Lamisi has shared “Painkiller,” the second single from her forthcoming album ‘Let Us Clap,’ out now via Real World Records, and it arrives as a full-throated celebration of what music can do. The track grew organically in the studio when collaborator Sowah began playing xylophone and Lamisi started chanting “Music is a painkiller.” From that spontaneous moment, the song built itself. “Then Lamisi joined right in and started clapping along,” says producer and musical director Wanlov the Kubolor. That clapping became the album’s foundation.
‘Let Us Clap’ is a collaboration between Lamisi, one of Ghana’s most beloved artists and a fierce advocate for the rights of women and girls, and Wanlov the Kubolor, the Ghanaian-Romanian artist, activist, and filmmaker whose presence in Accra is so well known he stops traffic. Together they’ve built something that bridges the clapping patterns of northern Ghana with the digital textures of contemporary African music, treating Lamisi’s vocals electronically while keeping the acoustic instruments at the core.
The album carries real social purpose. Lamisi’s advocacy is rooted in lived experience. “I was raised with girls from northern Ghana who would drop out of school to get married and have children,” she shares. “I want to champion their unheard voices.” Wanlov brings his own fearless activism to the project, having consistently pushed back against homophobia in Ghana alongside his sibling Sister Deborah and Angel Maxine, the first openly transgender Ghanaian musician.
‘Let Us Clap’ is out now via Real World Records, available on CD and LP.
‘Let Us Clap’ Tracklist:
- Agol
- Zane Ya Kinkin
- No Orgasm In Heaven
- Tumsum
- Come
- Salma Daka
- Nisaal
- Unity
- Painkiller