Oltian Isufi
It is a quiet Autumn night at the ABF Lawn at AUBG, sitting on a blue bench is the freshman Oltian Isufi or “Olti” as everyone calls him. A young man from Kosovo, with long black hair clearly made for headbanging, smiles as he lights a cigarette and takes a sip from his beer.
His haircut might just give away his passion for playing the electric guitar in his free time, stating: “Whenever I am having a bad day or am going through some shit maybe, I can chill out on it and just do whatever I want.” He pauses for a moment, “I kind of sing too sometimes, just because I can. I learned it by myself a bit, just enough to have some good alone time with myself.”
This passion was born three years ago when Olti’s best friend got a guitar and had Olti give it a try. Afterwards, Olti then persuaded his dad to buy him one as well. “I started learning too. We would jam out, me and my friend, like every day for an hour, two hours maybe. Just trying to figure out how this thing works.”
This growing passion for guitar playing even led to the start of a small band with Olti, his friend and 3 others for a short time. Although he has fond memories, the band broke apart because of creative differences shortly after.
Olti is not sad about the band falling apart saying: “For me, it was about going jamming after a big day or something, Getting your nerves off and chill with your friends.” The time with the band has taught him valuable skills for playing with others.
Now Olti finds himself using his past experiences while playing the electric guitar as part of the Rock Jamming Club. (RJC) His involvement has allowed him to keep practising his hobby with others. stating that the RJC was his number one priority of clubs to get into.
A bright smile appears on his face when asked about his favourite song. His response is without hesitation: “Sextape by Deftones, I have been obsessed with it for months.” He has been going at the song with some friends from RJC for a while now with the aim of performing it in the future.
Olti finds it an interesting challenge to manage his time whilst studying AUBG and admits to slacking off a bit when it comes to his music practice. At the moment he practises about 5 hours a week, which doesn’t feel like a lot to him.
Olti believes he will take Political science as his major. When asked if he aims to combine this with his passion for music he is hesitant since music is a separate thing to him, stating: “When I get tired of everything else. Like everything else that makes my day more tiresome. I just go back to music and chill. It is meant like a little bit of self-therapy for me, that is what music is.”
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Jan Water is studying Creative Media and Game Technology in the Netherlands. Interested in real stories by real people.
