Favourite Mondo Movie Composers
Mondo (or Shockumentary) is a mostly Italian movie genre which is hard to specify.
These movies in a pseudo documentary style seem to show customs and traditions of mankind around the world (in order to make fast cash at box office). Filmed in those times when people were not able to conquer the world themselves, this is a movie phenomena starting more or less in the late 1950s, leading to absurd cannibal movies in the 1970s.
That's why we also find a wide range of music genres here, from Big Band and Jazz to Disco.
No ranking, just sorted First Name / Family Name.
Except Piero Piccioni, who is a fine film composer (for sure, not only in the Mondo section).
Personal favourites are Piero Umiliani ("Mah-Na Mah-Na", in "Sweden Heaven And Hell") and Riz Ortolani ("Te Guardero Nel Cuore", better known as "More", in the most famous "Mondo Cane" which started it all).
Thanks for checking, enjoy.
These movies in a pseudo documentary style seem to show customs and traditions of mankind around the world (in order to make fast cash at box office). Filmed in those times when people were not able to conquer the world themselves, this is a movie phenomena starting more or less in the late 1950s, leading to absurd cannibal movies in the 1970s.
That's why we also find a wide range of music genres here, from Big Band and Jazz to Disco.
No ranking, just sorted First Name / Family Name.
Except Piero Piccioni, who is a fine film composer (for sure, not only in the Mondo section).
Personal favourites are Piero Umiliani ("Mah-Na Mah-Na", in "Sweden Heaven And Hell") and Riz Ortolani ("Te Guardero Nel Cuore", better known as "More", in the most famous "Mondo Cane" which started it all).
Thanks for checking, enjoy.
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Piero Piccioni was born in Turin (Italy) on the 6th December 1921. Son of a pure Turinese mother (her maiden name was Marengo), and from here the pseudonym Piero Morgan, which he adopted until 1957. He had played on the radio with his historic Big Band "013" in 1938, to then return, after the liberation of Italy in 1944. His was the first Italian jazz band to be aired in Italy. Piero Piccioni had listened to jazz since he was a child and had learned to play the piano without having been to the Conservatory. As a self-taught musician, his father used to accompany him to visit the E.I.A.R. in Florence, to listen to orchestral recitals. As he began to write some songs of his own he was able to get some published by Carisch. Having written nearly 300 soundtracks and pieces for radio, television, ballets and orchestra he was deeply influenced by 20th century classical composers and by American cinematography. Amongst his favourites were Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, John Ford and Alex North, who had greatly influenced him in his use of jazz.
Piero Piccioni had come in contact with the world of movies during the fifties when he was practicing as a lawyer in Rome and sealing movie rights for Italian Italian distributors as Titanus and De Laurentiis. During that time, Michelangelo Antonioni had called him to create music for a documentary for one of his apprentices, Luigi Polidoro. His first feature film was Gianni Franciolini's, "Il Mondo le Condanna"(1952). Piccioni had found a close working relationship with directors Francesco Rosi (More Than A Miracle, Le Mani Sulla Citta', Salvatore Giuliano, Chronicle of a Death Foretold) and Alberto Sordi, and had also cemented strong personal and professional bonds with them. Many directors had wanted Piero Piccioni for the music for their films: Francesco Rosi, Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada, Luigi Comencini, Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Tinto Brass, Dino Risi, and more. "Swept Away"(David Donatello prize) and "Tutto A Posto Niente in Ordine" by Lina Wertmuller, "Il bell'Antonio" by Mauro Bolognini , the "Tenth Victim" by Elio Petri, with Marcello Mastroianni Ursula Andress also bear his name. His very distinctive style of Jazz, Bossanova, Orchestral and Contemporary Classical will not be easily forgotten.- Composer
