Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman were with him. Philip Glass lived with him, Janis Joplin covered his music, Allen Ginsberg put him in his refrigerator, Diane Arbus photographed him, and Andy Warhol's mother designed one of his album covers. Salvador Dalí admired him. Merv Griffin interviewed him, Lenny Bruce shared the stage with him, Philippe Starck named a building after him, Elvis Costello took him to London, and fashion designers have created entire collections inspired by his gaze.
Louis Thomas Hardin (his real name) was born in Marysville, Kansas, in 1916. Better known as Moondog, he was one of the key figures of bohemian New York in the 1950s, musically comparable to some of the most eccentric composers of the 20th century, such as Sun Ra or Harry Partch.
Moondog was blinded at the age of 16 by a stick of dynamite. He learned Braille and took classes at several schools for blind musicians until 1943, when he embarked on his journey to New York.
A friend and admirer of the brilliant Charlie Parker, Moondog's music is difficult to define, as it moves between very different currents, from the jazz he played in the dives of nearby 52nd Street, to orchestral music, including madrigals and the rhythmic minimalism of his percussion, his first musical passion. He also travelled to the American West to immerse himself in the music of Native Americans on their reservations.
In 1956, the most famous radio host in the United States, Alan Freed, titled his music program Moondog. The program was so popular that it promoted the new music of the 1950s generation of young people. Moondog sued Freed for using his name without permission, and Freed had to improvise a new name. The name was Rock 'n' Roll Show, which gave the genre its name.
Moondog's albums (a name he adopted in the late 1940s, meaning "moon dog," in memory of a former pet that howled at the moon) range from symphonic pieces to music inspired by Native American sounds. But above all, Moondog was a man of contrasts: in 1967, Janis Joplin covered one of his madrigals, "All Is Loneliness," and he also recorded an album of lullabies with Julie Andrews, while being admired by Igor Stravinsky and Leonard Leonard.
In 1969, "Moondog," the album, was released by Columbia and recorded by the blind Viking with an orchestra. The album's success ultimately frightened the composer, who in the musical poem "Moondog's Monologue" had said: "When recognition comes, you will take my muse, you will take her to her bed of comfort, you will have her will, you will gorge yourselves, and you will strangle her."
Moondog died in the German city of Münster in 1999, having spent years in retirement in Germany. Beyond this particular life story and the recognition he received from Glass, Steve Reich, and other minimalists, Moondog's legacy can be traced in compositions like 'Bird's Lament,' imbued with a strange and primal beauty.
