Manuel Zito

Caserta, Italy

The Endless Blue

AmbientInstrumental

Behind the Music

Living in a small town near the sea, the ocean is a holy place for me where I’ve often gone to find peace of mind. As such, reading of all the injustices happening on this great expanse of water sparked a restlessness in me at the violation of this sacred haven, which was a sentiment I tried to convey in my music. 

Merging my music with Ian’s audio clips and picking which samples fit with different instruments were some of my favorite parts of The Outlaw Ocean Music Project. In a way, it almost mirrors the overall goal of this project — taking evocative songs that can touch people more deeply than words and combining it with impactful storytelling. I hope this innovative use of journalism will incite change in the future.

Manuel Zito
About Manuel Zito

Manuel Zito began playing piano at the age of five. In 2002, he dedicated himself to listening and playing “non-classical” music too. He graduated from the Conservatory “S. Pietro a Majella” of Naples in 2012, and started to play with different bands around Italy. He started to study Composition for soundtracks and attended “Music for film Lab” in July 2017 at the Experimental Cinematographic Center (CSC) of Rome. His passion for Nordic-European music (Olafur Arnalds, Johann Johansson, Nils Frahm) led him to record his first album at the “Sundlaugin Studio'' Mosfellsbær (Iceland), Sigur Ros' recording studio, in August 2017. It was released on 27th April 2018. He started to collaborate with Sondehouse Label and he’s included in “Recollections” Vol. 1, 2 and 3, featuring internationally recognized artists. One of his latest singles, “Ann's Lullaby,” is on “Peaceful Piano,” the biggest Spotify Piano playlist.

Winner of the 2021 Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Innovation in Journalism

The Journalism behind the Music

All music in this project is based on The Outlaw Ocean, a New York Times Best-Selling book by Ian Urbina that chronicles lawlessness at sea around the world. This reporting touches on a diversity of abuses ranging from illegal and overfishing, arms trafficking at sea, human slavery, gun running, intentional dumping, murder of stowaways, thievery of ships and other topics.

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