Moondog
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Moondogalbum1.jpeg
Moondog
Moondog was the nom de plume of Louis T. Hardin (May 26, 1916 - September 8, 1999).
He was a New York City street musician and former beat poet who was blinded as a young adult. From the late 1940s until 1974, he was a permanent fixture on 54th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. He was known not only for his music and poetry, but also for the distinctive Viking garb that he wore, including a horned helmet. In a search for new sounds, he also invented several musical instruments, such as the "Oo", a small triangular shaped harp, and the "Trimba", a triangular percussion instrument invented in the late 40s.
He had an idealised view of Germany ("The Holy Land with the Holy River" — the Rhine), where he settled in 1974. A young German student named Ilona Goebel accommodated him, first in Oer-Erkenschwick, and later on in Münster in Westphalia, Germany, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Moondog visited America in 1989, at the invitation of the New Music American Festival in Brooklyn, stimulating a renewed interest in his music.
He recorded many albums, and toured both in the US and in Europe — France, Germany and Sweden.
External links
- Moondog's Corner - The Official Moondog Website (http://moondogscorner.de/frame.html)
- Interview with Moondog, May 1998 (http://www.furious.com/perfect/moondog.html)
- Stefan Lakatos, Sweden, Moondog interpreter on the Trimba (http://www.weblab.se/trimbas)Template:Musician-stub