When a Twitter user declared that “the cavemen make really terrible music and their constant attempt at highlife is a mockery of the genre,” the Twitter universe of this author shook, and many people had opposing views to this utterly absurd assertion.
the cavemen make really terrible music and their constant attempt at highlife is a mockery of the genre https://t.co/e65XPn7gsW
— bubu. (@ablackflowxr) November 27, 2022
While it is perfectly acceptable to want to air your views and express your ideas in a completely free society where your opinion counts, regardless of how bizarre they may be or sound, the question that is currently on everyone’s mind—especially mine is — “WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO THE CAVEMEN MAKE AND THE MEASUREMENT TO WHICH THEY MAKE GOOD MUSIC.”
The musical pair of Kingsley Okorie and Benjamin James is renowned for its live performances of highlife, a style of music that depicts cultural roots, eastern heritage, and dehulled music in its purest form. Their music is a revivified version of the traditional highlife that we have listened to throughout the years while enjoying artists like Oriental Brothers, Oliver De Coque, and Late Chief Osita Osadebe. The Cavemen are, to put it simply, the musical group that represents the next generation of highlife.
When it comes to this musical pair, one thing is undeniable: despite the fact that their genre of choice is nothing new and has existed for a very long time, they have remained faithful to their musical goals and have attracted fans who value their music in its purest form. The only thing left for this writer to say is that, whether or not you were raised in a city, you should applaud them for trying to forge a musical route and establish themselves as household names for a once-written-off as antiquated genre that nevertheless evokes memories of a dusty Aba road.
In all honesty, measuring the depth of the quality of their music is a stretch. Instead, one must appreciate the beauty of highlife and their efforts to incorporate melodies into the genre in order to comprehend the depth of their music’s quality. Their use of sonorous ad-libs by Kingsley, the duo’s very eccentric talent, together with the strong percussion and guitar strings that permeate each of their tunes, contribute to the music’s high calibre.
Their sophomore album, Love & Highlife, released in October 2021, is an example of how their music ushers in instruments; from the beginning to the finish of the album, there is a delicate lapse of rich vocals and instruments, including strings, drum taps, and rifts. If you closely examine highlife, it is an experiment that employs jazz melodies and other atypical instruments, as is demonstrated in the music of The Cavemen. Their experimental music is readily identified as being one.
The stream of songs that The Cavemen have put into the public music space have thus far all followed a particular pattern in the music that they create. The three realities of existence—the reality of love, the reality of life, and spirituality—are always at the centre of the musical duo’s compositions.
When it comes to the concept of love, The Cavemen may get an extra credit for focusing on it and incorporating it with a type of cultural, municipal love. They passionately discuss love in Me You I on their debut album, Roots, in a seductive tone, conjuring up sensual pictures in the listener’s mind with the song’s swaying lyrics. Following a similar pattern, Crazy Lover merely warms the heart with tenderness and feelings while standing on the hill of love this time. Songs like Ihunanya on Love & Highlife passionately awaken your imagination, luring you to dredge up a scene of bucolic love, perhaps dancing under a tree while playing Tom & Jerry with your beloved. It’s in the way that they don’t simply sing about love, but also in the way that their rhythm and lyrics melt your heart and sooth your spirit.
Their most recent song, Adaugo, is a heartfelt ode to a woman by the name of Adaugo.
In addition to enjoying singing about the four-letter term that has emotional overtones, they also manage to maintain equilibrium when singing about life. Were Kwushin starring Cobhmas Asuquo has a truly amazing trembling effect and sombre aura. With Cobhmas’ voice drifting in the slow-tempo beat and the strings softly pulling in, the musical duo’s combined voices are calling the human to “were kwushin” by remarking about a normal human who desires to run faster than his predetermined fate. The same scenario is depicted in songs like Good People, Brother’s Keeper, Onye Ma Uche, Akaraka, and Oge, among others.
Beautiful Rain is the most spiritually inclined song ever written, and no other song could ever compare. In enjoying a peaceful, faultless life, the song speaks about serenity and calm. Even while it obviously avoids the subject of spirituality directly, it nevertheless emphasises transience by describing how the rain purges them of their imperfections and wrongdoings.
Undoubtedly, the music of The Cavemen is calming and peaceful. Your soul is not severed from your mind and body; rather, their song binds them all together and soothes your tense parts. a positive attitude, quality music, insightful words, and an engaging beat. The question should not be how wonderful their sound is, but rather, how much you are pulled to highlife that you would want to enjoy The Cavemen’s revitalized version of the genre.
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