Moondog | |
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 Moondog in 1948 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Louis Thomas Hardin |
| Born | (1916-05-26)May 26, 1916 Marysville,Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | September 8, 1999(1999-09-08) (aged 83) Münster, Germany |
| Genres | |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1932–1999 |
| Labels | |
Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally asMoondog, was an American composer, musician, performer,music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his prolific work widely drew inspiration fromjazz,classical,Native American music which he had become familiar with as a child,[1] andLatin American music.[2] His strongly rhythmic,contrapuntal pieces and arrangements later influenced composers ofminimal music, in particular American composersSteve Reich andPhilip Glass.
Due to an accident, Moondog was blind from the age of 16. He lived in New York City from the late 1940s until 1972, during which time he was often found onSixth Avenue, between 52nd and 55th Streets, selling records, composing, and performing poetry. He briefly appeared in a cloak andhorned helmet during the 1960s and was hence recognized as "the Viking of Sixth Avenue" by passersby and residents who were not aware of his musical career.[3]
Hardin was born inMarysville, Kansas, to Louis Thomas Hardin, anEpiscopalian minister, and Norma Alves.[4][5] Hardin started playing a set of drums that he made from a cardboard box at the age of five. His family relocated toWyoming, where his father opened atrading post atFort Bridger. At one point, his father took him to anArapahoSun Dance where he sat on the lap of Chief Yellow Calf and played atom-tom made frombuffalo skin. He also played drums for the high school band inHurley, Missouri.
On July 4, 1932, the 16-year-old Hardin found an object in a field which he did not realise was adynamite cap. While he was handling it, the explosive detonated in his face and permanently blinded him.[6][7][8] His older sister, Ruth, would read to him daily after the accident for many years. Here he had his first encounters with philosophy, science and myth that formed his character. One book in particular,The First Violin byJessie Fothergill, inspired him to pursue music. Up to that point he had been interested mainly inpercussion instruments, but from then on, he became obsessed with the desire to become acomposer.[5]
After learning the principles of music in several schools for blind young men across middle America, he taught himself the skills ofear training and composition. He studied withBurnet Tuthill at theIowa School for the Blind.[4]
He then moved toBatesville, Arkansas, where he lived until 1942, when he obtained a scholarship to study inMemphis, Tennessee. Although he was largely self-taught in music, learning predominantly by ear, he learned some music theory from books inbraille during his time in Memphis.
In 1943, Hardin moved to New York, where he metclassical musicians includingLeonard Bernstein andArturo Toscanini, as well as jazz performers such asCharlie Parker andBenny Goodman, whose upbeat tempos and often humorous compositions would influence Hardin's later work. One of his early street posts was near the52nd Street nightclub strip, and he was known to jazz musicians. By 1947, Hardin had adopted the name "Moondog" in honor of a dog "who used to howl at the moon more than any dog I knew of."[4]
From the late 1940s until 1972, Moondog lived as a composer and poet in New York City, occasionally playing in midtown Manhattan, eventually settling on the corner of 53rd or 54th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.[4] He was rarely if ever homeless, and maintained an apartment in upper Manhattan and had a country retreat inCandor, New York, to which he moved full-time in 1972.[9] He partially supported himself by selling copies of his poetry, sheet music, records, and his musical philosophy. In addition to his music and poetry, he was also known for a distinctive "Viking" garb that he briefly wore during the 1960s. Already bearded and long-haired, he added a Viking-style horned helmet to avoid the occasional comparisons of his appearance with that of Christ or a monk,[10] as he had rejected Christianity in his late teens. He developed a lifelong interest inNordic mythology, and maintained an altar toThor in his country home in Candor.[9]
In 1949, he traveled to aBlackfoot Sun Dance in Idaho[1] where he performed on percussion and flute, returning to the Native American music he had first come in contact with as a child. It was this Native music, along with contemporary jazz and classical, mixed with theambient sounds from his environment (citytraffic,ocean waves, babies crying, etc.) that created the foundation of Moondog's music.
In 1954, he won a case in theNew York State Supreme Court against disc jockeyAlan Freed, who had branded his radio show, "The MoondogRock and Roll Matinee", around the name "Moondog", using "Moondog's Symphony" (the first record that Moondog ever cut) as his "calling card".[4] Moondog believed he would not have won the case had it not been for the help of musicians such asBenny Goodman andArturo Toscanini, who testified that he was a serious composer. Freed had to apologize and stop using the nickname "Moondog" on air, on the basis that Hardin was known by the name long before Freed began using it.[11][12]
Along with his passion forNordic culture, Moondog had an idealised view of Germany ("The Holy Land with the Holy River" — theRhine), where he settled in 1974.[4]
Moondog revisited the United States briefly in 1989, for a tribute at theNew Music America Festival in Brooklyn, in which festival directorYale Evelev asked him to conduct theBrooklyn Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, stimulating a renewed interest in his music.
