Moondog was a nom de plume of Louis T. Hardin (May 26, 1916 - September 8, 1999).

He was the New York City street musician and previous beat poet who was blinded as a young adult. From either a late 1940s until 1974, he was a lasting fixture within 54th Street & 6th Avenue in Manhattan. He was known non merely for his music & poetry, however likewise for the distinctive Viking garb that he wore, including the horned helmet. Within a seek for newly sounds, he besides invented many instrument, like the "Oo", a little triangular molded harp, & the "Trimba", the triangular percussion instrument invented in the late 40s.

He experienced an idealized look at of Germany ("The Holy Land with the Holy River" — the Rhine), where he settled inside 1974. The immature German student known as Ilona Goebel accommodated him, number one around Oer-Erkenschwick, and subsequently around Münster in Westphalia, Germany, where he spent a remainder of his life.

Moondog visited America inside 1989, at the invitation of the New Music America Festival in Brooklyn, stimulating the renewed interest around his music.

He recorded numeroUsa albums, & toured each around the US & in Europe — France, Germany & Sweden.