Dyens: Tango en Skai for Classical Guitar
Tango en Skai (1985, Editions Henry Lemoine) by Roland Dyens is the most performed and arguably most recognisable work in Dyens' large output -- a two-and-a-half-minute solo guitar piece that began life as a concert improvisation around 1978 and has since become a staple of recital programmes, examination syllabuses, and guitar competitions worldwide.
The Title
'Skai' is a French brand term for imitation leather -- the synthetic PVC-coated fabric marketed as a leather substitute. The title is deliberate wordplay: the tango is 'in imitation leather,' a Gallic copy of the Argentine article rather than the real thing. Dyens marked the score 'Un rien canaille' -- roughly 'a touch roguish' -- and wrote: 'Try to create the party atmosphere in which it was born, without being unduly serious.' Performers are even invited to improvise: 'if by some happy chance some extra, unwritten notes should stray uninvited into this tango, I'll bet my last peso that the composer would welcome them with open arms.'
The Music
The piece maintains a steady habanera-inflected pulse throughout -- the tango's characteristic heartbeat -- while Dyens layers chromatic approach tones, blue notes, and jazz harmonies that reflect his training under Alberto Ponce at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and his lifelong engagement with jazz. Technically, the piece concentrates tango staccato, artificial harmonics, 3:2 polyrhythmic patterns, sextuplet passages, and idiomatic left-hand stretches into roughly 2 minutes 50 seconds. Dyens: 'The archetype of those pieces that seem easy but in fact are quite difficult. You have to have a very solid technique to bring it off.' The ABRSM placed it on Grade 8 List C (2019).
Reception
Since publication by Lemoine (1985) it has been recorded by Jason Vieaux, Xuefei Yang (Heartstrings, 2015), Christoph Denoth (Hyperion, 2018), Thomas Viloteau (who studied with Dyens in Paris), Andrea Gonzalez Caballero, and Dyens himself on multiple occasions.
Performed at Siccas Guitars
Ozberk Mirac Sarigul performed Tango en Skai on a 1923 Francisco Simplicio classical guitar for Siccas Guitars (June 2026).
See all piece articles: Famous Classical Guitar Pieces
