Louis Thomas Hardin, known professionally as Moondog, 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 from jazz, clasical and Native Amercian music which he had become familiar with as a child. Due to an accident, Moondog was blind from the age of 16. He lived in New York from the late 1940s until 1972, during which time he was often found on 6th Avenue, between 52nd and 55th Streets, selling records, composing, and performing poetry.
After learning the principles of music in several schools for blind young men across middle America, he taught himself the skills of ear training and composition. He studied with Burnet Tuthill at the Iowa School for the Blind. He then moved to Batesville, Arkansas, where he lived until 1942, when he obtained a scholarship to study in Memphis. Although he was largely self-taught in music, learning predominantly by ear, he learned some music theory from books in braille during his time in Memphis.
In 1943, Hardin moved to New York, where he met classical musicians including Leonard Bernstein and Arturo Toscanini, as well as jazz performers such as Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman, whose upbeat tempos and often humorous compositions would influence Hardin’s later work. One of his early street posts was near the 52nd Street nightclub strip, and he was known to jazz musicians. By 1947, Hardin had adopted the name “Moondog” in honour of a dog “who used to howl at the moon more than any dog I knew of.”
He was rarely if ever homeless, and maintained an apartment in upper Manhattan and had a country retreat in Candor, New York, to which he moved full-time in 1972. 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 a monk. He developed a lifelong interest in Nordic Mythology.
In 1949, he travelled to a Blackfoot Sun Dance in Idaho 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 the ambient sounds from his environment (city traffic, ocean waves, babies crying, etc.) that created the foundation of Moondog’s music. Along with his passion for Nordic Culture, Moondog had an idealised view of Germany, where he settled in 1974. Eventually, a young German student named Ilona Goebel (later known as Ilona Sommer) helped Moondog set up the primary holding company for his artistic endeavours and hosted him, in Muster in Westphalia. 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.
