jpg)
Following the split of Blues Section, Hasse Walli played for some time in the band of light pop singer
Tapani Kansa and as a bar musician at the restaurant Fennia. In summer 1969 Walli was planning a new band called Paradise with the former Jormas members
Pepe Willberg
Pertti "Pepe" Willberg (formerly Toivo Pertti Uolevi Willberg, till 1955 Kaukonen; born on 17 December 1946) is a Finnish singer, songwriter and guitarist.
Biography
Willberg was born in Turku and started his musical career in the beginning of ...
,
Kikke Bergholm and
Matti Oiling
Matti may refer to:
* Matti (given name) Matti is a given name, originated from the Hebrew Mattityahu, meaning "gift of God". It is a popular Finnish version of Matthew or Matthias. Matti (מתי) is also a short for the Yiddish Mattisyahu. It may ...
, which never came into being, though Willberg later on used the name Paradise with his own band. On 31 August 1969 Hasse Walli was involved in a car accident which interrupted his career for a while after when he was returning from a gig. Walli's injured left hand was operated and the guitarist, forced to take a break from playing, spent some time in the bohemian circles of
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, leading a vagrant life also as a street musician in
French Riviera
The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...
.
After returning to Finland, Hasse Walli played for a while with
Kirka
Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin (22 September 1950 – 31 January 2007) was one of the most commercially successful Finnish musicians. His career spanned from the late 1960s until his death in 2007.
Previously associated with Ilkka Lipsanen's The Islan ...
& D'Islanders, in a band called Zeus producing
Vesa-Matti Loiri
Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri (4 January 1945 – 10 August 2022) was a Finnish actor, musician and comedian, best known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro, whom he portrayed in a total of 20 movies between the years 1973 and 2004.
According to Yle Ne ...
's first album ''4+20'' and collaborating with jazz musician
Make Lievonen
Make or MAKE may refer to:
* Make (magazine), a tech DIY periodical
*Make (software), a software build tool
* Make, Botswana, in the Kalahari Desert
*Make Architects
Make Architects is an international architecture practice headquartered in Lond ...
. Hasse Walli Eternal Band was a jazzy project which worked under different line-ups from 1968 to 1971, playing among all at the first Ruisrock festival of Turku in 1970. Other jazz projects of this period where Walli contributed were
Irina Milan
Irina (Cyrillic: Ирина) is a feminine given name of Ancient Greek origin, commonly borne by followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is derived from Eirene (Ancient Greek: Εἰρήνη), an ancient Greek goddess, personification of pe ...
& Tabu, Simo Big Band,
Carita Holmström
Carita Elisabeth Holmström (born 10 February 1954, in Helsinki) is a Finnish pianist, singer and songwriter. She has written and played jazz and classical music during her career. She also had a duo, Carita & Marianne, with Marianne "Maru" Nyman. ...
's backing band,
Paroni Paakkunainen & Unisono and German
Heinz Sauer
Heinz Sauer (born December 25, 1932, Merseburg) is a German jazz saxophonist.
Sauer was an autodidact on tenor saxophone and began his career playing locally around Frankfurt in the 1950s. He played for many years in Albert Mangelsdorff's ense ...
-
Günther Lenz Quintet; furthermore, he played with Edward Vesala and
Junnu Aaltonen, also at Afrikan Tähti band of pop singer
Maarit Maarit is a Finnish female given name equivalent to Margaret. It may refer to:
* Maarit Hurmerinta (born 1953), Finnish singer known by her mononym Maarit
*Maarit Lalli (born 1964), Finnish film director, film producer and screenwriter
*Maarit Toiv ...
. Walli's Punainen Lanka ensemble where
Eija Ahvo Eija is a Finnish female given name. Its nameday is the 19th of February. As of January 2013, there are more than 24,500 people registered in Finland with this name. There are also more than 1,200 people with this name in Sweden, but only twenty-ei ...
and
Harri Saksala sang and which explored folk music of Finland and America, was part of 70s leftist political song movement gaining strong foothold in Finland.
The band
Piirpauke
Piirpauke is a Finnish musical group combining free jazz, flamenco, mbalax, Arabesque, carnatic, romantic, modern, classical, humppa, impressionist, hindustani, salsa, Amharic, Lappjoik, Tibetan, Balkan, Karelian, Finnish, national romantic ...
, combining folk music, ethnic sounds (later to be known as
world music) to progressive jazz rock, was one of Hasse Walli's best-known musical projects, starting in 1975. The major figure in the band was
Sakari Kukko
Sakari Kukko, (full Name: Jyrki Sakari Kukko, born 8 July 1953, Kajaani, Finland) is a Finnish musician.
