Country : United States Label : Cantaloupe Music Genres and styles : Art Pop / Contemporary / Folk / Minimalist Year : 2023

Ghost Train Orchestra / Kronos Quartet – Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog

· by Frédéric Cardin

In my top 5 of the most influential 20th-century scholarly composers from “unconventional” backgrounds and genres, there’s certainly Ennio Morricone, Frank Zappa and Moodog (aka Louis Hardin, or vice-versa). While the first two have achieved a degree of recognition from the contemporary establishment, Moondog has yet to be formalized as such. And yet, this creator who was also blind, who wrote vertical scores on cardboard sheets in Braille, and who was incredibly prolific (over 400 works), adored by a whole underground musical fauna, still remains scorned by the academic world. A huge mistake.

Oh yes, Moondog, for most of his working life, was homeless. Doesn’t that tell you something about these people? Before squatting in the home of a benevolent family in Germany in the last years of his life, he actually “ran a professional office” on the corner of 6th Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan. Dressed in a cape, self-made clothes and a remarkable Viking helmet, he was known as ”The Viking of 6th Avenue”. Few of his fellow countrymen who came across him must have known that he was a true contemporary composer, admittedly eccentric (wasn’t Satie?), but certainly one of the great originals of his time. 

Through seemingly simple minimalism, he humorously synthesized classical counterpoint, early European music, jazz, pop and folk. His scores were written for just about every imaginable formation, from banjo solo to large symphony orchestra, string quartet, harmonium, bass drum and more. In the jumble of his life and his surprising but rarely unpleasant musical explorations, there are tons of little treasures. Don’t believe me? Listen to this joyful Songs and Symphoniques – The Music of Moondog by the Ghost Train Orchestra assisted by the very “legit” Kronos Quartet and you’ll be won over. Unless you’re irredeemably purist and uptight, you’ll discover and accept the fact that Moondog is such an unclassifiable composer, so vibrant with luminous good humour, so simple and naive in his discreet and appealing sophistication, so fiercely authentic that one can only marvel at the immense possibilities that will open up to the world’s music lovers when the serious contemporary music community finally begins to explore and interpret his immense catalogue. 

An indispensable album played with finesse and recorded with great quality, perhaps heralding the long-awaited advent of official recognition.

Latest 360 Content

FIJM | Saxophonist and vocalist Camille Thurman, New Montreal Hidden Treasure

FIJM | Saxophonist and vocalist Camille Thurman, New Montreal Hidden Treasure

Festival de Lanaudière | Bruckner and Payare: cathedral builders

Festival de Lanaudière | Bruckner and Payare: cathedral builders

FIJM | Marcus Strickland and The Black Fusion Following

FIJM | Marcus Strickland and The Black Fusion Following

FIJM | Jean Michel Blais & Lara Somogyi: Fruits of The Desert

FIJM | Jean Michel Blais & Lara Somogyi: Fruits of The Desert

FIJM | Fievel is Glauque For Dessert… Dessert loaded!

FIJM | Fievel is Glauque For Dessert… Dessert loaded!

FIJM | Thursday Ends With Suuns

FIJM | Thursday Ends With Suuns

FIJM | Misc: Beat Bouquet Well Garnished!

FIJM | Misc: Beat Bouquet Well Garnished!

FIJM | Alexis Lombre and the Holy Spirit in the South Side of Chicago

FIJM | Alexis Lombre and the Holy Spirit in the South Side of Chicago

FIJM | Allison Russel’s Apotheosis Concert in Her Hometown

FIJM | Allison Russel’s Apotheosis Concert in Her Hometown

FIJM I Best Dressed, Most Possessed: Fantastic Negrito Stupefies Rogers Stage

FIJM I Best Dressed, Most Possessed: Fantastic Negrito Stupefies Rogers Stage

FIJM 2025 | Beth McKenna : raising her Momentum

FIJM 2025 | Beth McKenna : raising her Momentum

Nuits d’Afrique | Immersion In The World of Stogie T

Nuits d’Afrique | Immersion In The World of Stogie T

FIJM | Julius Rodriguez, Jazz Groove Ace

FIJM | Julius Rodriguez, Jazz Groove Ace

FIJM | Men I Trust Shines Brightly on The Place des Festivals

FIJM | Men I Trust Shines Brightly on The Place des Festivals

FIJM | Anomalie and Lettieri: A New Musical Friendship, Developing in Real Time

FIJM | Anomalie and Lettieri: A New Musical Friendship, Developing in Real Time

FIJM | Linda May Han Oh, A Role Model for Female Double-Bass Players

FIJM | Linda May Han Oh, A Role Model for Female Double-Bass Players

Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva As Seen by Rafael Espinel

Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva As Seen by Rafael Espinel

Suoni | The Spiritual Quest, The End in Transcendence

Suoni | The Spiritual Quest, The End in Transcendence

FIJM | Thundercat, A Feline on The Loose

FIJM | Thundercat, A Feline on The Loose

FIJM | Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston Exposed

FIJM | Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston Exposed

FIJM | Branford Marsalis Among Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes… Live!

FIJM | Branford Marsalis Among Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes… Live!

FIJM | About Derrick Hodge’s Idea of the Color of Noize

FIJM | About Derrick Hodge’s Idea of the Color of Noize

FIJM | Queen of Afrobeats, Ayra confirms her status as a Global… Starr

FIJM | Queen of Afrobeats, Ayra confirms her status as a Global… Starr

FIJM | Black Jazz by Marquis Hill

FIJM | Black Jazz by Marquis Hill

Subscribe to our newsletter