Ogini kà ẹ ga ème
Ka nwanyị à gali
Bolo bolo si
Bolo bolo si
Bolo bolo si
In 2020, I heard those words, and my life changed forever.
Perhaps “my life changed forever” is a tad extreme, but I do know that “Bolo Bolo” by The Cavemen led me to listen to the album Roots and pick out my wedding playlist from there. The Cavemen are a gift that keeps on giving; ask anyone who’s listened to them just once. They’re hard to forget and even harder to resist.
Just how did The Cavemen come to be?
Kingsley Okorie and Benjamin James are a brother duo, the men behind the brand and culture, The Cavemen. According to their mom in an interview granted on Mother’s Day this year, “Pots and pans suffered from dents because the boys wouldn’t stop banging on them….and then they started playing in church.”
Kingsley Okorie plays the bass guitar, while his brother, Benjamin, plays the drums. Kingsley studied Law at Babcock University, while Benjamin studied Music at Peter King College of Music. Perhaps, it is this blend of orthodox and unorthodox that makes their music, for lack of a better word, unusual and refreshingly unlike anything that we have heard before. Yet, it is those who have come before that have inspired and continue to inspire The Cavemen. The brothers cite Oliver De Coque, Onyeka Owenu, Chioma Jesus, and several highlife musicians of the 70s and 80s as musical influences.
One would expect the regular from The Cavemen, perhaps a one-time wonder and a descent into obscurity, as has been the case for some innovative musicians in the Nigerian music industry. But it hasn’t happened yet for the duo, accompanied by their brilliant lead guitarist, Nsikak. The Cavemen, in the words of an awed fan, “do not know how to make bad music,” as evidenced by their recent collaboration with Davido and Angelique Kidjo, “Na Money.” Their style brings the ogene and shekere, and gongs to life. It combines with the electrifying chords of a Fender bass guitar, an invocation of lyrics spelt in Igbo, their mother tongue, and a drummer bursting with much passion to give the uniquely flavoured cocktail that is The Cavemen.
“Who nor Know Go Know” was their first single released in 2019, an introduction to the joy that is The Cavemen. Roots album introduced a young generation to music that spelt joy and happiness and memory and pain and sadness and love and depth. “Akaraka,” “Bolo Bolo,” “Beautiful Rain,” “Anita,” “Osondu,” and “Obiageri” (with Mama) are personal favourites. Roots was an introduction to a style of music that was both new and old at the same time, a timeless evocative blend of falsettos, hoarse tenors, drums, guitars and shekere. And Roots made us hungry for more.
Love and Highlife album was received by a much larger fan base than Roots, with songs like “New Pammy,” “Ihunanya,” “Dance Like Cavy,” “Teach Me How to Love,” and “Love and Highlife,” the titular song. This audience spans continents, as evidenced by the concerts that have happened across Nigeria and Europe in the last two years. And The Cavemen never disappoint. Perhaps it may be that alternative music is beginning to find footing in Nigeria, or it may be that the stars are aligning in their favour.
Whatever the case may be, The Cavemen have successfully managed to put out music that some regard as “for the old” or “not cool”. And that music has resulted in a near cult-like following for them. From hundreds of thousands of followers across social media to thousands of attendees at concerts, millions of views on YouTube and a coveted interview session with the guitar manufacturer Fender, The Cavemen are shining bright.
And everyone wants in on that uniqueness because, to be quite frank, nobody does it like The Cavemen. This has resulted in a long list of collaborations with artists like Bez, M.I.Abaga, Phyno, Davido, Made Kuti, Falz, Basketmouth, Asa, PC Lapez, Cobhams Asuquo, Johnny Drille, Lady Donli, among many others.
The Cavemen do Afrofusion, and this has become an art, if not a lifestyle, for them. Their music, clothing style, photos (shot by the amazing WavyTheCreator) and ideology celebrate the fusion of the old and the new, the conservative and the edgy, sepia and pastel, watercolour and charcoal, traditional and modern. It is an evolution that has happened with the duo and their audience, an uncanny ability to shed old skin and moult into the new like butterflies shedding the cocoon.
And we are the most blessed for it.
The Cavemen have opened our ears to joy and memory and depth, and we will continue to dive in, springing forth now and again with joy.
This piece was originally published in Modaculture Digital, May – June 2023 issue. Go HERE to get a copy.
