Hawash!

Hawash! is a 1984 album by Finnish gospel musician Jaakko Löytty. It is his first album with clear African influences.

The title song was inspired by the Oromo musician Ali Mohammed Birra, whom Löytty met in 1976 during the Etiopiasafari tour. He met Birra in an Addis Abeba nightclub and bought his LP, which included a song about the River Hawash. Löytty wrote down a translation of the lyrics of the song on the inner sleeve of the album. This song later inspired him to write a song of the same name, the title song of this album.

Track listing

 * All words and music by Jaakko Löytty, arrangements by Jaakko Löytty and Ippe Kätkä.


 * Side one


 * Side two

Hawashband

 * Jaakko Löytty — vocals, acoustic guitar
 * Mikko Löytty — bass
 * Sakari Löytty — drums, percussion
 * Ippe Kätkä — drums, percussion
 * Heikki Silvennoinen — guitars
 * Jouko Laivuori — keyboards

Guests

 * Taru Hallama — vocals
 * Pave Maijanen — vocals
 * Lucjan Czaplicki — saxophone
 * Andrej Nowak — trumpet
 * Jimmy Amupala — spoken word

Production

 * Ippe Kätkä — producer, recording engineer, mixing
 * Heikki Silvennoinen — recording engineer, mixing
 * Jaakko Löytty, Tuomo Manninen, cover
 * John Muafangejo, cover woodcut