The Instruments

Hüs. A stringed instrument with a triangular case with gut strings stretched on either side and played with a bow. There are two versions - a large and a small. They were built by Jerry Walters and Mark Unger worked out musical notation for them. Hüs is Norwegian for house.

Trimbas. These are also triangular in shape. They are drums made from Honduras Mahogany and the heads are soft leather. The drums lie on the floor with the heads vertical. The large drum rests on it's base and the small one on it's apex. Moondog uses a maraca in his right hand to play "on-beat" and a clave in his left hand to play the "off-beat". The maraca keeps up an eighth-note pulsation. A cymbal is bolted to one side of the large drum and produces a shimmering sound when the drum is struck.