"Café Aman, rembetiko's early, more elaborate, multicultural and Eastern-sounding form, is well served by a rich legacy of classic recordings and songs especially from the 1920s and '30s ... How exciting, then, to hear two contemporary groups [also: Loxandra] who are playing and updating the Café Aman tradition in different ways, and whose sound and aesthetic places the music firmly in the 21st Century while remaining true to the heart, soul and essential musical style of this repertoire: largely acoustic and sensitively virtuosic ... Café Aman Istanbul are Istanbul-based Turks who choose to draw on the Greek language and musical traditions of Turkey and the Aegean, looking south west toward Thessaloniki, Smyrna, the Aegean Islands and Athens ... Their album is that of a well plaid-in fixed grouping, no guest musicians, instead variety is achieved through having both a strong female and male vocalist, and through an expert choice of repertoire material. The pleasures of agroupthat perform live often, and also for dancing, yields rich rewards and great style ... Their Greek cultural focus leads them to be the ones who actually feature bouzouki among the strings".
