Hasse Walli (b. 1948) started playing jazz drums at the age of 9 and continued playing drums for 8 years. Hasse started his performing career in 1962 with guitar band The Islanders, then played with The Electric Five and The Nameless. He then suddenly switched to lead guitar in 1965, and joined The Typhoons. In 1966 Hasse turned professional joining Jormas, the top band in Finland at the time, and frequently toured Scandinavia.
In 1967 Walli made his breakthrough as the first Hendrix-influenced improvising guitarist in Finland, with the band Blues Section. At the same time he was also involved in several cross-over bands with jazz musicians, among others with composer and trumpet player Otto Donner.
In 1969 in a serious car accident Walli broke his left arm, that forced him to stop playing for several years, but a second surgical procedure in 1973 restored his playing ability. In 1974 Walli was a founding member of Piirpauke, the first Finnish band to modernize folk music from Finland as well as other countries. The style of music, which nowadays would be called "world music", gained Piirpauke wide popularity and the band did extensive tours in Scandinavia, Germany, Holland and Switzerland. In 1975 the band released its first LP ("Piirpauke", Love Records). Walli's guitar solo on the kantele-tune Konevitsan Kirkonkellot (Church Bells of Konevitsa) pushed the record into the TOP 10. This solo is considered a classic in Finnish guitar music, and the track has since been used in several feature films and documentaries. Hasse recorded two more albums with Piirpauke in the mid 70's, and one in 1983 after a European tour.
In 1979 Walli heard modern urban Senegalese music for the first time, mainly from cassettes recorded on location by his friend and colleage from Piirpauke, Sakari Kukko. This was a turning point for Walli, and he started an intense study of Senegalese music. From 1982 onwards Walli spent the winters in Senegal, West Africa, studying the local music. He also learned by frequently jamming with the bands in the nightclubs of the capital Dakar.
Having first studied Senegalese music at home from records and cassettes for three years, and then for six years on location in West Africa, Walli finally formed his first fully professional Mbalax style band, Hasse Walli & Asamaan, in Dakar in 1988 that toured extensively in Finland and Sweden in 1988-92. Later in the 21st century Walli reformed the band and toured again around Scandinavia.
Walli returned to his blues-, rock- and Hendrix-roots and formed his Hasse Walli Power Trio in 1993. Walli also formed Tallin Lights, a 7-piece band in Tallinn, Estonia, with local young musicians. Recently, in 2009, Walli formed a new band in Dakar with top Senegalese musicians. This band aims to make more fusion and synthesis of styles in Mbalax music.