Phil Manzanera

From Havana to homework: Roxy Music’s Manzanera riffs on cultural whiplash

Phil Manzanera, guitarist of Roxy Music, recounts a youth steeped in cultural dissonance—growing up amidst the Cuban Revolution, shifting later to Hawaiian surf culture, and finally landing in the strictures of British schooling. Those transitions, punctuated by Latin rhythms and British rock, shape his sonic identity.

Voicing admiration for artists like Elvis Costello, he reflects on a palette shaped by genre collisions. From political unrest to teenage rebellion, his journey sketches a curious harmony between upheaval and melody.