Photo By Staff Sgt. Melissa Parrish | Ilir Geci, sits with soldiers from around the world as he does a group music lesson at...... read more read more
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CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - If you have journeyed to Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo in the past several years, chances are you have heard the name Ilir Geci.
His glass-paned guitar shop sits just outside of the Post Exchange inside the camp. Guitars line the walls and photos of Ilir’s memories with soldiers from past deployments hang above the guitars.
“Coffee or tea, come on, let me make you a cup,” Ilir says to anyone who walks into his shop.
His warmth draws you in, but his personality will make you stay for much longer than you planned.
Ilir sells and rents guitars and teaches lessons to anyone interested, but there’s no pressure to buy. It’s the heartfelt conversations and love of music that take precedent in Ilir’s shop.
That said, Ilir has played the guitar since the age of 11 and his passion is passing on what he has learned.
“If you have never picked up a guitar, but you have always wanted to learn, I can help you,” said Ilir. “I like teaching soldiers how to play, but what I really love is making moments.”
Soldiers and civilians are often spotted inside Ilir’s shop singing, strumming and smiling. Ilir said he loves his job as the ‘guitar man’, but that hasn’t always been the case.
After high school, Ilir earned a degree in Medicine and moved to Switzerland where he worked in a hospital emergency room as a medical technician. He always played the guitar on the side at parties or just for fun.
“When I worked in the emergency room it was a lot of pressure and a lot of stress,” said Ilir. “It was always surgery and operations, it was not guitars.”
Ilir lived and worked in Switzerland for 12 years, but toward the end he felt Kosovo was calling him home.
“After the war [in Kosovo] I didn’t know where I belonged,” said Ilir. “I had been in Switzerland for a long time and it felt like home, but Kosovo is where I grew up and that also felt like home. I decided it was time to come back and be near family.”
Upon his return to Kosovo, a friend invited him to a bazaar being held on Camp Bondsteel. Because Ilir speaks several languages and loves guitars, his friend suggested he bring some guitars to the bazaar to sell.
“It was big,” said Ilir. “It was spontaneous and I didn’t expect anything but maybe a little business. People wanted to order guitars and lessons, they loved it.”
The powers that be realized a need for Illir’s presence and the Army and Air Force Exchange System (AAFES) hired him to open up a small shop on Bondsteel.
“That opportunity has allowed me to do what I love, teach and play the guitar,” said Ilir. “I get to make moments with soldiers every day. I remember everyone’s face that comes into the shop because they leave something with me, something inside of me.”
People from all parts of the world grace Ilir’s shop, thanks to NATO’s mission in Kosovo. They stop in to buy a guitar or a lesson, but sometimes just to jam and have a cup of coffee.
“I speak several languages and that helps people feel welcomed, but, really, with music you don’t need to speak the same language,” said Ilir. “Playing is about spirit. This is what I love. It doesn’t matter what language you speak; in one moment, people from all corners of the world unify through music.”
Ilir hopes that the impact people leave on his heart will also be felt in theirs.
“I know how it is to be away from home,” said Ilir. “They are deployed here and I would hope that when people come into my shop and take a coffee and play that it takes them away and it feels like they are in a living room. I want them to feel a piece of home. All of us have daily stress or some problems at home, a few small talks or a few songs bring you down from that stress.”
For U.S. Army Maj. Dan Erskine, nothing could be closer to the truth. The Butte, Montana native and Brigade Aviation Officer for the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, said their friendship began the first time they met and he makes it a point to visit and jam with Ilir as often as possible when he isn’t working at his permanent location in Prizren, a city two hours to the southwest.
“When I met Ilir, we played “Hotel California,” recalled Erskine. “We instantly bonded through music. He is a great guy and brings a lot of joy to a lot of people around here. I tell people he is my ‘brother from another mother.’”
Erskine said anytime he is on Camp Bondsteel he makes sure to stop by Ilir’s shop.
“Just walking by and spending time in his shop is a small vacation,” said Erskine. “It takes you away for that few minutes you are in there.”
Ilir has taught Erskine many things on the guitar, but his most valuable lesson had nothing to do with music.
“He’s taught me that relationships are very important,” said Erskine. “Going that extra step for someone is worth it, and it can make a difference. I know for sure that Camp Bondsteel is a much better place because Ilir’s shop is here.”
Ilir said his one wish is that the soldiers benefit as much from their time shared together as he does, and that they will pass on the knowledge he bestows to them.
“I watch a soldier start from not knowing how to play at all, to going home and being able to play a few songs,” said Ilir. “I hope that from that one soldier, they can teach their family members or friends. I hope they go home and teach their children or their children’s friends. I want them to pass on what they have learned. That is what it is all about. It is a positive chain reaction. My hope is that the chain is never broken.”
A former paratrooper turned rock star once said, “Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.” Whatever degree of change Ilir may or may not be influencing through his love of music, one thing is certain - he has and continues to make a permanent impression on the lives of many, that won’t be soon forgotten.
Somewhere, Jimi Hendrix is smiling.
| Date Taken: | 03.28.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.28.2015 07:22 |
| Story ID: | 158455 |
| Location: | CAMP BONDSTEEL, ZZ |
| Web Views: | 1,407 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Guitar Man, by SSG Melissa Parrish, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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