The Guitarist who is Bringing the Balkan Spirit to the New York Jazz Scene
“Taulant Mehmeti is one of the best young guitarists I have heard in a long time. His playing has great energy and drive and joyful enthusiasm.”
~ Peter Bernstein, Jazz Guitar Legend
Taulant Mehmeti is a 28-year-old from Kosovo who has been bringing the Balkan spirit of music into the New York City Jazz scene over the last 7 years. His life story — from being a refugee, to starring at the most renowned jazz clubs in the world — is an example of falling in love with the process of making music that transcends borders.
To best understand the beauty that informs Taulant’s musical process, you have to know some of his life story.
Taulant was born in 1991 in a period when Albanians in Kosovo were facing systemic injustice from the Serbian government. Taulant’s mother had to travel to a hospital 60 miles from his hometown to give birth to him because the local public hospital did not provide services to Albanians in Kosovo.
The year he was born, both of his parents, as well as most Kosovo-Albanians, were fired from all public positions simply on the basis of ethnicity. The tensions in Kosovo escalated into an ethnic cleansing process that unfolded all across the country. The Serbian regime was ruthless to all those who were not Serbian — more than 80% of Kosovo’s population was in crisis.
Taulant recalls how his uncles were held as political prisoners. His family was constantly under Serbian secret service surveillance to a point that their phones were tapped. His family struggled with poverty and Taulant was always known for being a humble child. He remembers that when he earned money for his birthday, he would not spend it on toys but rather try to see how he could support his family.
The peak of this tension kicked in the Spring of 1999 when violence broke out. Taulant and his family were violently forced out of their homes by Serbian paramilitary soldiers. He still feels traumatized by this experience — fleeing with his family, witnessing people shot dead, knowing women who were raped by the Serbian police, and endless horrific events buried deep in his memory.
Taulant and his family finally found refuge in Macedonia during the peak violence of the war. He remained a refugee until the war was over thanks to the U.S. & NATO intervention that stopped the violence and ended the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo-Albanianas.
Musical Inspiration from his Brothers
Taulant grew up with three older brothers — Kushtrim, Jashar, and Bashkim, the first two being amateur musicians. Taulant recalls when he was 10 years old and his brother Kushtrim taught him to play the Pink Panther theme song on guitar.
That moment was the beginning of his deep relationship with guitar. One night, Jashar was heading out to do chores and before he left, he took five minutes to teach Taulant how to play a guitar chord.
By the time Jashar got home, he found that Taulant had already composed a song simply by using the chord he just taught him.
While Taulant fell in love with guitar, his elder brother Kushtrim’s health was deteriorating and doctors found out that he had pancreatic cancer. The doctors were convinced that the cancer developed due to the traumatic exposure Kushtrim had during the war at the age of 24. Very soon after, Kushtrim passed away leaving his family and friends heartbroken.
Healing Through Music
Taulant was hugely impacted by his brothers passing — the only thing that would help him heal was playing his guitar. Taulant describes music as his therapy — when he’s on his guitar, a world of beauty and possibility opens.
Taulant’s brother, Bashkim, was living in London when he bought Taulant his first guitar. This was a dream come true for Taulant. As soon as he was gifted the guitar, Jashar paid for him to get his first guitar lesson from one of the most renowned Kosovo rock guitarists, Nexhat Macula.
From that point onward, Taulant started taking private lessons with anybody who was willing to help him grow as a guitarist. He quit playing sports and started to solely focus on music. A few months after his first lesson, Taulant started writing music and formed his own band. He participated in talent shows starting when he was 13.
Many people were impressed by his musical abilities, but it wasn’t until Taulant met Armend Xhaferi a.k.a Xhafa, the guru of jazz in Kosovo, that he started understanding and appreciating the full depth of jazz.
Realizing how important it was for him to play and learn from other musicians, Taulant started playing with Kosovo’s elite jazz musicians. It was love in action for him.
He was performing in the most prestigious venues in Kosovo and making a good amount of money by age 18 through performing. Eventually Taulant realized that while Kosovo has very talented musicians, there were still very few of them. Taulant craved more growth and decided to seek educational opportunities abroad.
The New School of Music
Taulant applied to University of Graz in Austria, where they didn’t accept him. They explained that New York was the place for a guitarist of his caliber.
This gave him a moral boost and he decided to apply to the prestigious New School of Music where Peter Bernstein & Vic Juris, two of his favorite guitar players, were professors. Taulant got accepted to theNew School of Music and a new chapter in his life opened.
He moved to New York City where he experienced a culture shock — the dynamics of the city, as well as the diversity of the population including race, ethnicities, genders, and so many other aspects that were incredibly different from Kosovo.
“Only in New York City can someone find a mosque, next to a bar, which is next to strip club, which is next to the police station,” Taulant jokes.
At the start of his journey as a music student, he felt very intimidated by his peers. They had been playing across the jazz scene for a long time.
Once Taulant got to meet his guitar professor Vic Juris, that feeling of intimidation turned — he fell in love with Vic’s mentorship and his confidence started building back up. Taulant excelled at The New School and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Masters in Jazz Guitar Performance from SUNY Purchase with the highest distinctions.
Making New York a Home for Music
Eventually Taulant fell in love with New York City, the city that never sleeps. The strange and intimidating qualities of the city melted away as he started to get more music gigs.
Taulant has performed more than one thousand times across the city, including performances in venues such as Blue Note, Iridium, Smalls Jazz Club, B.B.Kings and with artists such as Vic Juris, Ingrid Jensen, and Cameron Brown.
He has also played in international festivals such as Bern Jazz, Switzerland; Reykjavik Jazz, Iceland; Carthage Jazz in Tunisia; Jazz Circulo in Madrid Spain. Politics has gotten in the way of some international shows because of the complicated visa process for Kosovo citizens (half of world’s countries won’t even accept Kosovo’s passport at all).
“Taulant is a warm and giving human being with a rare gift for composition and improvisation. We had the pleasure of appearing in a live performance at The Blue Note Club in NYC where he dazzled the audience with his abilities!”
~ Vic Juris, Legendary Jazz Guitarist
Back to Authentic Roots
The more Taulant was playing with world class musicians, the more he realized the importance of authenticity in his performance and composition.
“Authentic” to Taulant was the music he grew up listening to — Balkans music with some Albanian influence.
“Playing tunes in Balkan rhythms activates some kind of an engine that brings excitement, joy, and that feeling of home. Tunes in 4/4 are great but my heart beats in Balkan meters,” Taulant describes of his style.
For the last seven years, Taulant has been working on an album that brings his Balkan Rhythms and Jazz harmony together. The album is finally here!
The album is named Song to my Brother, which also shares a name with one of the compositions on the record. Taulant not only brings together a very unique combination of Balkans and Jazz genres, but he brings the absolute best jazz music performers in NY including Ingrid Jensen, Keefe Martin, Sergej Avanesov, Marko Churnchetz, and Connor Parks into the album.
In sharing this album with the world, Taulant wishes for everyone to realize the connection between life and music. He adds that, “Everyone is a musician! You just have to listen to the rhythm of your heart.”
The album release for Song for my Brother will be November 3rd, 2019 at the Scandinavia House from 5:30 pm in New York City.
Invite your friends and get your tickets here!
