Büyük Ev Ablukada may not be a new name to those in the Turkish community who have been following the group for years, but it was not necessarily the case for many in the crowd assembled before the main stage of One Love Festival 15 who may not have chanced upon them before. In the months leading up to the event, French duo The Blaze – whose unique sound and skill in weaving cinematic visuals into their musical productions launched their rapid ascent to international fame – had been widely regarded as the main headliner, so it came as an understandable surprise when announced the two would have to delay their performance to the following day. Taking the main stage instead would be famed Turkish group Büyük Ev Ablukada (or ‘Big House Blockade’ in English).
Dazed and perhaps having not even considered other acts on offer that night, the news was enough for some to call it a day right there and begin the trek home. But those who ventured to stay just a little while longer, if only to give the group a good faith listen before moving on, were in for a performance beyond what any had likely imagined. Although there were many enthusiastic audience members among us, to say it was a tough crowd that greeted Büyük Ev Ablukada as they came on stage would be an understatement. Even the buzz from their fan base positioning themselves before the main stage and muffled reports that they were actually really good did little to convince those of us ignorant of the group that they would be anything more than another Turkish rock band – a genuinely ‘good’ Turkish rock band perhaps, but for those who had come specifically for the Blaze and/or are not especially keen on the rock genre, not enough to garner much enthusiasm for what was to come.
All that changed the instant Büyük Ev Ablukada took the stage with frontman Canavar Banavar (Bartu Küçükçağlayan) thanking the cheering crowd for their support and playfully expressing appreciation that a Turkish band was to headline the event. Any lingering doubts were quickly dispelled as the show got underway and it became very clear very quickly that this was no ordinary Turkish band – no ordinary band, period. The energy in their performance was more explosive, the appeal of their style more wide-reaching, and the authenticity in their musicianship more profound than many like myself could have expected from a non-headlining group. Even as an avid concert-goer and music enthusiast who entered the experience with virtually zero prior knowledge of them, it was maybe the most fun I’ve ever had at a live show. The songs were so catchy, I found myself singing along with everyone else in the crowd, despite my less-than-perfect Turkish, and their almost theatrical showmanship was remarkable to behold. Like the unstoppable force they are, Büyük Ev Ablukada had in a matter of minutes completely transformed my perception of the evening as they likely had for many others coming from a similar standpoint. In those beautiful moments, regardless of our linguistic or cultural backgrounds or musical preferences, the group had roused in us a single unifying love.
What the group had achieved so successfully was capture the spirit of One Love. In the fifteen years that it’s been running, what has always set One Love apart and allowed it to steadily earn its reputation as a classic among music festivals in Turkey has been its consistency in bringing together a bit of everything to the program, from the headbangin’ upheaval attitude of a rock ‘n’ roll concert to the refined choreography of a well-practiced pop performance to the improvisation of a jazz instrumentalist to the rhythm and groove of a hip-hop or electronic show and everything in-between. Each of these dimensions had a role to play in Büyük Ev Ablukada’s performance that night, their fiery jam style erupting out of a true passion for music and honed from literally decades of experience. At one point Canavar Banavar even addressed the Ezhel-shaped void in the crowd by spitting a few lines from the artist’s popular “Şehrimin Tadı”. From start to finish, Büyük Ev Ablukada’s performance not only showcased their undeniable talent, sense of humor, and joy in creating music, but it demonstrated beyond a shred of doubt that they, a local Istanbul fully Turkish band, were the rightful occupants of the One Love main stage that evening.
The cross-genre appeal of their sound is a theme in Büyük Ev Ablukada’s approach to music. Since reuniting under their present name in 2008, founding members Canavar Banavar and Afordisman Salihins (Cem Yılmazer) joined by Galvaniz Gelbiraz, Bas Bariton, Bentek Sizhepiniz, Omçelik (Onur Ünsal), and Gelicem Nerdesin (Alican Tezer) have evolved their style and grown their following primarily through their extraordinary live performances, channeling the energy of the crowd into a sound all their own. In fact, until the 2012 release of their first full studio album, Full Faça, the only available recordings of their music were mainly of their shows, and yet the group somehow managed to sell out concert after concert, quickly becoming one of the most exciting bands in the local scene. In the time since their first appearance at the One Love Festival in 2011, the band’s style has shifted away from the harder rock edge of their early work to take on the electronically-softened form evident in their more recent live shows and latest studio album masterpiece Fırtınayt, which has been described (most-accurately I would say after experiencing their performance) as a ‘surpris parti’. They are the perfect example of a band who refuses to be defined by anyone else’s expectations of what music is or should be.
Those of us who had come for the Blaze did eventually get to see them, and it was every bit as spectacular as we had expected, but at least for me, the clear standout of the day program was Büyük Ev Ablukada. There were plenty of other great performances of course, including British synth-pop group Years & Years ( – who knew one of their members was Turkish!), afro-soul powerhouse Jungle By Night, and Berlin-based DJ Palms Trax, among many others. As in the past, the program included something for everyone to enjoy, organized in noble pursuit of cultivating the spirit of its namesake – of bridging the divide between vastly different genres of music and allowing for the building of new connections between Turks and yabancıs of all ages and walks of life. It’s worth being reminded that the idea of a music festival is not only to enjoy live performances from famous well-loved artists but also to uncover something new through exposure to music by those less familiar, and for many in the crowd that night, Büyük Ev Ablukada was just such a discovery.
The reality is that it can be too easy to write off a name that doesn’t ring a bell without really giving them a chance, even if they do have a solid fan base, and this can be especially true when there seems to be such a stark cultural divide in musical preferences, as is often the case here in Turkey. Had it not been for the last-minute postponement of the Blaze’s show, many of us in the crowd might have missed the chance to see one of Turkey’s finest bands more than deserving of being featured on the main stage, which, at an event traditionally so treasured among Istanbul’s music festival scene and curated to be an inclusive affair, would have been a downright shame. They are a show not to be missed, and it would be a nice change of pace to see more local gems like Büyük Ev Ablukada more prominently showcased in music events generally, but particularly at future editions of the One Love Festival.
Images courtesy of “One Love Festival 15, Kalipro”.
