As one of the most influential figures of experimental music and performance Charlemagne Palestine has remained an enigma. Unlike his illustrious contemporaries Terry Riley, John Cale, Steve Reich and Philip Glass little has been written on Palestine and his continuing influence. In his own right, he was and remains today a pivotal personality whose research in musical composition and performance has been characterised over the years by its incantatory repetitiveness, its flamboyance and its mysticism, but also by its violence. In addition to his music, Charlemagne Palestine developed in the early 1970s an artistic project that diversified itself into the realms of body-art, video and installations. The atypical quality of his work, often combining elements of high and low culture, doesn't shy away from mixing classicism with the popular and kitsch. Palestine has left a lasting impression and remains a crucial contributor to today's experimental music scene. Perhaps the amazing scope of his work to and the restlessness of his life never easily allowed a thorough review of his work. This monograph is the first extensive attempt to do so.

Charlemange Palestine is published in two editions--in French and English.