Hasse discussing with singer band leader Sidy Samb. Club Pen Art, Dakar, May 2008		Hasse with members of the legendary band Baobab. Club Just 4 U, Dakar, May 2008
Hasse with rapper-singer Carlous. Club Just 4 U, Dakar, May 2008

10th June 2008: New video with Hasse Walli & Asamaan
Hasse has just finished his latest video of the song Kilifa, which was recorded in 1992, and released on the now legendary "Teranga" album. Hasse performs with singer Meissa Niang, and the video also includes dancing by some Senegalese friends, including Meissa´s brother Abdou Niang. Please go to MULTIMEDIA to view the video.


10th June 2008: Piirpauke prepares for tour
The original line up of the legendary World Music group Piirpauke, formed in 1974, will play concerts in major cities in Finland. The musicians are Hasse Walli, Sakari Kukko, Antti Hytti and Jukka Wasama. The group will also play several festival concerts in the Summer of 2009, when the band celebrates its 35th Anniversary. Please go to GIG GUIDE for more info on dates and venues. You can find a live performance of Churchbells of Konevitsa (Konevitsan Kirkonkellot) on the MULTIMEDIA section. There is also an entry of the original 1975 recording of the song on YouTube.

2nd April 2008: 7.500.000 hits and three new videos online
According to Emule's stats, Hasse's YouTube version of the Red Headed Lady / Espan Lava video has had over 7.500.000 hits! Hasse's own web site is also fast approaching 80.000 hits. You can find these videos from here including these two others recently added: Hasse Walli & Asamaan - Jamm, a brand new video from Hasse Walli & Asamaan (originally released on the Teranga CD 1992), filmed 16 years after the song was recorded, and Hasse Walli - Grandma Grandma, a song dedicated to Hasse's dear grandmother Elvira, who took care of Hasse during his childhood, from age 5 to age 10. She raised four children of her own, and lost her first child in the war.





5th March 2008: Hasse's Birthday Concert a big success
Hasse Walli held his 60th Birthday Celebration Concert at a packed Tavastia Club in Helsinki on Feb. 13th.

Hasse performed with The Nameless (on drums), Piirpauke (the original line-up), Hasse Walli Power Trio (with Mikko Vuorela on bass, and Topi Kurki on drums) and with his cousin bass player Jan-Olof Strandberg's band.

Other performers at the 6 hour concert were: Malang Cissokho (from Senegal), A-Gnary, Supernatural Bond, Dave Lindholm & Jake Yrölä, Samu Leminen & The Inner Light Orchestra, and salsa band Grupo Con Sabor.

There was also a surprise guest performance by the Senegalese percussion and dance group Baay Fall, led by Meissa and Abdou Niang.

DJ Joke Linnamaa, the evening's MC, played great music from the 60's during pauses, and held everything together, including schedules.

Hasse wishes to thank all participants for their great performances, and also all friends and relatives for all their support and birthday presents.

  

  

5th March 2008: Two new records by Hasse Walli now released
In connection with Hasse's 60th birthday, two new CDs have been released:

"The Best of Hasse Walli & Asamaan" (HCD-06) is a remastered collection with Hasse's Mbalax style band from Senegal. It contains music chosen from three albums, with six tracks released for the first time on CD. It also includes two previously unreleased tracks, recorded live in Dakar, Senegal, prior to the band's first European tour in 1988. The 24 page booklet features the band's biography in English and French.

"Historia of Piirpauke, Vol. 1" (HCD-07) contains the first ever recorded sounds of the now legendary World Music band, formed in 1974. It contains live recordings from various venues, starting with the band's 2nd and 3rd gigs in Finland, as well as gigs in Sweden. The 12 page booklet features a biography written in English and Finnish by film guru Peter von Bagh.

Links to order these and other records by Hasse Walli on the Internet will soon appear on this site.



February 2008: Hasse's 60th Birthday Concert
February 13th Wed. Birthday Concert, Tavastia, Helsinki

Piirpauke, Dave Lindholm, The Nameless feat. Kim Brown, Supernatural Bond,
Jan-Olof Strandberg & Who The Hell, Samu Leminen & Inner Light Orchestra,
A-Gnary, Grupo Con Sabor, Malang Cissokho, Hasse Walli Power Trio
MC: Stadin Säkki Joke Linnamaa.

