What is "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. This song later inspired Löytty to write a song of the same name, the title song of this album.