In Transition

This is a very welcome return by the Thessaloniki-based group Loxandra. This recording has many of the features that made their previous two releases so interesting and fun to listen to. And here they may even have gone one better. As before, the compositions cross a number of musical boundaries, from Turkey to the Balkans, taking largely traditional pieces and reworking them through well-thought-out arrangements that play to the strengths of the traditional instruments, but here with an injection of Latin and jazz. Shot through with Balkan dance rhythms and a solid base provided by the percussionists, the tracks leave space for individuals to really shine.

While singer Ria Ellinidou is fantastic and it would be hard to imagine many of the tracks without her voice, I was really drawn to the instrumental ‘Balkan Salsa’. It has everything from a lively bounce and energy, to some virtuosic playing from Makis Baklatzis on violin and Nikos Angousis on clarinet.

In Transition is a life-affirming and deeply satisfying recording that anyone with an interest in the eastern Mediterranean will enjoy greatly.