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 Phillip 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 also developed in the early 1970s an artistic project that diversified itself into the realms of body-art, video and installations. Palestine has left a lasting impression and remains a crucial contributor to today's experimental music score. Perhaps the amazing scope of his work and the restlessness of his life never easily allowed a thorough review of his life and work. This monograph is the first extensive attempt to do so. 202 colour & bw illustrations