Eight years after their last release, 2011s 'Meyhane - Kafe Aman', Greek band Loxandra Ensemble returns with 'In Transition'. The band's name is a reference to the main character from the eponymous 1962 novel by Maria Iordanidou. Just as in the book Loxandra is famed for her cooking skills, the members of Loxandra Ensemble collect a variety of "musical ingredients" and blend them into unique "dishes". The title of this new album captures the recent changes the band has gone through, and that both stylistically as in terms of the lineup of the ensemble. On 'In Transition' the mix of traditional Greek folklore, contemporary Greek music and the traditions of the Turkish Greeks in Smyrna/Izmir and Istanbul is supplemented with influences from swing ('Karagouna'), jazz, Latin ('Balkan Salsa') and even reggae. And in the lineup, the only remaining original members are Loukas Metaxas (bass/vocals) and Kyriakos Tapakis (oud). 'In Transition' opens with an update of 'Ti Se Mellei Esenane', a traditional from Asia Minor that could often be heard in the so-called kafe amans (café-chantants in the Ottoman Empire where people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds came together to have fun) in the 1920s, and was later recorded by artists like Kostas Karipis, Giorgos Vidalis, Madam Pipina and Marika Papagika. 'Kai Ti Den Kano' is a famous Greek pop song by Stratos Dionysou from the nineteen sixties, played here in the Turkish arabesque style played. 'Çoban Saz Semaisi' is based on the samâi, an instrumental form of Ottoman classical music. In 'Mikropolis', a musical reflection of the microcosm in which the musicians of Loxandra Ensemble work, the traditions of the Middle East are merged with Western metal. Our personal favorite from the track list is 'Giati Thes Na Fygeis', immortalized for the first time by Giota Lydia in 1961 and a popular request at Greek weddings, on 'In Transition' given a reggae vibe. Excellent Greek world music in the literal sense of the word!