Hasse Walli

Hasse Walli
Hasse Walli in 2011
Born	(1948-02-10) February 10, 1948 (age 69) Helsinki
Nationality	Finnish
Occupation	Musician
Known for	Blues Section, Piirpauke

Hannes Mikael Waldemar "Hasse" Walli was born on 10 February 1948 in Helsinki. 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.

In spring 1966 Walli launched his professional musical career as guitarist when he started playing with Jormas, a band which was extremely popular not only in Finland but in the rest of Scandinavia too. During the seven months Hasse Walli spent in Jormas, they toured expansively Finland, Sweden and 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 and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (which especially inspired Walli) started to make waves in the mid-60s rock scene.

With his friend Måns Groundstroem, Edward Vesala (who was not to spend a lot of time in the band) and British expatriate Jim Pembroke, Walli initiated a new band dedicated to this sound, which was baptized Blues Section, and which was to become a groundbreaking act in the whole Finnish rock scene. Another great inspiration to Blues Section was the Jimi Hendrix gig in May 1967 at Kulttuuritalo, 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.