This gentle, lilting tune is a classic example of the niche genre called Palm-wine and comes from an album with the memorable title Dead Men Don’t Smoke Marijuana. I think we can all agree with that.

Characterised by its gentle fingerpicked acoustic guitar melodies, Palm-wine evolved among the Kru people of Sierra Leone and Liberia, where my aunt and uncle lived for a few years and which I heartily regret never visiting despite their invitations when I was in my early teens.

The music began in dockside bars where dockers and sailors would drink powerful palm wine and play music using guitars brought over by Portuguese sailors, combining traditional rhythms and melodies with calypso from Trinidad.

Rogie took the traditional form and added his own musical influences, specifically the music and yodelling of proto-country genius Jimmie Rodgers, when he emigrated to England in 1973.

He worked frequently in schools as a cultural ambassador, introducing eager students to the art and music of Sierra Leone, and forming his own label, Rogiephone, to put out his debut album, African Lady.

I came across him a decade or so later when Cooking Vinyl reissued his self-produced 1986 album, The Sixties Sounds of S.E. Rogie, and it was picked up by DJs like Andy Kershaw, who also brought The Bhundu Boys from Zimbabwe to wider attention at the time.

Rogie reached a broader audience – briefly – when he was featured in the 1990 film Acoustic Sounds from Africa, performing his songs including his best-known tune, My Lovely Elizabeth.

This is taken from his final album, recorded in London in 1994 with legendary upright bassist Danny Thompson and lead guitar player Alfred Bannerman in addition to Rogie’s band of Simon Clarke (keyboards), Zozo Shuaibu (percussion, electric bass, background vocals), and Emile Ogoo (guitar, background vocals).

Shortly after the album’s release, Rogie died at the age of 68 in June 1994. But if you wish to explore the genre further you can do no better than delving into the oeuvre with the splendidly named Ebenezer Calendar & His Maringa Band, Koo Nimo or Abdul Tee-Jay.