Career
Kukko started his career in the early 1960s as a singer participating in several singing contests and performing in radio stations, ...
, a multi-instrumentalist playing saxophone, flute and keyboards, who had played with Walli in various ensembles, Kukko-Walli Quartet among them. The best known Piirpauke track is the hypnotic ''
Konevitsan kirkonkellot
Konevitsan kirkonkellot (English: The Church Bells of Konevitsa) is a Karelian folk melody, best known as the 1975 recording of Finnish music group Piirpauke. It repeats the chime of the church bells of the Konevsky Monastery (Konevitsan luostar ...
'' from the band's eponymous 1975 debut album, based on a traditional
Karelia
Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...
n folk song. The band had an enormous live success and Hasse Walli stayed in Piirpauke about three years, later returning to the band for its tours in 1983 and 1994.
In the late 1970s Hasse Walli was active in
ELMU, a society established in 1978 to propagate live music in a time when disco and recorded music were worryingly diminishing the working opportunities of musicians playing live. This was also the time when Walli got more and more interested in world music. His enthusiasism for reggae started in 1977 after having seen
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
performing live in
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 ...
. Hasse Walli had visited a youth festival in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
with Punainen Lanka and Sakari Kukko, and he formed in 1979 Hasse Walli Projekti which played Cuban music and reggae rhythms.
The first eponymous solo album of Hasse Walli was released in 1981, the year when Walli was also chosen the Musician of the Year by ''Katso'' magazine. The next year, when he had his band Hasse Walli All Stars, saw the second album, called ''Sounds Afro!'' By this time Walli had seriously gotten into African music, and he dissolved the band and travelled in January 1982 to
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
, the capital of
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
, to explore local sounds such as
Mbalax
Mbalax (or mbalakh) is the national popular dance music of Senegal and the Gambia. In the 1970s, mbalax emerged as the distinctive sound of postcolonial Senegal. Derived from a fusion of indigenous Wolof sabar drumming with popular music principa ...
, Senegalese pop.
Jamming with local musicians at clubs, Walli practiced hard to get into the heart of this musical style quite differing from the Western genres of rock, blues and jazz he had already learned to master. Hasse Walli played with some musicians who had been performing with the legendary
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...
. On returning to Finland and enriched by his experiences in Senegal, Walli started a band called Dakar Sound. Afro-Line was another band of Walli he started with Congolese expatriate Marie-Alphonse Liwata, releasing the albums ''Viva Africa'' (1983), ''Dakar Nights'' (1985) and ''Close to the Line'' (1987). During the years 1983–86 Hasse Walli shuttled between
Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
, Dakar and Finland.
By 1988 Walli felt he had finally learned enough to compose and arrange Mbalax music and start an all-African band for this (Walli's earlier Afro bands had mostly consisted of Finnish musicians), and he returned to Dakar for this purpose. Soon got together the new band, called
Asamaan, with such musicians as Manel Diop, Yamar Thiam, Aladji Oumar Faye, Omar Cheikh Diene, Pape Sarr and Mousse Gueye. The first Asamaan album ''Modern Mbalax'' came out in 1989, receiving excellent reviews in world music circles. Walli and Asamaan played at folk music, jazz and rock festivals, doing also some street performances in Helsinki. Asamaan published two more albums, ''African Sky'' (1990) and, with a new line-up, ''Teranga'' (1993). Film director Kari Happonen documented Mbalax music scene in Dakar and Asamaan in his 1991 documentary ''Mbalax! Rytmin lähteillä''.
Teranga marked the end of Hasse Walli's Afro period. When he returned from Senegal to Finland in June 1993, he thought the time might be now right to return to his 1960s musical roots, and the band Suuret Setelit was launched, playing rock and rhythm & blues. The gigs of Suuret Setelit were eagerly checked by a completely new generation of Hasse Walli fans. Suuret Setelit lasted until 1995, the year Walli also performed together with
Remu Aaltonen
Henry Olavi "Remu" Aaltonen (born 10 January 1948) is a Finnish drummer and singer. He is the lead musician of the band Hurriganes, but has also pursued a solo singing career.
Aaltonen was born in Helsinki. He was the oldest child in a family o ...
, the last remaining member of the legendary 70s band
Hurriganes. Hasse Walli also played several Back to the 60s type of concerts with some his peers from that period such as
Danny
Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to:
People
*Danny Altmann, British immunologist
*Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer
*Danny Baker (born 1957), English journalis ...