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He graduated in violin and composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan (Italy), Lavagnino deserves a special place in film music for his contribution to documentaries. He gave reportages a new dimension; he did not elaborate folkloristic themes, neither he passively adapts the instruments of a certain musical civilization: he identifies the elements that characterize a country under the "sound profile" and gives a plausible equivalent. For this aim, Lavagnino uses all the possibilities given by modern technology, his goal is to "build" a sound. The main collaborator of a musician is no more the orchestra director, but the sound engineer. This attitude did not prevent Lavagnino from producing great orchestra music. In the classical field, he wrote a Concert for violin and orchestra and a Mass for chorus and orchestra. He began composing for cinema in 1951, for film director Orson Welles' Othello. Since then, he wrote music for hundreds of films, among which: Nero's Weekend (Nero's Mistress (1956)) with Gloria Swanson and Brigitte Bardot, The Naked Maja (1958) with Ava Gardner, Imperial Venus (Imperial Venus (1962)) with Gina Lollobrigida, Falstaff (Chimes at Midnight (1965)) directed by and starring Orson Welles, and many others.- Music Department
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Armando Sciascia was born on 16 June 1920 in Lanciano, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for L'uomo che bruciò il suo cadavere (1964), Per un dollaro a Tucson si muore (1965) and Adolescenti al sole (1964). He died on 23 June 2017 in Connecticut, USA.- Composer
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Armando Trovajoli was born on 2 September 1917 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), A Special Day (1977) and Get Smart (2008). He was married to Maria Paola Trovajoli and Pier Angeli. He died on 1 March 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Music Department
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Basil Kirchin was born on 8 August 1927 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK. He was a composer, known for I Start Counting (1970), Journey to the Unknown (1968) and Assignment K (1968). He was married to Esther Muller. He died on 18 June 2005 in Hull, Yorkshire, England, UK.- Music Department
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Carlo Savina was born on 2 August 1919 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for The Brothers Bloom (2008), Sixteen Candles (1984) and The Tenant (1976). He died on 23 June 2002 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
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Daniele Patucchi was born in 1945 in Turin, Italy. He was a composer, known for Warrior of the Lost World (1983), Il sorriso del ragno (1971) and Jugando con la muerte (1982). He died on 27 July 2015 in Rome, Italy.- Composer
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A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first film scores were relatively undistinguished, but he was hired by Leone for A Fistful of Dollars (1964) on the strength of some of his song arrangements. His score for that film, with its sparse arrangements, unorthodox instrumentation (bells, electric guitars, harmonicas, the distinctive twang of the jew's harp) and memorable tunes, revolutionized the way music would be used in Westerns, and it is hard to think of a post-Morricone Western score that doesn't in some way reflect his influence. Although his name will always be synonymous with the spaghetti Western, Morricone has also contributed to a huge range of other film genres: comedies, dramas, thrillers, horror films, romances, art movies, exploitation movies - making him one of the film world's most versatile artists. He has written nearly 400 film scores, so a brief summary is impossible, but his most memorable work includes the Leone films, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1966) , Roland Joffé's The Mission (1986), Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988), plus a rare example of sung opening credits for Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966).- Composer
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Born in Rome, he studied composition at the Neapolitan Conservatory "S. Pietro a Majella" under the direction of M° Achille Longo then proceeded to study orchestra direction at the Chigiana Academy in Siena with Paul Van Kempen and Franco Ferrara. He also graduated in horn, after having studied with Domenico Ceccarossi. He then took part in the "A. Scarlatti" Orchestra of Naples and in the Rome Symphonic Orchestra of RAI TV. In 1968 he won the "Review" award of young conductors sponsored by RAI, and since then he has been very active in conducting concerts and operas in Italy and abroad. In 1974 he held the chair of orchestra rehearsals at the Conservatory "S. Pietro a Majella" in Naples where, since 1983, he has been teaching orchestra direction. He has been teaching at the "S. Cecilia" Conservatory of Rome since 1989.
