Born in Romania in 1879, Joseph Moskowitz was a child prodigy who mastered the cymbalom as a boy and began playing it on Danubian riverboats at the age of 11. The cimbalom, cymbalom, or cymbalum, known in the U.S. as a hammered dulcimer, is believed to have descended from the Persian santur and to share this ancestry with the harpsichord. Played with "beaters," the large concert cimbalom (often fitted with a damping pedal) was developed in Europe during the 19th century and is known in Romania as the "tambal mare" or "great cymbalum." Moskowitz first played the instrument on U.S. soil shortly after his arrival in Boston in 1908, and soon made his way to New York City. He spent several years performing in various eateries, and was written up by a New York Times reporter in an article dated April 26, 1908, that describes his presentation of a largely Jewish repertoire in a café on East Houston Street just east of the district known as "Little Hungary." An enterprising businessman, Moskowitz opened the first of several restaurants in 1913; the most famous of these was the Moskowitz & Lupowitz, located on the Lower East Side. In 1916 and 1917, Moskowitz, backed by pianists Max Yussim and Eddy King, made a series of stylistically diverse phonograph recordings, working up cymbalom renditions of classical themes, waltzes, ragtime novelties, klezmer, and Gypsy tunes as well as songs and dances from Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Greece, Turkey, and the Ukraine. In 1927 and 1928 he made records accompanied by an orchestra led by Odessa-born composer and conductor Alexander Olshanetsky (1892-1946). Moskowitz is said to have devised as many as 100 Gypsy melodies for the cimbalom, and periodically performed at New York's Town Hall. In 1943 he relocated to Washington, D.C., where he spent his twilight years entertaining the patrons at Michel's, a French restaurant located near Dupont Circle in the northwest quadrant of the Capitol. Moskowitz made a small number of recordings in 1953 and was residing on Monroe Street NW when he passed away on June 27, 1954, at the age of 73. ~ arwulf arwulf