Doors open 19.00, Show Time 20:00 - 01:30
Tickets 10€

24th November 2007: Jimi Hendrix Birthday
Jimi Hendrix's fans and followers are celebrating Jimi's 65th Birthday on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007. All friends of Jimi's music, around the world (not only this solar system), are requested to raise a toast in his honor. May his music touch ever more souls in this and other universes!




15th November 2007: Two new videos online
Two new videos, There was a Man and My Babe, are now on the web site under the Multimedia section. Also, the Red Headed Lady / Live at London Pub video has also been remastered.




9th October 2007: New photos on line
We have again added lots of rare photos to the Photo Gallery. It now contains more than 250 different photos, each complete with background info texts, such as dates, venues, line-ups, guest artist details, etc. It also contains three rare videos from Hasse's childhood and early career.



25th September 2007: Hasse's Johnny B. Goode video receives 10.000 views!
Hasse Walli's Johnny B. Goode video on YouTube.com has been viewed over 10.000 times. Hasse would like to thank all his faithful fans worldwide. You can watch the video here.



13th September 2007: Hasse Walli's father, Aarno Walli, dies at 86
Hasse's father, pianist, bandleader and TV - producer Aarno Walli, died at his home in Helsinki on August 16th, 2007. He was buried at the Hietaniemi cemetery on September 8th. Walli studied at the Sibelius Academy of Music, and formed his first Big Band at age 17. During the war, he led several tours of concerts for soldiers, along the front line. After the war, he studied and graduated at the Helsinki School of Economics.

Alongside his musical activities, Aarno Walli had a long career with TV1 of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE. His career started right at the beginning of TV broadcasting in Finland in the 50s. He was also involved in Finland's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest since early days, and worked as a live broadcast reporter on location.

Aarno Walli will be deeply missed by family members, friends and colleagues.

Hasse and his brother Aki wish to extend their deepest gratitude to all people, who have offered their condolences and support during these times of sorrow.

13th September 2007: New photos on line
We have added new and rare photos to the Photo Gallery, including photos from Hasse's childhood, as well as shots from gigs with some of the most famous artists in Finland.



13th September 2007: New videos on line
We have again added two more videos (Sweet Nina and Crossroads Blues) to the Multimedia section, expanding the total amount of videos on this site to 16. You can also find 3 videos, taken from 8 mm. film footage from the 50's and 60's, on the Photo Gallery.

5th July 2007: Ousman Sembene
The sad information just reached us that Ousman Sembene has passed away. He will be deeply missed by the whole world-wide film community, as well as by his compatriots, friends and family members. His contribution to the legacy of African film has been a great one, with a large production of films during his lifetime, always being at the forefront of motion picture making in Africa. The Finnish Film Archive, and the Finnish film maker community and enthusiasts, were very lucky to have him visit our country during the showing of his production in Helsinki, in spring 2006.

24th May 2007: Two new videos online
Two new videos, Kitchen Sink Blues and Voodoo Child, are now on the web site under the Multimedia section. The 'B All Over' video has also been remastered.




24th May 2007: New web site player
A new audio player has been integrated in to this site. It provides improved audio quality with extra controls for users to change the volume and pause or rewind the current song. The player can be found on the top left hand corner of each page (except the multimedia page).

9th May 2007: Hasse Walli meets new Senegalese Ambassador
On May 8th Hasse Walli had a meeting with Henri Turpin, the newly installed Ambassador representing Senegal in the Nordic Countries.

Mr. Turpin, who now is based in Stockholm, Sweden, came to Helsinki to get acquainted with the Finnish capital and to meet some of his compatriots resident in Finland, as well as Hasse Walli, who has been an "Ambassador" for Senegalese music and culture since the late 70's.

Mr. Turpin, who has previously represented his country in USA and Italy, had a relaxed discussion about culture and recent topics with Mr. Walli and also invited him for a visit at his residence in Stockholm.

8th May 2007: HasseWalli.com receives 60.000 hits!
Hasse would like to thank all his faithful fans worldwide for visiting this web site and making it a real success. Please keep checking the site for more photos and videos to be put online soon!