He has recorded many discs with music by Boccherini, Mozart, Ciaikovsky, Honegger, Chausson, Beethoven, C. Nielsen, V. Caracciolo. He is the director of the "Roma Symphonia" orchestra. In the field of film soundtracks he began his activity in the 1950s composing music for a few documentaries and feature films. In 1955 he attended a course in film music taught by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino at the Chigiana Academy in Siena, and later became his assistant, collaborating with him on several major films. In 1957 he started his collaboration with Folco Quilici, first on some documentaries, then on the following films: "Dagli Appennini alle Ande" followed by "Ti-koyo e il suo Pescecane" and on several TV series such as "Firenze 1000 Giorni", "L'Uomo Europeo", "Festa Barocca", "Grandepoque", "Archivi del Tempo", "Le Avventure del Capitano Cook", etc. He has composed scores to hundreds of cinematographic and TV documentaries and to more than 200 films, especially historical films and westerns, in Italy, Spain, Germany and the U.S..- Music Department
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Giacomo Dell'Orso was born on 2 December 1931 in Ofena, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. He is a composer, known for Zombie Holocaust (1980). He is married to Edda Dell'Orso.- Composer
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Gianni Marchetti was born on 7 September 1933 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer, known for King of Africa (1968), The Killer Likes Candy (1968) and Colpo di stato (1969). He died on 10 April 2012 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
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Gino Marinuzzi Jr. was born on 7 April 1920 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Planet of the Vampires (1965), Matchless (1967) and Kommissar X - Drei gelbe Katzen (1966). He died on 8 November 1996 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
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Giorgio Carnini is known for Scandalous Gilda (1985), Lezioni di violoncello con toccata e fuga (1976) and Principe di Homburg (1983).- Music Department
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Giovanni Tommaso was born on 20 January 1941 in Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. He is a composer, known for Eye in the Labyrinth (1972), Oggetti smarriti (1980) and La prima volta (1999).- Composer
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Guido De Angelis was born on 22 December 1944 in Rocca di Papa, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer and producer, known for Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983), Death Proof (2007) and All the Way Boys (1972).- Actor
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Kai Winding was born on 18 May 1922 in Århus, Denmark. He was an actor, known for The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964), A Man Called Adam (1966) and Bandstand (1958). He was married to Ezshwan. He died on 6 May 1983 in Yonkers, New York, USA.- Music Department
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Born March 14, 1922, at Mexia, Texas. He learned to play the piano at five years of age and studied at the Detroit Conservatory and at Pepperdine College in Los Angeles, California (his uncle was the college's first president). He began his career as a concert pianist but later joined Mel Tormé's "Meltones" in 1945. Baxter conducted a number of radio shows including "The Bob Hope Show". His recording of "The Poor People of Paris" in March 1956 was a #1 hit and sold more single copies than any other recording during that decade (the song got that title by mistake. Originally titled "The Ballad of Poor John" when it was popularized in France, a Capitol Records representative cabled the title to the US; the cable used the word "gens", meaning "people", instead of "jean"). Another major hit was "April in Portugal", which was based on a song by Raúl Ferrão. It was originally entitled "Coimbra" (after a city in Portugal) and later introduced in the US as the whispering serenade. But Jimmy Kennedy wrote a new set of lyrics in 1952 for it and it became a huge hit for Baxter\, who also wrote the scores for over 120 motion pictures.
He died of heart and kidney problems on January 15, 1996.- Composer
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The names of Manos Hadjidakis and Mikis Theodorakis have been written with golden letters in the music history of Greece since 1960. He was born in Xanthi on 23 October 1925, in a mid-class family. When he came of age he came in the capital city of Greece of Athens. He succeeded from the beginning when he made the high class of Greece to accept the Rebetiko, a popular kind of music. His love for this great music resulted in two great LP's - 'Lilacs On The Dead Earth', and 'Cruel April Of 45'.
He worked with director Karolos Koun and he wrote excellent music for such plays as 'A Streetcar Named Desire', starring Melina Mercouri and Vasilis Diamantopoulos. From this collaboration a great classic song resulted, named 'Paper Moon-Xartino To Feggaraki'. He also wrote music for the Greek National Theatre.
In the following years Hadjidakis created a personal style which no one can forget. He wrote music for films like Stella (1955), Madalena (1960), Maiden's Cheek (1959), I Aliki sto Naftiko (1961), creating massive successes. The first golden disc was given to Manos and Aliki Vougiouklaki for the song "The Grey Cat (To grizo gati)" from the film "To xylo vgike apo ton Paradeiso".
