Anyone who’s lived here long enough has likely noticed a proliferation of high-quality music events around the city in the past several years generally and a rising interest in electronic music especially. Walking down the poster-plastered streets or browsing social media, it’s not unusual these days to see some of the most celebrated names in the industry making their way to Istanbul or the Aegean resort towns of Çeşme and Bodrum, and that many of the world’s best underground DJs of all styles are attracting impressive followings in Turkey. A magnificent city whispering of ancient mystery (and easily accessible from the European circuit) with its abundance of exciting music venues – from the usual nightclubs, rooftop spots, and concert arenas, to an expanding wealth of re-appropriated historical spaces (like 1001 Direk Sarnıcı and Cağaloğlu Hamamı), factories (like Bomontiada and Beykoz Kundura), open-air parks and forest escapes, and of course Turkey’s fabulous beaches, it’s frankly no wonder that Istanbul has become such an appealing concert tour destination. This vitalization in terms of international talent playing in the city has in turn contributed to the momentum needed for emerging local artists to gain visibility and grow followings of their own, and there’s been a surge in recent years in the number of organizational companies and partners ready to provide that platform and play a part in the creation of unforgettable music experiences.
Among the finest contributors to the burgeoning electronic music scene is Burn, the energy drink company which has taken on a major supporting role not only in extreme sports but in powering the electronic music scene, sponsoring events throughout the year, showcasing new and rising talent, and offering opportunities for mentorship and exposure. Although continuously active in putting on events at various spaces around the city year-round, the colossal crown jewel of their organizational efforts – in partnership with About Nights, It’s Chiller Time, and Suma along with other sponsors – is without a doubt their annual Big Burn Festival on the sublime shores of the Black Sea, now wrapping up its third consecutive year. Hitting the scene in 2017, Big Burn’s first two editions made serious waves in Istanbul’s underground electronic circles, boasting impressive lineups of renowned international electronic artists including Adam Beyer, Seth Troxler, Acid Pauli, Nu, Dixon, and Patrice Baumel among numerous others, and providing a three-day nonstop beach-side dance party for tens of thousands of attendees across multiple stages with an on-site camping option, an arguably essential component of any true festival experience. At no other event would there be so many incredible artists in one place, which, considered together with the affordable ticket options available on BUGECE and Resident Advisor, made Big Burn 2019 easily the most-anticipated festival of the summer for electronic music fans and the party people of Istanbul.
This year’s edition proved no exception to the magnificent success of its successors with a monster lineup featuring Damian Lazarus, Dubfire, Claptone, Recondite, and Peggy Gou as well as an outstanding selection of the best international and local talent on the Istanbul circuit. After the closure of Suma beach on the Kilyos coastline, Big Burn took on a new location this year, drawing massive crowds to the stunning shores of Şile where from Friday afternoon July 26th until the wee hours of Monday morning July 29th participants were invited to ‘step into the dream weekend’ of 60+ hours of nonstop music across multiple stages in the sultry sea air. With a WhatsApp group to connect with fellow attendees and shuttles running from various central locations around the city, getting to the event venue (a good 1.5-2.5 hour hike) was a relative breeze as was getting settled in the designated camping area and oriented in the fest grounds. Four distinct stages were strategically situated around the space with a forest stage tucked a short walk inland among the trees, a west-facing ‘It’s Chiller Time’ beach stage, a centrally-positioned fire stage, and with the Big Burn main stage set up on the sand in the most prominent junction of the fest zone against a subtle mountain backdrop.
The flow of the program evidenced the fine curative eye of an experienced, music-centered team with the style of the artists matching the concept of each stage and sequenced to showcase their individual specialties, knitting together the cohesive narrative of this year’s Big Burn. The forest stage tended to feature dark, energy-packed techno sounds, heating up the dance floor Friday night with Ukrainian DJ Nastia, Italian prodigy Ilario Alicante, and Turkish-heritage Berliner and longtime Berghain resident Len Faki, who excited attendees with a special message just a couple days before the event saying he couldn’t wait to come back to Istanbul with its flourishing techno scene. As the night wore on and the moon began to fade, many festival goers were drawn to the ‘Its Chiller Time’ stage on the far end of the beach for Damian Lazarus, the ‘sorcerer-in-chief’ revered for his mastery in storytelling, his extraordinary record labels Crosstown Rebels and Rebellion featuring ‘music … on another level of genius’, and for throwing some of the most mind-blowing parties in remote locations around the world including deserts, mountains, and beaches. His spellbinding sunrise set from the latest edition of his own Day Zero festival – an event inspired by the end of the world set amid the Mayan ruins deep in the Mexican jungle – is the stuff of legends. Needless to say, Lazarus’ prime scheduling in the Saturday sunrise slot on the beach as the first rays of the day rose radiantly behind him was one of the most-anticipated sets of the entire event and one widely reported to be one of the ultimate highlights.
