Sleepy Doug Shaw is an Englishman who lives in New York, but he doesn't drink coffee or tea (my dear), he drinks rum in the Caribbean and writes awesome, breezy jams under the name Highlife. "I got heavily into African guitar music, especially the type known as highlife, and started listening to lots of awesome African bands, one of which was F. Kenya's Guitar Band," he told me.

"It was the cascading guitars and rolling circles of the songs that hooked me so hard. Their song Madame Zehae Ala (Just As I Am), was the inspiration for my song, F KENYA RIP, which repeats their title phrase throughout the song.

"I began to write the song on the island of Gaspar Grande, in the 15 miles of bocas between Venezuela and the most north-westerly point of Trinidad. The sun was so bright. Rum, Collee and Carib beer were good influences. I began to play in circles."

Download Highlife's F KENYA RIP here.

More from Highlife at Pinglewood.

Elsewhere on Pinglewood:

Going For Gold: Rat Scallion takes Golden Silver's to the disco