Moondog

Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin, 1916–1999) was a blind American composer and street musician who lived on the streets of Manhattan for over two decades, dressed in Viking costume of his own construction. He produced a body of work of extraordinary originality — compositions in his own rhythmic system called snaketime (based on two-against-three patterns), orchestral pieces, and short instrumental works combining medieval counterpoint, Native American rhythm, and modernist dissonance. He moved to Germany in 1974, embraced by the European classical establishment. His CBS Columbia albums of the late 1960s and early 1970s remain landmarks of American outsider composition.