Pick of the Week - S.E. Rogie (Sierra Leone)

A toe-tapper from one of Sierra Leone's best-known purveyors of palm wine music.

The focus at this site is mostly on a handful of countries in southern Africa, but when something worth mentioning comes along, I mention it. Today, it's the late S.E. Rogie, from Sierra Leone, in western Africa.

If you want to get started with Rogie, you could try a pair of albums released by Mississippi Records with Domino Records. And I've listed one other release. I've also included the album blurbs, which probably summarize Rogie as well or better than I could. It's great stuff. Enjoy!

The Sounds Of S.E. Rogie

The legendary Palm Wine guitarist S.E. Rogie’s early work. Truly beautiful songs from the 1960’s ranging from sweet acoustic solo numbers to blazing full band electric music. S.E. Rogie had a very long & pioneering career in Sierra Leone. His songs are some of the most beautiful ever – gentle & lilting timeless melodies. One of the greats.

Further Sounds of S​.​E. Rogie

10 brilliant tracks from 1960’s Sierra Leone by the wildly popular S.E. Rogie!

S.E. Rogie went from running a tailor shop in Sierra Leone to being one of West Africa's most popular artists. He toured around the country, singing his palm wine music in multiple local languages, created his own record label, and was known as the most handsome man in Sierra Leone. He formed the highlife band The Morningstars in 1965. In 1973, he came to the Bay Area to live and expand his base, performing everywhere from local high schools and convalescent homes to festivals and large stages. In his later life he hit the road again and toured the world, eventually passing away while on stage in Russia in 1994.

He shared the following songwriting wisdom with his son, Rogee Rogers: “When you write a song, you can be complicated if you want, but your chorus should be that anybody can sing it.”

These tracks were originally released on his own Rogie label in the 1960s and include solo, ensemble, and Morningstars songs, most of which have never been reissued until now.

Dead Men Don’t Smoke Marijuana

Dead Men Don’t Smoke Marijuana is the last album by the beloved singer/songwriter S.E. Rogie. A collection of fingerpicked acoustic guitar tunes rooted in the palm wine style of Sierre Leone, Rogie’s birthplace, and tinged with gospel, reggae, country and blues, it was released to acclaim in 1994 and has become an indisputable classic. No wonder: to listen to this wryly-titled recording is to soothe the soul. To be transported to a gentle, unhurried place where songs called things like ‘Jaimgba Tutu (The Joy of Success)’ and ‘Nyalomei Luange (Love Me My Love)’ tell life lessons in Krio and English over the sweetest of melodies, in a silky baritone sung from the heart.

“Count your blessings, sisters and brothers,” croons Rogie on ‘African Gospel’, his sentiments uplifted by call-and-response vocals, the chiming highlife guitar of Ghana’s Alfred Kari Bannerman and the rhythmic double bass of Danny Thompson, an Englishman whose ability to get to the heart of a piece is palpable - and whose unlikely presence is part of the work’s uniqueness. Rogie’s nearly fifty-year career was sprinkled with highlights. But it is this album, his swansong — he passed away a few weeks after its release — which endures. Ageing like a fine wine, indeed.