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Alessandro Alessandroni

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Alessandro Alessandroni was an Italian musician and composer, born in 1925. He played many instruments, including guitar, mandolin, sitar, accordion and piano, and was best known for his whistling technique. He wrote more than forty film scores and countless pieces of library music, music that is issued for use in film and television. He had been a friend of Ennio Morricone since his youth.

Music and breakthrough

He worked with Morricone on several spaghetti Western soundtracks. Morricone often wrote for these with an unusual combination of instruments, voices and whistling. Alessandroni's twangy guitar riff is the heart of the main theme of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He also whistles on the soundtracks of Sergio Leone, including the Dollars trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West. In 1961 he founded the eight-voice vocal ensemble I Cantori Moderni, with his wife Giulia De Mutiis among others. They sang wordless vocals on Italian films. The best known is Mah Nà Mah Nà, written by Piero Umiliani for a 1968 film and later made famous by The Muppet Show. He also founded the rock band Braen's Machine, together with Umiliani.

Influence

His own albums ranged from Fischio In Armonia from 1970 to Guitar Poetry from 1981. He also wrote film music for Lady Frankenstein and Killer Nun, among others. His whistling and guitar have become the sound of the spaghetti Western, and thereby part of the memory of film music.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the main theme of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and notice the twangy guitar and the whistling that together carry the melody.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists