About Piero Umiliani

Piero Umiliani (born July 17, 1926 in Florence, Italy -- died February 14, 2001 in Rome) was an Italian film music composer, most famous for his 1968 song Mah nà mah nà -- originally used for the Swedish mondo documentary Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso ("Sweden, Heaven or Hell"), in 1977 it became world-famous when performed on The Muppet Show. It is also a trademark song of the Benny Hill show. Like many of his Italian colleagues at that time, he composed scores for many exploitation films in the 1960s and 1970s, covering genres such as spaghetti western, Eurospy, Giallo, and soft sex films. Although not as widely regarded as, for example, Ennio Morricone or Riz Ortolani, he helped form the style of the typical European '60s/'70s jazz soundtrack that has recently been experiencing a revival through films like Kill Bill and Ocean's Twelve.