Ethnomusicologist and composer, Mauro Luis Devin Campagnoli studied cultural anthropology at the University of Torino (Italy), graduating with a thesis on the Baka Pygmies of Cameroon, with Prof. Francesco Remotti. He also got two diplomas in Composition and Choral Music & Choir Conducting at the "Giuseppe Verdi" Conservatory of Music, Turin. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Ethnomusicology, under the guidance of Prof. Febo Guizzi.

He has been conducting anthropological and ethnomusicological fieldwork in Central Africa since 1998, first as a member of the Italian Ethnological Mission in Equatorial Africa and later as a part of his doctorate, studying in particular the music and rituals of Baka Pygmies and other pygmy groups (Bakola-Bagyeli, Bedzan, Bakoya, etc.). During an expedition in the rainforest of Cameroon, he took part into the male initiation rite that marks the transition to adulthood of the young Baka boys, a secret rite conducted by the Spirit of the Forest and by elderly members of the group. After a week of rituals he was accepted in a Baka patrilinear clan.
Besides the ethnological research, he occasionally contributes to magazines and newspapers with articles and photo-reportages about anthropological subjects. He also contributed to publishing houses and museums, providing advice, photographic material and audio recordings about African Pygmies.

With regard to music and composition, he won various national and international composition contests, in Italy and abroad, and some of his compositions were played during contemporary music and world-music festivals. He occasionally contributed to RAI (Italian National Television Network) documentaries as soundtrack composer.