Eventually, a young German student[13] named Ilona Goebel (later known as Ilona Sommer) helped Moondog set up the primary holding company for his artistic endeavors[14] and hosted him, first inOer-Erkenschwick, and later on inMünster inWestphalia. Moondog lived with Sommer's family and they spent time together in Münster. During that period, Moondog created hundreds of compositions which were transferred from Braille to sheet music by Sommer. Moondog spent the remainder of his life in Germany.
On 8 September 1999, he died in Münster fromheart failure. He is buried at the Central Cemetery Münster. His tomb was designed by the artistErnst Fuchs after thedeath mask.
He recorded many albums and toured both in the U.S. and in Europe—France, Germany and Sweden.
In the process of establishing himself as a composer, Moondog drew inspiration from a wide variety of styles of music. His first works were immediately inspired by the music ofpow wow gatherings that he had attended as a child; as his career progressed, his music encompassed influences frombebop,swing,rumba,modernism andRenaissance music. It was characterized by what he called "snaketime" and described as "a slithery rhythm, in times that are not ordinary [...] I'm not gonna die in 4/4 time".[12] During the 1950s, he began to incorporate city sounds such as cars, subway trains, human speech, andfoghorns into his work.
Moondog invented several musical instruments, some of which were played on studio albums or in live performances by him and his subsequent ensembles. They include the "oo", a small triangular-shaped harp, a larger harp which he named the "ooo-ya-tsu", a triangular stringed instrument played with a bow that he called the "hüs" (after the Norwegianhus, meaning'house'), the "dragon's teeth", the "tuji, the "uni", the "utsu", the "hexagonal drums", and the "troubador harp". His best known instrument is the trimba, a triangular percussion instrument that the composer invented in the late 1940s. The original trimba was played by Moondog's friend and only student Stefan Lakatos, a Swedish percussionist, to whom Moondog also explained the methods for building such an instrument.[4] Prior to Stefan's passing on February 10 of 2023[15] he shared his teachings from Moondog with American composer Julian Calv.[16][17]
Moondog's music from the 1940s and '50s has been cited by American composersPhilip Glass andSteve Reich as a major influence on their styles, saying they took Moondog's work "very seriously and understood and appreciated it much more than what we were exposed to atJuilliard".[18] Moondog was also admired byCharlie Parker (whom he mutually admired and paid tribute to with the piece "Bird's Lament"),Frank Zappa andIgor Stravinsky, and met on several occasions withLenny Bruce,William S. Burroughs andAllen Ginsberg.[8]
Moondog inspired other musicians with several songs dedicated to him. These include "Moondog" onPentangle's 1968 albumSweet Child and "Spear for Moondog" (parts I and II) by jazz organistJimmy McGriff on his 1968Electric Funk album. Glam rock musicianMarc Bolan andT. Rex referenced him in the song "Rabbit Fighter" with the line "Moondog's just a prophet to the end...". The English pop groupPrefab Sprout included the song "Moondog" on their albumJordan: The Comeback released in 1990.Big Brother and the Holding Company featuringJanis Joplin covered his song "All Is Loneliness" on their 1967self-titled album. The song was also covered byAntony and the Johnsons during their 2005 tour.Mr. Scruff's single "Get a Move On" from his albumKeep It Unreal is structured around samples from "Bird's Lament". New York bandThe Insect Trust play a cover of Moondog's song "Be a Hobo" on their albumHoboken Saturday Night. The track "Stamping Ground", with its preamble of Moondog reciting one of hisepigrams,[19] was featured on the sampler double albumFill Your Head with Rock (CBS, 1970). Canadian composer and producerDaniel Lanois included a track called "Moondog" on his album/video-documentaryHere Is What Is.
Between 1970 and 1980, a blind bearded mystic called "Moondog" appeared as the title character in a four issue series ofUnderground comix written and illustrated byGeorge Metzger.[20]
Since the early 1970s, a number ofprofessional wrestlers have been namedThe Moondogs, taking inspiration from the artist.
Moondog was married briefly to Virginia Sledge in 1943,[21] but the marriage was dissolved in 1947.[22]
In 1952, he married Mary Suzuko Whiteing, a single mother of mixed American-Japanese heritage. She had grown up in Japan then came to New York with her mother that year. Suzuko and Hardin met on the streets of New York. According to his daughter, June, Mary was struck by his appearance and moved by his music; Moondog was stirred by the sound of her voice.[23]
The June 4, 1952 issue of theNew York Journal-American features a photograph of Moondog playing a flute on a rooftop while Mary looks on endearingly: the caption indicates it is a "skyline serenade" to a "June bride".[23] The marriage lasted eight years.[24] They had one daughter, June Hardin, born June 1, 1953.[23] On the Prestige (1956)Moondog LP, Moondog's wife, Suzuko is credited in "Lullaby", singing to June, their six-week-old daughter.[25] Hardin later fathered another daughter, Lisa Colins, out of wedlock.[22]
Actually, [Moondog] confesses, Snake Time is a bit of warmed-up South American rumba, whence is derived some of the Indian melodies.
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