24th February 2007: Hasse's Birthday
Hasse Walli spent his 59th birthday, on Feb. 10th, performing at Finnegan's, in Tuusula, Finland. He also served a delicious cake to the audience.

                 

The Best of Hasse Walli & Asamaan CD
The release of the new CD "The Best of Hasse Walli & Asamaan" has been postponed a little. The CD will contain a multipage booklet which will contain previously unreleased photos, plus the story of the band, both in English and French. With brand new masterings, the record will contain 12 songs, including live recordings from Dakar, never previously released. Total playing time will be almost 1hr 15min. The new release date of "The Best of Hasse Walli & Asamaan" is early February 2008 to coincide with Hasse's 60th birthday on Feb. 10th.

A brand new DVD will also be released at the same time, called "The Live Collection, Nr 1", which includes both old and brand new live films of Hasse with several different artists and bands.

Furthermore, there will be a big Birthday Celebration Concert at Tavastia Club in Helsinki, on Wednesday 13th, 2008. Among the performers, there will be the original line-up of Piirpauke, Jormas, The Nameless, Hassan Bah, Afro Line, Ave Hollender, Samu Leminen, and several other artists to be announced, plus surprise guests.

The guestbook is working
A recent server upgrade broke the guestbook but it is working once again. Apologies to anyone who tried to leave a message recently, please try again!

Hasse back from Africa
Hasse Walli returned on January 31st, 2007, from his recent trip to Dakar, Senegal. The one month stay, which was planned as a vacation, became a busy one, as his new Senegalese manager booked Hasse for numerous media engagements and live performances.

The media appearances included two TV Shows (RTS 1 TV, and 2S TV Channels), two Radio Specials on Youssou Ndour's radio station (RFM), a 2.5 hour long Radio Special on 7 FM Radio, and a morning broadcast on Radio Senegal International (RSI). All broadcasts were live.

Hasse also met briefly with Youssou Ndour, at Youssou's recording studio in Dakar.

During January, Hasse performed live in Dakar with the following groups and artists: Viviane Ndour, Fallou Dieng, Les Freres Guisse, Ceddo, Mame Goor, Yoro, Sidy Samb & Askane Wi, and Kairaba.

Hasse will return to Dakar, later in Spring 2007. Please stay tuned for more news and updates concerning Hasse's new projects in Africa!

To find out more on Senegalese media, please see the following web sites:
Sunuker.com, Seneweb.com, Rewmi.com and Xalima.com

Hasse performing with singer/guitarist Yoro. Club Just 4 You, Dakar, Jan. 2007	Senegalese superstar Viviane Ndour introduces Hasse to her audience. Club Yengoulene, Dakar, Jan. 2007
Viviane urges Hasse to play a burning solo, and Hasse delivers. Club Yengoulen, Dakar, Jan. 2007	Viviane and Hasse backstage. Club Yengoulene, Dakar, Jan. 2007

Famous Finnish singer dies
The popular singer Kirka (Kirill Babitzin) died on January 31st, in Helsinki.

His career started in the 60's, when he sang o.a. with The Creatures. He later became a major star, and had several Gold Records. In 1965 Hasse often performed with his group, The Typhoons, at the same venues, as Kirka did with The Creatures (which included legendary musician/singer Remu Aaltonen of The Hurriganes). In 1967 Hasse played guitar on Kirka's first single. Later, in the early 70's, Hasse played a tour with Kirka's band, and also performed on Kirka's first studio LP.

Kirka will be deeply missed by his family and friends, his fans, and by all the people who worked with him.

New video online
The brand new video of Hasse Walli, Hassan Bah & Afro-Line performing "Joli Na Jo", filmed 20 years after the original release is now available in the Multimedia section.





New photos in the Photo Gallery
As promised, we have added lots of rare photos to the Gallery, starting with shots from the 40's, 50's and 60's. They are in chronological order, and grouped according to which band Hasse has been playing with. When reunions have occurred, they will also be found in the corresponding section chronologically. At the same time we are keeping and expanding the African Years section, which contains photos not necessarily found in the other sections.

There are over 200 photos online now, plus a 60's video. More photos and videos will be added in the near future, so stay tuned!

UPDATE March 7th: Another 30 photos added from across the years with more to be added soon!

