My Journey Into The Cave
A lot of the media I consumed in 2020 left an indelible mark on me. From documentaries like Defiant Ones and the Black Godfather to TV Shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender. When it comes to music though, The Cavemen’s Roots album always reminds me of that 2020 Lockdown period. I can’t even remember how I came across the project, but I am incredibly grateful that I did. At the risk of sounding conceited, I’m tempted to say that it was the music that found me. For me, The Cavemen’s music has a certain spiritual quality that is hard to put into words. I remember listening to the sounds “that emanate from the Cave” for the first time and feeling that they resonated with me on a different level from a lot of other music I listened to. Despite the fact that I didn’t understand a lot of what the brothers were saying in the songs with Igbo lyrics, I felt an affinity to the message that was being shared. In fact, I was compelled to share the album with my aunty who is Igbo and she was able to talk me through some of the meanings. Art that compels you to share it and art that brings people closer is art that I appreciate and that’s exactly what The Cavemen’s Roots album was to me. With this context in mind, I am sure you’ll appreciate that I was more than excited to see the Cavemen live two years later this September.
Village Underground was a very fitting name for the venue that would host brothers Kingsley & Benny as they welcomed us into their Cave.
As the show opened with the intro track of Roots, “Welcome To The Cave”, I experienced an almost out-of-body experience hearing Benny utter the lines I was so used to hearing through my earphones. The intro set the tone for the rest of the show, which brought me close to tears on multiple occasions (yes, I am an emotional somebody). Akaraka was performed with an arrangement that was reminiscent of Gospel music. The brothers demonstrated a childlike joy in their performance, with Benny traversing the stage and hitting random items as he thought fit while Kingsley improvised before they played a range of theme tunes.
I’ve used the word spiritual to describe the concert many times and on reflection, it’s because it’s the aptest way I can describe how the music managed to somehow allow the crowd to merge with the performers on stage as we move and sang in unison. Kokoroko, the London afrobeat collective came out to join forces with the Cavemen, elevating their performance with the horns that added an extra element of power to the performance
Kingsley proclaimed that we were witnessing “Fockin Highlife”, before a rendition of Crazy Lover which saw Ben display his impressive falsetto range as we felt every emotion being described in the song. Music has the ability to transport you to another place entirely and that’s exactly what took place as the performers shared that they felt like they were in Lagos, a testament to the mood in the venue.
As the night pressed on, I just wanted to savour the moment forever. The brothers routinely engaged in call and response to test the mood of the crowd and at every point, we were ready to enjoy the stories being shared with us. The brothers’ chemistry was thrilling to witness as they improvised with childlike playfulness adding a sprinkle of a surprise to every track.
While the melodies provided by the Cavemen were sweet they also carried powerful messages. Good Times spoke to the importance of relationships in every form, a message that was particularly poignant for me given that I was at the concert with people I cared deeply for. Further songs like Me, You, I spoke to this theme of community before they took us to church, sharing the need for rain to wash over the world with their song Beautiful Rain — a timely message for the troubled days we find ourselves in. The brothers also shared the story of their come-up and encouraged us that we can achieve anything that we put our minds to according to God’s plan a fact that the brothers are an embodiment of.
The pair seemed like they were born to be on the stage, with the instruments being an extension of themselves, allowing intangible feelings to transmute into sound elevating us from the physical to a higher plane. On reflection of the show, the Cavemen’s “cave” reminded me of Plato’s allegory of the Cave. Entering the Cave, rather than being a prisoner merely seeing shadows and a warped sense of reality, the cave represented a safe haven, an escape from the humdrum of life where childlike play was not just tolerated, but encouraged. In the cave we were all equal, cavy love was the message, and (being) high(on)life was the law.
As I’ve said before music has the power to transport you to a time and place and having heard Roots live it means that now when I hear the album I’m not only taken to the lockdown period, I am reminded of the full circle moments I experienced with my loved ones. The Cavemen took us back to basics with Roots and their live show showed us that Highlife truly spreads love, and because of that, the September 10th Show will stay with me forever.
