“dɔ me a bra” is a plea to a lover to come back home, after the voice in the poem has held on to memories and seen how much grief that has brought. In Akan, the phrase can carry the sense of “if you love me, come”, so the title frames the track as both invitation and request for mercy.

Ghanaian poet Mr. Poetivist made his debut album after losing a brother figure to suicide. kumbaya – the elegy of distant relatives, released on 7 November 2025 through UK label Jinn Records, responds to that loss across 13 tracks, and “Dɔ me a bra” is one of them.

Mr. Poetivist is James Kofi Lemaire, born in Ghana and working as a poet, writer and curator. His poem “Ode To Afrika” opened TEDxAccra 2021. He has written commissioned work for painter Isshaq Ismail’s exhibition “Beyond the Fence, Begins the Sky” at Efie Gallery in Dubai, and produced the radio play “The Village We Are” for Berlin station Refuge Worldwide.

kumbaya – the elegy of distant relatives was conceived in Ghana and developed during a residency at The Rose Hill in Brighton. Lemaire calls it “a letter to those we’ve lost and those still searching”. British producer Abraham Moughrabi, whose credits include Latin Grammy-winning singer Buika, produced the 32-minute album, which runs from a cappella spoken word to orchestral synthesisers and field recordings.

Other tracks include “dear brother”, addressed to the departed brother figure, and “circa 98”, a message to his father, alongside pieces such as “Selma my Alabama” and “pour and mend”. Lemaire has performed selections from the album live at The Rose Hill, with “dɔ me a bra” part of that set.

Listen and stream kumbaya – the elegy of distant relatives, including “dɔ me a bra”, via  HERE