The ‘It’s Chiller Time’ beach stage generally tended to be one of the most popular daytime stages, featuring the energy-rich, downtempo world-house sounds of such artists as the Istanbul-grown Oceanvs Orientalis, the organic ‘Tarantino techno’ stylings of Danish producer Be Svendsen, the mischievous dance party vibes of Israeli Guy Gerber, and the masked crowd-pleaser Claptone among other notable greats. The forest stage meanwhile pulsed deep in the night with memorable lineups including Mr. Sür and Marco Ressmann, and the fire stage, in true spirit of the gather-round burn concept, raged more or less continuously over the three-day event, showcasing the hottest rising talent and local favorites such as Tangun and Ece Özel. Saturday and Sunday night of the program lit up the Big Burn main stage with the distinctive sounds of N’to, Joachim Pastor, and Worakls of the French Hungry Music label as well as veterans Dubfire, Stephan Bodzin, and Recondite among others. The finely-tuned sound systems of each stage as well as production support in the form of dazzling visual displays, light shows, and a dash of pyrotechnics ensured an unforgettable experience for those in the crowd and cemented a lasting legacy for this year’s festival event.
Sweeping in to close out the Sunday night program was Korean producer Peggy Gou, a favorite among many and another must-see artist at the event. After learning to mix a decade ago and moving to Berlin, Gou began to attract attention in the underground electronic scene for her bright DJ mixes traversing an eclectic landscape of techno, house, and electro, and before too long she was producing original tracks in her own signature style. Her breakthrough came in 2016 with the successive release of four EPs on three record labels; and it was then that she famously voiced two major goals – to be the first Korean DJ to play at Berlin’s most eminent nightclub Berghain (which she achieved just a few months later) and to release a mix on !K7’s established DJ-Kicks series, arguably the premier platform for DJ mixes in the world, which she did in June of this year. Her initial studio releases helped catapult Gou into the international spotlight, and what followed was a year of over a hundred live shows worldwide including her career-making set at Boiler Room at Dekmantel, the release of her 2018 acclaimed single “It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)”, and the founding of her own fashion line Kirin and original label Gudu Records earlier this year. Big Burn 2019 marked Gou’s second appearance at the festival, having closed out the beach stage on Saturday night of last year’s edition, but this year her talents were showcased in the coveted grand finale slot on the main stage, following from Recondite’s legendary live show. The pumping, tropical disco feel in her sound proved a perfect match for the serene seaside setting and the spoken refrain in her beloved track “Starry Night” seemed a fitting summary for the three-day nonstop beach festival dance party – “Ocean. Starlight. Moment. Now. Us.”
In all respects, what has now become the annual Big Burn festival stands apart as an exceptionally well-executed electronic music event. If the Netflix documentary released earlier this year chronicling the rise and outrageous epic failure of FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened showed us what can happen when festival event-planning goes horribly awry, Big Burn shines even brighter as the ultimate model of what is possible when the organization is managed by experienced, highly competent industry professionals focused squarely on the music. With a lineup as outstanding as Big Burn’s in the months leading up to the event, it would be easy for even the most well-intentioned organizing committee to end up over-promising and under-delivering, but Big Burn 2019 – thanks to the tireless efforts of the partners making it happen – most certainly lived up to and arguably surpassed even the most hyped expectations. Although a continuous three-day event is not for the faint of heart, for those seeking an all-in festival experience showcasing the very best in electronic music on the Istanbul circuit, Big Burn blazes on as the premiere event.
Images courtesy of the organizer and Sometimes.co.