Hasse Walli meets Africa's top film director
Senegalese film director Ousman Sembene visited Finland in March-April 2006, in connection with a retrospective screening of his films, arranged in Helsinki by the Finnish Film Archive. A film freak himself since the 60's, Hasse had an interesting discussion with Mr Sembene about films in general, and Senegalese culture in particular. They also found out, that they have been neighbours in the village of Yoff, near the airport of Dakar.

Mr Sembene rarely travels abroad nowadays, so it was a real treat for his fans to be able to hear him in person, telling about his carrier and his films.

Hendrix Anniversaries
On Tuesday 22nd May it will be exactly 40 years since The Jimi Hendrix Experience played their fantastic concert at Kulttuuritalo (The House of Culture) in Helsinki, Finland.

He blew the minds of everybody, and injected inspiration and enthusiasm into the souls of all the guitar players in the audience. Hasse's band, Blues Section, attended the concert, and they clearly drew a lot of influence from Hendrix's super modern rock sound. Hasse remembers, "We were about 10 musicians standing outside the main entrance after the concert, and we were all totally speechless, numb, for about 15 minutes. Nobody could utter a word. Like having seen a spaceship from another dimension. Then somebody said "wow", and everybody agreed, and silently scattered home into the beautiful night of what was the beginning of the Summer of Love."

Hendrix's legendary first LP (Are You Experienced) was soon to be released, and recordings for the second (Axis: Bold as Love) had already begun.

An 8mm film of the Helsinki concert has recently surfaced, and search is going on to find a cassette recording to match the film. All fans and music lovers, in Finland and elsewhere, are requested to raise a toast on May 22nd, in honor of the great man. May the inspiration he gave us live forever!

On 18th June it will be exactly 40 years since The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their first appearance in the USA at the Monterey Pop Festival.

Big Finnish promoter dies
Jorma Weneskoski, one of the biggest music and boxing promoters of the sixties, died on August 15th, 2006, at the age of 76. His stable contained all the top Finnish rock bands in the mid sixties, o.a. Jormas, Blues Section, Topmost and The Roosters. These bands also frequently toured the Scandinavian countries, largely due to Weneskoskis efforts to promote Finnish bands abroad. Jormas, which was on the top in 1965 - 66, was also a turning point for Hasse Walli, as he then turned professional, and had his first chances to perform abroad.

Weneskoski obtained a degree in Economics, but also studied the cello at the Sibelius Academy of Music. He later switched to bass, and led his own bands since the fifties. He discovered many talented artists, who have since became household names in Finnish popular music. He will be deeply missed by family members, his audience, as well as by a large legion of artists, who worked with him.

New videos online!
On this web site are new exclusive videos that have never been broadcast before, including 2 Asamaan video clips (Bamba and Subanna) that have only been broadcast on the national Senegalese TV, RTS, and the brand new video of Joli Na Jo, with Hasse Walli, Hassan Bah & Afro-Line.

The Tavastia concert from September 11th 1996 featured in a number of the videos was actually the promotion gig for the release of Hasse's biography book "Hehkuva Kitara" (Otava, 1996), and included 7 bands from Hasse's career: The Nameless, The Typhoons, Jormas, Blues Section, Piirpauke, Asamaan and the Power Trio. Hasse produced and financed the filming, mixing and editing of the concert, and offered it to Finnish national broadcaster YLE TV2. However, in spite of TV2 producer Jouko Konttinen's efforts, and for reasons unknown, YLE declined to make a deal, so these performances have never been seen before! To those of you who already have the "Todellinen Live" CD (HCD-02) and/or attended the concert at Tavastia, these live videos should be a treat! And there are more coming up soon!

Hasse's new email address is

New CD "Sweet Nina" out now
Hasse Walli and Steve Webb's new CD "Sweet Nina" (containing 13 new songs) was released in November 2005. The album contains several cross-over tracks with African influence as well as ballads and hard Rhythm & Blues. (Check the feedback on the guestbook!)

Emma Golden Guitar award
December 16th 2005 Hasse was awarded the Emma Golden Guitar award for outstanding contribution to the development of guitar music. The award was handed over at a reception at Katajanokan Kasino in Helsinki.