The Hour of Two Lights

by Terry Hall & Mushtaq, released in 2003 on the Honest Jons Record label. Terry Hall and Mushtaq’s album couldn’t be more in tune with this time period’s headlines, fusing the Jewish and Arabic musical cultures which draws upon the duo’s own lineage — Terry Hall being a Polish refugee with a Jewish background and Mushtaq being a Middle Eastern Muslim. In some ways, the album is a return to Terry Hall’s musical roots (The Specials’ breakthrough hit “Gangsters” was based around a Middle Eastern-influenced melody).But, together with Mushtaq, the album breaks bold new ground by creating a stunning topical tapestry of music. This melting pot of sounds features Jewish Gypsy music (from the group Romani Rad), a Mongolian throat singer, an Egyptian violinist, an Algerian rapper, a Turkish percussionist, a Syrian oud player, an Arabian pianist, and a Jewish Clarinet player whose resume includes being a sessions musician on the original “Pink Panther” theme! Even Blur & Gorillaz front man Damon Albarn provides guest vocals and instrumentation. The Hour Of Two Lights is truly a visionary record of extraordinary boldness in which music, politics and humanity are fused as one. And it always seems that the time is NOW to try to fuse humanity and politics together and if music can make a difference….it might start with music like this.