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Artist
The Cavemen.
12+ albums
nigeriahighlifehighlife fusionGarage PunkNew Zealand
about
The Cavemen (stylized as The Cavemen.) are a Nigerian Highlife band consisting of sibling duo Kingsley Okorie, a bassist and Benjamin James, a drummer. Together, they play their own genre called Highlife Fusion which combines afrobeats, highlife, jazz and soul music and are known for their energetic live performances. The Cavemen. have often been praised for recreating highlife in a way which retains its essence. The writer, Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera writes about Cavemen's second album for Afrocritik: “Love and Highlife” embodies an innovative effort to perfect the recreation of Highlife while remaining conservative. The combination of drums, trumpets, piano, and other supporting musical instruments creates a sound that retains the traditional essence of Highlife. "The Cavemen. teaches us that innovation supersedes creating what is new—which is a beautiful thing to do—and that one can be innovative by taking what was there before and owning it. "The subject of The Cavemen.’s music is love and philosophy. There is no talk of money, clothes, women, or inane vanities. This lends a purist quality to the music. The duo seems to have derived some of their philosophy from the music of Oliver De Coque; and even the third song in the album, “Biri” is a sample of Oliver De Coque’s classic “Biri ka m Biri,” a song which espouses the principle of “Live and Let live.” But even while they have borrowed from Oliver De Coque’s music, they have been careful to avoid adopting the praise
