Büyük Ev Ablukada aus Istanbul sind ein Kollektiv, das Länderübergreifende Musik macht – mal chaotisch, mal melancholisch, aber immer ein Vibe. Wir haben mit Bandfrontmann Bartu über ihr aktuelles Album und die Umstände und Restriktionen rund um die Musik in der Türkei gesprochen. Es gibt ein paar Teaser auf neues Material sowie ein Konzert am 18. April in Berlin – aber auch einfach eine ganz ehrliche Musikempfehlung von uns! Für ein paar anatolische Vibes, die sich mit Neugier in euer Hörverhalten einschleichen werden, empfehlen wir Büyük Ev Ablukada! Checkt sie aus!
Büyük Ev Ablukada im Interview
Anna: Hey Bartu, I hope you’re good! Since we just came across your cosmos, can you maybe start with introducing yourself and your music?
Bartu: Hi Anna, of course. I’m Bartu, and I’m one of the people behind Büyük Ev Ablukada. We’re a band from Istanbul, but it never felt like just a band to me. It’s more like a living thing that grew out of friendship, noise, curiosity, and a need to make sense of life in our own way.
Musically, we’ve never really stayed in one lane. There’s indie rock in it, there’s pop, electronics, spoken word, weird little turns, tenderness, chaos. We like songs that feel human, a bit messy, emotional, playful, and alive.
How did you all find each other?
The band came together in a pretty organic way. Aslan and Galvan are childhood friends of mine. Cembir and Galvan were already working in the same theatre, and then Cembir and I started working together, too. So a lot of it grew out of friendship, theatre, and people already being around each other for years.
Our guitarist was actually our roadie at first, but he turned out to be so much better at guitar than the rest of us that he more or less forced us to retire. Zeynep originally joined to help with vocal arrangements, then realized the band had some serious vocal weak spots and decided to stay. And Can becoming our drummer is still a mystery to me, which somehow feels right.
„Things are intense, but we’re still here.“
Your most recent album “Defansif Dizayn” is a full good-vibe with a lot going on. In what state of mind did you write this album?
That’s actually funny because I don’t think it came from a super peaceful headspace. The album came out of trying to stay soft and awake in a world that constantly pushes you to become defensive. So yeah, there’s energy in it, even lightness in places, but underneath that there’s tension too.
It was written from a place of emotional overload, but also from wanting to stay connected to yourself, to other people, to joy, to humour. Maybe that’s why it moves the way it does. It’s not “everything is great” music. It’s more like “things are intense, but we’re still here.”
How would you describe the process behind these songs? Do you have a typical approach to making music or do you like to mess around and see what happens?
Sometimes a song starts with one line, sometimes a beat, sometimes just a weird little feeling that won’t leave the room.
But we also care a lot about detail. So it’s loose at first, then very specific later. We like accidents, but we also like shaping those accidents into something that feels inevitable. It’s a mix of instinct and design, I guess.
„Life is rarely one thing.“
Since it’s all in Turkish, you gotta help us out. What are the songs about? What topics are close to your heart and made it into songs?
A lot of the songs are about closeness, distance, emotional confusion, city life, modern exhaustion, love, miscommunication, and the weird ways people protect themselves. Some of them are very intimate, almost like private conversations. Some of them look more at the outside world and the pressure of living in it.
I think even when the songs sound playful, there’s usually something a bit heavier underneath. That balance feels honest to me. Life is rarely one thing. It can be sad and funny at the same time, warm and alienating at the same time. I’m interested in that space..
Being from Turkey, how would you describe the music scene over there? What were your inspirations growing up?
„Artists always find ways.“
Art and music are always political, but in Turkey even more. How did you experience the restrictions?
Sometimes the restriction isn’t even a direct ban. It’s more like an atmosphere. You feel the pressure in the air. You know certain things come with consequences, and that changes the way people speak, share, or even imagine.
But artists always find ways. Sometimes through metaphor, sometimes through humour, sometimes by saying one thing on the surface and another underneath. That kind of pressure can be exhausting, obviously, but it also sharpens people. It forces you to listen differently, write differently, mean more than one thing at once.
Inmost all of this, you’re still making music. How important do you think it is to keep going and sharing your passion with the world?
Very important. For me, making music is one of the ways of staying real. It keeps me connected to myself, to other people, to whatever still feels honest. And sharing it matters too, especially when it travels. When something made in Turkish, in Istanbul, under certain local conditions, reaches someone somewhere else and they still feel it; that’s powerful. That reminds you music can cross a lot without losing where it came from.
„New music is definitely on the way.“
Can you teaser some new music? What are you working on right now?
Yes, there’s always something cooking. We’re writing, collecting fragments, trying things out. I think the new material feels a bit more open in some ways, maybe a little more exposed, but also more free.
I don’t like explaining things too early because songs change while they’re becoming themselves. But yes, new music is definitely on the way.
I hear there might be a concert coming up in Berlin! What can you tell us about that? Have you been in Berlin before? If so, how did you like it?
Yes, we’ve had some really memorable nights in Berlin. We’ve played there a few times over the years, including one show in a space inside the Berghain, so the city already has a strong place in our story. One of the most unforgettable memories for me was also sharing the stage in Berlin for Ezhel’s first concert outside Turkey, which made that connection even more special.
Berlin has its own pulse. It feels open, raw, and very alive, and people really show up for music there. You can feel that energy immediately. So coming back is always exciting. What I’m looking forward to most is that moment when the crowd and the band really meet in the same frequency that’s always the best part. We’ll be playing in Berlin again on April 18, so if anyone reading this is around, come join us.
An untold story of Berlin
For our last question we always ask for an untold story – is there something you haven’t told in an interview before and want to get off your chest now? Could be a random story, a good album you recently listened to or a movie we should check out!
Hmm…I actually got beaten up pretty badly and robbed in Berlin once, which is also part of my history with the city. Oddly, I don’t even think of it as a bad memory. In a strange way, it was almost refreshing it pulled me out of everyday life and turned into one of those surreal stories you end up carrying with you.
Kommt am 18. April in der Passionskirche vorbei und lasst euch auf ein special Live-Erlebnis mit Büyük Ev Ablukada ein!