Blind Boy de Vita Setting Sail

Launched last year in the shape of an EP, Italo-Swiss space-blues maestro Blind Boy De Vita has now completed his new album with the addition of another four tracks. Entitled “Zattera” (Italian for “raft”), it was released on 7 April 2023 via Mouthwatering Records.

Born and raised in Southern Italy, Blind Boy de Vita, aka Glauco Cataldo, started his musical life by playing along to Nirvana and Eric Clapton records. He has journeyed far, metaphorically and literally, since those early days, forming strong links with musicians all over the world. “I regularly leave my safe-space in Switzerland”, he has said, “and travel to different places with my guitar and some clothes, and that’s it. That keeps me fresh and creative. I’ve never had any writer’s block.”

As is only natural for a musician who travels with open ears, Blind Boy de Vita’s take on the blues is infused with many other influences. It helps that he possesses a remarkably flexible bass-baritone voice that ranges from a quasi-Tuvan rasp to an easy-on-the-ear bossa nova croon. The actual music is no less unusual. Nimbly played and recorded by himself with various mostly acoustic guitars and percussion, he rarely sticks to a straight-forward arrangement, with vocal and guitar lines constantly interweaving and going off in unexpected new directions.

Blind Boy De Vita
Mouthwatering Records