Months later, we still hear Roberto Manes’ voice in our minds. He might be well known for the violin, but for us it is his gentle timbre, his sweet eyes, and warm spirit that are best remembered. We first spoke with Roberto in April for Part 2 of our sessions post. We discussed at great length the collaboration between Roberto, Rory, and percussionist Pete Lockett for Roberto’s debut album Phoenician Dream (1999). Besides a short biography on his website, we are struck by the lack of information online about not only Roberto, but also his personal and professional friendship with Rory. How did they meet? How did the session come about? Did they play live together? Our questions were endless. Some of these were answered in the sessions post back in April. However, we realised there was a quite a bit of material leftover, and so we have compiled a few excerpts from Roberto’s interview that we often think about and which we would love to share with you now. 

Excerpt #1: Friends

So [Rory] saw me [at The Polo club] and I think he liked my playing, but then we became friends and we start to meet outside of the music […] we would meet sometimes at his place, sometimes we go for some food. We liked to go out pretty much in the area where he used to live in Fulham Road. And we could jam. Once we jammed in a Greek restaurant, I think. He had a guitar and I had my violin, and we had all this place clapping … it was after eating, it was like a dessert. I don’t remember how we end up with the instruments. We definitely had a jam and it was a lot of fun. Funny enough, I don’t remember how we did it. That means I must have had the violin for some other reason with me, unless the restaurant provide the instrument, I’m not sure. But we did some music, we did that.

Excerpt #2: Song titles

[On Phoenician Dream] the titles [“Raga For G.M. Volonté” and “Voices from the Bazaar”] are of course my titles, because [Rory] wasn’t around anymore. But I titled the two tracks according to a conversation we had. He did mention he wanted to have those type of titles, but he didn’t finalise the titles. He wanted to have a homage to this … he was, uh, you know, he love his movies and he had the culture about movies as well. He liked the Italian neo-realism movies, Gian Maria Volonté [was] one of his favourite actors. In fact, he asked me to – when I went to Milan – can you bring some Gian Maria Volonté for me. So I bought a videotape and one of [Volonté’s] many movies, and I believe [Rory] didn’t have that one, so he was happy about that. And also he knew about the Italians, on the Alps on the mountains, they make Grappa, so I brought a Grappa bottle for him as well – all requests, he asked me [for] that. 

Excerpt #3: Photographs

Unfortunately I don’t have any photographs of [Rory and I] together. It’s not like [these] days where you have a phone in your pocket. I don’t exclude that they exist. They might exist. When we were [performed at] the [1992 Glasgow] Fleadh, somehow, someone must of took a picture of us onstage. But I’ve never seen any of those. There were thousands of people there, [and] at least one journalist from Glasgow must of taken pictures. [But] I’ve never come across a picture of me and Rory together. But I wasn’t there to … have you ever walked into those restaurants where on the walls they have pictures of the famous people? That is not in my mentality. I’m not doing things just to show. It’s not me, and I believe that [it wasn’t] Rory [either]. It’s just the way we are. 

[update August 2022: Fan John Carnie who was at the Glasgow Fleadh in 1992 shared a photo with us that he took of Rory and Roberto on stage together. We were so excited to get it printed and framed, and presented it to Roberto several weeks later. Roberto was overwhelmed by the present, having had no idea that any photos of he and Rory together existed. That moment has to be one of our favourites in a very long list of wonderful memories since starting this blog in November 2021.]

Excerpt #4: Music business

In Rory’s mind and in my mind, we never thought about money. We were people that [were] just entirely interested in chemistry and alchemy and music. I would say he was completely alien to the idea of money making, same as me. Maybe he was luckier than I was because he had his brother who would look after the other side of it. Whereas in my case, in my life, I didn’t have a manager like that. That was the only thing I would say was different, otherwise [we were] similar. 

Excerpt #5: Plans for the future

Well the COVID has stopped everything, but I would like to go out and maybe just meet some people again. Most of the things I’ve done have happened just by going out and [doing] some jam sessions and you meet someone and you like the sound. Maybe soon I will check what’s happening in London, whether there [are] some jam sessions, and maybe carry the violin and just go. I would like to maybe do some more recordings of my own. I’m still thinking about it. When [producers] call me … they know I can go beyond the scores, the notations. When they need a violin player that improvises, the few people that know me, they say ‘ok, let’s call him’ because I can do that. For example, I did the big film Dorian Grey, and I do all the violin solos, and I did everything by improvisation … When I do that, the improvisation steps into a different [place]. It’s more like a classical approach, but still it’s improvised. I could read [music] because I’m classically trained. So I could do that, but my forte is the ability of improvising, which I’ve always had since I was a kid.

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Ultimately, our interview with Roberto Manes became less about running a Rory Gallagher blog and instead about the importance of making connections with people. “When [the memories] become intimate,” Roberto said, “I suppose you just keep it in your heart.” And without question has the memory and wisdom of Roberto Manes stuck closely with us, and just for us. On a final note, we hope this post not only benefits the Rory community, but also fans of Roberto, who can gain insight into him as a person, as well as an accomplished musician, composer, and teacher.