HASA Releases Second Album STREIK, Blending Jazz, Funk and Swabian Dialect
The band's follow-up features vocalists Ellen Reinhardt and Caro Saia alongside comic illustrations by Dieter Hermenau.
German band HASA has released STREIK, the follow-up to its debut album, blending jazz, funk, blues, soul and reggae with lyrics delivered largely in Swabian dialect. The group, formed in 2017 and also known as Heiner's All-Star Ensemble, won the Baden-Württemberg Cabaret Prize in 2022 and previously released the first installment of its SPACE POP FROM DÅHANNA concept with its debut record. STREIK, named for its title track, is available on CD and streaming platforms.
Combining the reimagined sound of the 70s with the sometimes tenderly sounding Swabian dialect – is that even possible? At least when, like Heiner's All-Star Ensemble, or HASA for short, you so effortlessly blend elements that no one has ever considered before. Accordingly, danceable jazz, rock, blues, reggae, and funk merge with dialect lyrics that, in their onomatopoeic playfulness, often sound like poems, sometimes in Swabian dialect, sometimes drawn from real life.
This SPACE POP FROM DÅHANNA is presented in a multimedia-enriched, passionately humorous stage show, including a great service for both local and international audiences: illustrated guides through the HASA universe with wacky comics (illustrated by Dieter Hermenau) and the complete song lyrics as an aid to understanding.
The second album, STREIK, named after the title track, was released on March 13, 2026, on CD and all streaming platforms.
The title track, STREIK, is a HASA hit in the best sense: Set to a driving hip-hop groove, it features a powerful lament about the downsides of (auto)mobility, alternating breathtakingly with virtuosic ensemble passages, captivating whistles, and spoken-word quotations… As you can see, a sense of humour and eclectic diversity are also key to a truly exceptional listening experience on HASA's second album.
EWIG ON DREI DAG, an earworm sung by Ellen Reinhardt and Caro Saia, comes in a relaxed West Coast sound and lyrically features a mantra emanating from the back seat of a car, which should immediately trigger flashbacks to various holiday trips in all parents.
With MOON IN THE CLOUDS, HASA indulges his penchant for offbeat humor, paired with a driving groove in a Japanese-Swabian symbiosis. It begins with a couplet reminiscent of Japanese haiku poetry, the interpretation of which, in a Swabian New Age meditation monastery, is brought to light by the abbot and his novices, revealing surprising insights into the Tübingen subculture slang of the 1970s.
The album closes with THANK GOODNESS THAT WAS IT. Based on a quote from Goethe's Faust, an astronaut and a showgirl experience the various stages of farewell in fast-forward against an impressive Las Vegas backdrop, culminating in a captivating audio cinemascope outro.
You can see and hear it – besides songs with hilarious lyrics, HASA's second album also extensively showcases the band's penchant for romantic ballads and hippie-folk duets by Ellen Reinhardt and Caro Saia, who, in addition to the humorous potential of the 'Sound of Swabian,' also coax very subtle, lyrical timbres and moods from it: Swabian has never sounded better!
The album's lineup includes Heiner Reiff on guitar and vocals, Ralf Schuon on keyboards, Ellen Reinhardt on bass and vocals, Daniel Jakobi on drums, and Caro Saia on vocals, with illustrated guides to the band's stage show created by Dieter Hermenau.
