Maher Shalal Hash Baz - Unknown Happiness

Maher Shalal Hash Baz is the artistic alter ego of Tori Kudo, a Japanese naivist composer and musician. The name is taken from Maher-shalal-hash-baz in the Book of Isaiah verses 8:1 and 8:3, and translates roughly as “Hurrying to the spoil, he has made haste to the plunder.“ Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz is also mentioned in the Book of Mormon in verses 2 Ne 18:1 and 18:3. Tori Kudo has been cagy about details of his life before MSHB. He was once a member of a shadowy, revolutionary[citation needed] political party in Japan, although he has dissociated himself from politics since becoming one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He also works as a ceramicist. He claims to have played classical and jazz piano, as well as playing organ in a Protestant church. His other musical influences included and saxophonist Steve Lacy. He and his wife Reiko Kudo joined a band called Worst Noise when they moved to Tokyo; other members dropped out, leaving Tori and Reiko as a duo, known simply as Noise. Under th