He gained worldwide popularity with his collaboration with Melina Mercouri and Jules Dassin in 1960 for the film Never on Sunday (1960), and he even won an Oscar. He wrote music for other international films like Elia Kazan's America America (1963), Andrew Marton's It Happened in Athens (1962), Dassin's Topkapi (1964), Peter Ustinov's Memed My Hawk (1984).
In 1963 he staged "A Street Of Dreams (Odos Oneiron)", with Minos Argyrakis, which was considered a milestone in Greek Theatre. In the later years, he humorously denied "Never On Sunday's" popularity and tried to produce more sophisticated works with the help of the poet and lyricist Nikos Gatsos. He became one of best Greek composers, and together with Mikis Theodorakis they are the founders of the temporary Greek Music.
During 1966-1972 he lived in the United States where he wrote the "Magnus Eroticus" LP, which was poems of ancients and temporary poets like Sapfo, Odysseas Elytis, Myrtiotissa etc. He also produced instrumental LP's, like the excellent "The smile of Jokonda". Manos was great friend of persons like Seferis, Elytis (2 Nobel winners poets), Sikelianos, Gatsos (poets), Vougiouklaki (actress), Koun (director), Melina Mercouri (actress, politician), with which they did have a love-hate relationship.
He wrote 4 books and he created the Orchestra Of Colours (I Orhistra ton Hromaton), for some years he was the director of the 3rd program of the Greek Radio channel.
Manos Hadjidakis died on June 15 1994, a lovely summer afternoon. He was one of the greatest composers of Greece, and he is surely missed.- Composer
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Marcello Giombini was born on 24 July 1928 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer, known for Our Man in Jamaica (1965) and Mission Stardust (1967). He died on 12 December 2003 in Italy.- Composer
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Maurizio De Angelis was born on 22 February 1947 in Rocca di Papa, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer and producer, known for Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983), Death Proof (2007) and All the Way Boys (1972).- Composer
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Prolific singer, songwriter and composer Nico Fidenco was born in Rome as Domenico Colarossi on January 24, 1933. Signed to RCA in Rome in 1960, he had his first major hit as a singer with Legata ad un granello di sabbia. This became the first single to sell over a million copies in Italy. Soon after, Fidenco's beautiful rendition of Su nel cielo was chosen by the director Francesco Maselli for the soundtrack of his film Silver Spoon Set (1960). From then on, Fidenco followed in the footsteps of balladeer/cantautore Peppino Di Capri by recording in both English and Italian. Many of these recordings were covers of songs that featured prominently as motion picture themes, such as Exodus or Moon River (from Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). Though he never registered a win at the prestigious San Remo music festival, Fidenco nonetheless turned an impressive number of superb ballads. He reached the peak of his popularity and ranking high in the charts by the mid-60's with iconic songs like Goccia di mare, A casa d'Irene, Celestina, Come nasce un amore and Non è Vero.
By 1966, Fidenco had turned his attention to writing a plethora of scores for genre movies, ranging from spaghetti westerns (The Texican (1966), Dynamite Jim (1966), etc.) to horror (Zombie Holocaust (1980)), Japanese anime and sexploitation (notably, the Emanuelle series). His warm, melodious voice was still occasionally featured, as in the title song, La ballata del treno, for the western Bandidos. Along with Jimmy Fontana, Riccardo Del Turco and Gianni Meccia, Fidenco co-founded a nostalgic vocal quartet (Super Quattro) in 1984, giving live performances (and releasing a trio of albums) of their respective 60's hits, updated with modern arrangements. The group disbanded in 1994. Fidenco himself retired in 2014 but his distinctive - very evocatively 1960s -- music can still be heard in films like Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019).
