Roland Dyens (19 Oct 1955) - RIP

29 October 2016, 10.45a.m.

It is sad to hear of Roland Dyens passing. I had but only one encounter with him sadly. This was at the Calcutta International Guitar Festival 2014. During the week, guests of the Festival were put in the same hotel and somehow or other, almost every morning I would meet Roland for breakfast – not that we had planned it! There was this one morning when I walked in and was looking at the breakfast spread when I heard my name called and I turned around, it was Roland peeking from behind a pillar with a cheeky smile! There was another time when he was not feeling too good and I asked if he believed in taking Chinese herbal medicine. He did, and I had some tablets with me and gave him some. Another morning, I asked him if he would like to have my books and my CD and he said he would love to have them. Another morning, he couldn’t wait to give his opinion on a concert we had heard! As he was the last artist to give his performance, that Friday morning, he was deciding on how to have the microphones placed. I mentioned to him that I had liked the sound Johannes Moller produced when he started his concert by playing with a different kind of microphone placement at the edge of the stage in front of the curtains. He agreed, and that night he played his concert with that microphone placement.

Knowing the man during the festival week, he was gregarious and playful and of course, I had known of his music before meeting the man. I have taught and played his music and forever will his music live with the classical guitarist…

Simon Cheong

www.simoncheong.com