Uniting of Opposites’ highly regarded, much sought after ‘Ancient Lights’ – repress

Uniting of Opposites – Tim Liken (Tim Deluxe), Clem Alford and Ben Hazleton – was established when, within the myriad forms of jazz, Hazleton met Alford and begun studying the classical Indian tradition in order to “open [his] ears to new melodic and rhythmic possibilities”. As a lover of all types and styles of music, Liken’s involvement fused together their collective musical journeys, creating Uniting of Opposites – a platform for worlds to collide. The trio are joined by Eddie Hick(Sons of Kemet, Roots Manuva, Omar Puente, Dave Walsh, Ruby Rushton, Lucky Ranku, Bhupinder Chaggar, Ronnie Bottomley) on drums, Idris Rahman (Soothsayers, Arun Gosh) on clarinet, Manjeet Singh Rasiya on tabla and the vocals of Marcina Arnold (Bheki Msieleku & Busi Mhlonga, Steve Williamson, Byron Wallen, Jason Yarde, Quite Sane, F’ire Collective).

Bringing to life a melting pot of cultures and inspiration, and using new technology as an opportunity to explore and merge aspects of jazz, electronica and traditional Indian musical styles, ‘Ancient Lights’ brings together these creative musical forces; forces which collide to continuously redefine the music itself and express a fluidity that’s found at the heart of Uniting of Opposites’ ethos.

Coming from a DJ/producer background, Tim Liken started making music in 1995, setting up one of the UK’s original garage labels, Ice Cream Records, and later spawning the monikers Double 99 and Tim Deluxe (under which he released the dancefloor anthems “Ripgroove”and “It Just Won’t Do”). Clem Alford’s musical journey began when he purchased a sitar and a Jayasri Banerjee record before hitch-hiking to India in 1968 to be taught sitar by Pandit Sachindra Nath Saha (Banerjee’s father). Over the next five decades Alford recorded for EMI and collaborated with western musicians and pop groups to film composers, including Amancio D’Silva, John Williams, John Mayer, John Dankworth and Hemmant Kunar. Having been named ‘Young Jazz Musician of the Year’ in 2003, Ben Hazleton is predominantly a jazz double bass player and has played with many of the British Jazz greats, performing regularly with The Tony Kofi Quartet and The Jonathan Gee Quartet.