; never forgetting his love of African music, either.
In recent years Walli has been touring with his current band Hasse Walli Power Trio. Additionally, he has worked with guitarist and singer Steve Webb, and they have released two albums together.
Trivia
Hasse Walli's younger brother was
Petri Walli
Petri Ilari Walli (February 25, 1969 – June 28, 1995) was the founder, vocalist, guitar-player, songwriter and producer of the Finnish psychedelic rock-band Kingston Wall.
Petri was born in Finland, his brother is Aki Walli. He also have ha ...
of
Kingston Wall
Kingston Wall was a psychedelic/progressive rock group from Helsinki, Finland, originally formed in 1987. Influenced by such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, the group combined eastern themes, mysticism and vivid psychedelia ...
.
Discography
* Jormas: ''Jormas'' (1966, HMV)
* Blues Section: ''Blues Section'' (1968,
Love Records)
* Blues Section: ''Some of Love'' (1969, Love Records)
* Piirpauke: ''Piirpauke'' (1975, Love Records)
* Piirpauke: ''Piirpauke 2'' (1976, Love Records)
* Piirpauke: ''Live'' (1977, Love Records)
* Piirpauke: ''Ilahu illalla'' (1983, Love Records)
* Hasse Walli: ''Hasse Walli'' (1981, Kompass Records)
* Hasse Walli: ''Sounds Afro'' (1982, Kompass Records)
* Hasse Walli's Afro-Line: ''Viva Africa'' (1983, Sinetti Records)
* Hasse Walli's Afro-Line: ''Dakar Nights'' (1985,
Digelius Music
Digelius Music is a record shop and internet retailer located in Viiskulma, Helsinki, Finland. It has been functioning in more or less the same place since 1971. Officially its business is "retail of music and video recordings." There are severa ...
)
* Hasse Walli's Afro-Line: ''Close to the Line'' (1987, Digelius Music)
* Hasse Walli & Asamaan: ''Modern Mbalax'' (1989, Olarin Musiikki)
* Hasse Walli & Asamaan: ''African Sky'' (1990, Olarin Musiikki)
* Hasse Walli & Asamaan: ''Teranga'' (1993, Olarin Musiikki)
* Blues Section: ''Blues Section 2'' (1995, Love Records)
* Piirpauke: ''Metamorphosis Live 1977–1995'' (1995, Rockadillo)
* Hasse Walli: ''Kevyet Kengät'' (2000, HCD)
* Hasse Walli: ''Todellinen Live'' (2001, HCD)
* Hasse Walli & Steve Webb: ''Winners'' (2002, HCD)
* Hasse Walli: ''Live Crazy'' (2004, HCD)
* Hasse Walli & Steve Webb: ''Sweet Nina'' (2005, HCD)
* Piirpauke: ''Historia of Piirpauke Vol. 1'' (2008, HCD)
As a guest discography
*
Hector: Kadonneet lapset
* Hector: Linnut Linnut
* Kirka: Kirka
* Vesa-Matti Loiri: 4x20
* Sakari Kukko: Kajastus
*
Eero Koivistoinen
Eero Koivistoinen (born 13 January 1946, in Helsinki) is a Finnish jazz musician and saxophone player, who started his career in the mid-1960s. Koivistoinen has worked as a musician, composer, arranger, conductor, producer and educator. He first h ...
: Valtakunta (1968, Otava)
Also on the releases of
Sammy Babitzin
Aleksandr "Sammy" Babitzin (11 July 1948 – 29 April 1973) was a Finnish popular music singer, the brother of Kirka and Muska.
Babitzin was born in Helsinki. He started his professional career in a band called The Stealers. Its line-up also in ...
, Freeman, Make Lievonen, Punainen Lanka,
Juhani Aaltonen
Juhani Aaltonen (born December 12, 1935) is a Finnish jazz saxophonist and flautist.
Born in Kouvola, Finland, he studied at Sibelius Academy and Berklee College of Music. He began playing professionally at the end of the 1950s. He played in a ...
.
References
Hasse Walli & Appe Vanajas: ''Hehkuva kitara'' (Helsinki: Otava 1996, )
External links
The Official SiteHistorien om klubb Filips del 1. (The history of club Filips pt. 1)Historien om klubb Filips del 2. (The history of club Filips pt. 2)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walli, Hasse
1948 births
Living people
Musicians from Helsinki
Finnish male musicians
Expatriates in Senegal
Finnish expatriates