The theme the Vienna Humanities Festival 2024 was “Uncharted.” Navigating our way through the challenges climate change, new forms of warfare, global health crises, and artificial intelligence pose, will require more creativity, exploration, and experimentation than humans have ever demonstrated before. This year's Vienna Humanities Festival contributed to the discussion of these impediment and the questions they give rise to, by inviting the public to reflect with intellectuals, scientists, writers and artists.
Phil Manzanera's fame derives from his role as the guitarist of the legendary British band Roxy Music. Less well-known is his extraordinary childhood about which he writes in his newly published memoir Revolución to Roxy. His mother came from Colombia, while his father was a spy working for Britain in most Latin American hotspots during the tumultuous 1960s. In conversation with IWM Rector Misha Glenny, Phil will recall his time as a young boy during the Cuban Revolution, as Che Guevara made his last stand. The talk was interspersed with demonstrations of his dazzling guitar skills, emphasizing his background in Latin American musical traditions.
Phil Manzanera is globally renowned as a musician, producer, and composer. He shot to fame in the early 1970s as a founder member and lead guitarist with the seminal band Roxy Music. He has performed with and produced many of the greats of modern music, including Bob Dylan, David Gilmour, Robert Wyatt, Rod Stewart, and Brian Eno. His memoir, Revolución to Roxy (Wordsworth Publishing, 2024), reads more like a seventeenth-century novel than a rock star memoir.
IWM Rector Misha Glenny moderated the discussion.
This event was a cooperation with the Volkstheater.
Please find the video recording of the lecture below.