Fidenco was married to the actress Anna Maria Surdo from 1969 until his death in November 2022.- Composer
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Nino Oliviero was born on 13 February 1918 in Naples, Campania, Italy. Nino was a composer, known for Nine (2009), A Dog's Life (1962) and Radhapura - Endstation der Verdammten (1968). Nino died on 1 March 1980 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
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Peter Thomas was born on 1 December 1925 in Breslau, Silesia, Germany [now Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland]. He was a composer and actor, known for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), The Big Boss (1971) and Escape to Berlin (1961). He was married to Cordy Thomas. He died on 17 May 2020 in Lugano, Cantone Ticino, Switzerland.- Composer
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Piero Umiliani was born on 17 July 1926 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was a composer, known for The Spectacular Now (2013), Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) and The Muppets (2011). He died on 14 February 2001 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
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Riz Ortolani was born on 25 March 1926 in Pesaro, Marche, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Day of Anger (1967), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Festa di laurea (1985). He was married to Katina Ranieri. He died on 23 January 2014 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
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- Sante Maria Romitelli was a composer, known for Isabella, Duchess of the Devils (1969), This Time I'll Make You Rich (1974) and Sotto a chi tocca! (1972). Sante Maria died on 30 October 2004 in Perugia, Umbria, Italy.
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Stanley Wilson was born on 25 November 1917 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), M Squad (1957) and Miracle (2004). He died on 12 July 1970 in Aspen, Colorado, USA.- Composer
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He studied piano and harmony at Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. In 1957 he started playing light music, being the pianist of important singers such as Rita Pavone. In USA he studied jazz with Dave Brubeck. In 1966 he was called by Cam to compose his first soundtrack: The Bounty Killer, a film directed by Tomas Milian. After the good success, he was asked to compose other soundtracks, among which was A Man, A Horse And A Gun in 1967, which was recorded in the same year by Henry Mancini. Worldwide fame, however, came in 1970, when he composed the score for Anonymous Venetian. This score was a hit all over the world, receiving all the major awards, and is still considered one of the most famous Italian soundtracks. Another very important soundtrack is Tentacles, an American film interpreted by John Huston, Shelley Winters and Henry Fonda. Stelvio Cipriani has composed over 200 film scores, still continuing his activity.- Composer
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He completed his studies in Milan. After having received his diploma in Humanities, he attended the Faculty of Pure Mathematics at the State University for four years with good results. He specialized in music and choir song in 1944, and graduated in Composition from the Conservatory "G. Verdi" of Milan in 1945. After having fought as a partisan from 1941 to 1945, he studied in depth vocal polyphony in 1947. In the immediate postwar period, he started his musical career as a director of vocal polyphonic groups for various concerts and radio programs of polyphonic music, paying particular attention to the Italians of the XVI and XVII centuries. He moved to Rome in the late forties, and has been extremely busy writing music for cinema and for television. In the field of folk music he studied Italian regional groups, and his transcriptions, from the laudi of the 1200s to the songs of the mountain, belong to the repertory of numerous choirs. Among the most famous are Montagnes Valdotaines and Belle rose du printemps. He has also composed various songs, such as Meravigliose labbra and La canzone del faro, which were quite successful. He taught "Harmony and Counterpoint" in the conservatories of Piacenza, Bologna and L'Aquila; he retired from teaching in 1986. He created for RAI 3 TV a series of 6 episodes, each dedicated to a major contemporary Italian composer, called "Che musica è". He participated in it as Conductor, taking part in debates with the public and presenting various music performed by "Spettro sonoro". At present, he is working on music with computers, programming computers and composing "digital music". He collaborates with the C.R.M. (Center for Music Research) of Rome, creating software for the projects "FLY10" and "FLY30". Among his compositions in this genre we mention Mooning for soprano and c64, Sinite for Fly10 and soprano, and Nomina for Fly30 and soprano. Furthermore, his main compositions include music for theater, for orchestra, chamber music, film music (for films directed by Marco Ferreri and other renowned directors) and music for TV.- Composer
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Ubaldo Continiello was born on 4 May 1941 in Monteverde, Campania, Italy. He was a composer, known for Black Tigress (1967), Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976) and Play Motel (1979). He died on 20 January 2014 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Sound Department
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William Robert Sivel was born in 1907 in Alexandroupolis, Greece. He was an actor, known for The Wages of Fear (1953), Diabolique (1955) and Contempt (1963). He died on 28 January 1982.